Diane Ladd, Hollywood actress and the mother of Laura Dern, has died (Picture: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
Iconic Hollywood actress Diane Ladd, who has appeared in more than 200 movies and TV shows, has died aged 89.
Ladd was also the mother of Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, 58.
Perhaps best known for her role in 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and its subsequent sitcom, Ladd was also nominated for three Oscars and three Emmys during her career.
Announcing her death, Jurassic Park star Dern said in a heartfelt statement: ‘My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Calif.’
She added to People: ‘She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created.
‘We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.’
Ladd (left) was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Picture: Bettmann Archive)
The movie star died with daughter Dern by her side (Picture: Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Roadside Attractions)
Ladd’s other acting credits include David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990) – in which she played the on-screen mother to the character played by her real-life daughter Dern – and Rambling Rose (1991). She received Oscar nominations for these projects, as well as for her portrayal of Florence Jean (‘Flo’) Castleberry in Martin Scorsese’s romantic drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
Then, in 1981, she earned a best supporting actress in a TV series Golden Globe for CBS spin-off Alice. Her stellar career saw her nominated for three additional Golden Globes.
Ladd’s further silver screen appearances include Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), 28 Days (2000), Charlie’s War (2003), Joy (2015), and Gigi & Nate (2022).
TV-wise, she had a recurring role on Stephen King’s 2004 series Kingdom Hospital and played matriarch Nell O’Brien in Chesapeake Shores.
Acclaimed director Scorsese , 82, shared his tribute for the star, writing: ‘I have so many good memories of making Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, and my experiences with Diane are among the best.
‘I felt that it was so important for the picture to let the actors run with their characters, and what an experience it was to watch Diane take the character of Flo and make something so vivid and funny and alive.
‘Diane was a great improvisational actor — a matter of technique and discipline, but most of all instinct and artistry – and she had it all.
Martin Scorsese and Bruce Ladd have released tributes for the late star (Picture: Barry King/FilmMagic)
‘You can really feel it in the sunbathing scene with her and Ellen (Burstyn), one of the best scenes in the picture.
‘I loved my time working with Diane, a truly remarkable artist, and I wish we could have worked together again.’
Her first husband, Bruce Dern, also released a tribute for his former wife who called her a ‘tremendous actress’ who was discovered by David Lynch.
He continued: ‘When he cast her as Laura‘s mom in Wild at Heart it felt like the world then really understood her brilliance.
‘She was a great value as a decades long board member of SAG, giving a real actress’ point of view. She lived a good life. She saw everything the way it was. She was a great teammate to her fellow actors. She was funny, clever, gracious.
‘But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter. And for that I will be forever grateful to her.’
Nancy Sinatra shared her own heartfelt message on social media, calling Ladd one of her ‘closet, oldest and dearest friends’.
She added: ‘We shared having our children, making our movie, and did a lot of growing up together. It was a wild, sentimental ride. She was a great lady, a fun pal and a fine writer. I will miss her painfully, and yes, joyfully.’
After sharing an email about the hope children brought to the future from Ladd, Sinatra concluded by calling her one of God’s ‘special angels’.
Ladd also authored a number of books—including 2023’s Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding) with her daughter.
Her glittering career also saw her act alongside eventual Big Little Lies star Dern on several occasions, including in her offspring’s very first film role, 1973’s White Lightning.
Ladd is also survived by her grandchildren, Ellery and Jaya (Picture: Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Dern acted alongside her mother on several occasions, pictured here in a scene from 2002 film Daddy And Them (Picture: SkyTV)
Speaking previously about her relationship with her mother, Dern told People in 2018 that her mother had tried to discourage her from becoming an actress.
‘I think the quote of my mother’s was, “Be a lawyer, be a doctor, be a leper missionary, but don’t be an actress!”,’ she recalled.
With regard to her personal life, in 2018, Ladd was given six months to a year to live when she was misdiagnosed with pneumonia after inhaling ‘poison spray’ from farms near her home, restricting her breathing. She made a full recovery after Dern moved her to a different hospital.
Ladd was married three times. Firstly, to Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969, then to William Shea Jr. from 1969 to 1977.
Her third husband, Robert Charles Hunter, died in July this year, aged 77. They married in 1999.
As well as her daughter Dern, Ladd is survived by her grandchildren, Ellery and Jaya.
Dern, whose father is Bruce Dern, has described her mother as an ’empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created’ (Picture: Backgrid)
Pictured here in 1980, Dern has said her mother once tried to dissuade her from becoming an actress (Picture: Oscar Abolafia/TPLP/Getty Images)
She also had a daughter named Diane Elizabeth with her first husband, but she tragically died at just 18 months old in a drowning accident.
After news of Ladd’s death broke, tributes quickly piled in from fans of her work, with @AwardsConnect on X describing her as ‘never anything less than brilliant’.
‘RIP Diane Ladd! Such a dynamic performer, jumping between warm mama bears and earnest, fragile women with that dose of theatricality I always loved’, wrote @Kevin_Jacobsen.
‘I just rewatched Alice Doens’t Live Here Anymore a few days ago. Diane Ladd is remarkable in it, as she was in everything. But I think Alice and Wild at Heart stand out to me most’, penned @mi4d0lan.
‘Diane Ladd was truly one of a kind’, added @awards_watch.
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