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Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd, known for her roles in Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart,” is aging died at the age of 89.
Her daughter Laura Dern confirmed her mother’s death in a statement to Rolling Stone. An exact cause of death was not given.
“My wonderful hero and the greatest gift of my life, my mother, passed away this morning with me by her side at her home in Ojai, California,” Dern said. “She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and compassionate soul anyone could wish for. We were blessed to have her. Now she flies with her angels.”
Breakthrough with Scorsese and Polanski
Diane Ladd has had an impressive career on stage and screen. Although she began as a teenager in the late fifties, it wasn’t until 1974 that she made her breakthrough with prominent supporting roles in Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” and Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”
In the latter, Ladd played the quick-witted but warm-hearted waitress Flo, who becomes the friend of Ellen Burstyn’s Alice. With her improvised, pointed dialogue, she brought fresh humor to the film and received nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars and the Golden Globes. (The prizes went to Ingrid Bergman and Karen Black, respectively.)
Three Oscar nominations – and success with her daughter Laura Dern
In the early 1990s, Ladd was nominated again for two films in which she starred alongside her daughter Laura Dern.
She first impressed in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” as the eccentric, domineering, loving mother Marietta Fortune. A year later, “Rambling Rose” followed, where Ladd played a down-to-earth but equally idiosyncratic role. Mother and daughter were both nominated for an Oscar – the first mother-daughter duo ever.
“There’s something very special about working with your family, like a butcher who proudly says, ‘That’s my son helping me,'” Ladd said in a 2024 interview with Vulture. “When you find the truth, you remember who you are. These films are designed to help us all find the truth.”
From Mississippi to Hollywood
Diane Ladd was born on November 29, 1935 in Mississippi and discovered her passion for the stage at an early age. After graduating from school, she moved to New Orleans, where she sang with a band in the French Quarter. Although she was able to study law at Louisiana State University, she chose acting after an offer from John Carradine to star in his production of Tobacco Road.
Soon Ladd was living in New York, working at the Copacabana Club and making her off-Broadway debut in Orpheus Rising, a play by her distant cousin Tennessee Williams. In a 2014 interview, she said: “He was a huge influence in my life. He took me under his wing, got me into the theater, was kind, loving and brilliant. He fought for me. Every person needs someone to fight for them.”
Family with Bruce Dern and collaborative work
While working on Orpheus Descending, Ladd met actor Bruce Dern. They married in 1960 and had two daughters: Diane Elizabeth, who died in a swimming accident when she was 18 months old, and Laura, born in 1967. Two years later, Ladd and Dern separated. Laura Dern often accompanied her mother to filming and even had a small appearance as a child in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”
Various roles in film and television
Ladd’s other well-known films include National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary Colors, 28 Days and Joy. She was also very present on television: she won a Golden Globe for the series “Alice,” which was based on Scorsese’s film – but here she did not play Flo, but the character Isabelle “Belle” Dupree.
Emmy nominations later followed for guest roles in “Dr. Quinn,” “Grace Under Fire” and “Touched by an Angel.”
Late successes and final joint projects
Ladd continued to film with Laura Dern, for example in Lynch’s “Inland Empire” and “Citizen Ruth”. Both also starred in Mike White’s acclaimed but short-lived HBO series “Enlightened,” once again as mother and daughter – a constellation that touched audiences for decades.