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This Oscar-nominated actress the celebrated Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.

This actor, whose filmography featured Chinatown, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. The news was announced in a statement from her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Her daughter, who appeared with her mother in various films like Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift as a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist along with caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career included small roles on television series such as Gunsmoke while that decade had her appearing with actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she performed with actress Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s acclaimed comedy drama the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she starred in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy while also joining the show Alice, a sitcom inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she was given an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mom of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her acting in the film Rambling Rose which also starred Dern.

“This was the picture that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought us to London for a premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”

The 1990s included parts in humorous films Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed Dern’s mother once more. Those years also earned her TV award nominations for performances in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She kept appearing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, a movie, David Lynch’s Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She also appeared with Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances featured the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She also authored and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck which starred Diane Ladd and ex-husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Actually, I’m the only woman in history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Connections

She happened to be a family member of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a great influence throughout my life”.

In 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and told she had just six months to live but she regained full health after her daughter moved her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are winning,” Ladd expressed.