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This Academy Award-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd left us at the age of 89.

This star, with roles included Chinatown, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was announced through a message by her child, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who appeared with her mom in a number of films including Wild at Heart, described her as “my amazing hero as well as my special gift being my mom”, noting that she was by her side during her final moments.

“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, actress, artist as well as empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career saw minor parts on television series like Gunsmoke while the seventies had her appearing with actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story as well as funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the show Alice, a television series derived from her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she earned a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the mom of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. A year later she obtained an additional nod for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Dern.

“This was the film that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to the UK for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

The nineties featured performances in the comedy Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as the mother of Dern another time. Those years also earned her Emmy nominations for roles in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She continued to star alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and the series by Mike White satirical show the program Enlightened. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Her more recent television parts included Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy Mrs Munck which starred her and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a film. In fact, I am the sole female in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, helm a movie with your ex.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Family Ties

She happened to be a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration on my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed she only had half a year left but made a full recovery once her daughter transferred her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, rather utilize it to investigate, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.