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This Oscar-nominated actor the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away 89 years old.

This star, with credits spanned Chinatown, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was announced in a statement by her offspring, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Dern, who performed alongside her mother in various films such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my incredible hero as well as my precious gift of a mother”, writing that she was at her bedside as she died.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative along with caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she expressed. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career featured supporting roles on television series like Gunsmoke while the seventies featured her performing next to the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow as well as humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the sitcom Alice, a television series inspired by her earlier movie.

During the next ten years, she was given another best supporting actress nomination for her part in the David Lynch film the movie Wild at Heart in which she portrayed the parent of her biological child the character played by Dern. A year later she was awarded a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose which included Dern.

“This was the film that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she flew Laura and I to the UK for a premiere and a party for us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, holding both our hands, with tears, seeing us act.”

That decade featured performances in comedy The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Ellen Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom again. That period also earned her TV award nominations for roles on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire plus Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She continued to star with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She also appeared alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles featured Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

She additionally penned and helmed the humorous movie Mrs Munck, a film which starred her and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Actually, I am the sole female in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

She happened to be a relative of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration in my life”.

In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and told she had just six months to live but she regained full health when her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead apply it to investigate, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd remarked.