Screen Legend Diane Ladd Dies at 89
What To Know
- Diane Ladd, acclaimed actress known for roles in Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose, and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, has died at age 89.
- Ladd was the mother of actress Laura Dern, and together they made Oscar history as the first mother-daughter duo nominated for acting awards.
- Ladd’s legacy includes a decades-long film and television career, a joint memoir with her daughter, and a reputation for resilience and empathy both on and off screen.
Diane Ladd, actress best known for her performances in Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose, Chinatown, and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination, has died. She was 89.
The actress’s passing was announced by her daughter, Laura Dern, in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter: “My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, California,” said Dern. “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.”
Born Rose Diane Ladner on November 29, 1935, Ladd made her feature-film debut in 1961 with a small, uncredited bit part in Something Wild. Ladd’s big break came with her supporting role as Flo Castleberry in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). The film, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Ellen Burstyn, showcased Ladd’s sharp, scene-stealing performance and earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
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Ladd was married to actor Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969, and the couple shared two daughters: Diane Elizabeth, who died at age 18 months after a drowning accident, and Laura Dern, who became an Oscar-winning actress. Dern co-starred with her mother in the films Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose — for which they were both Oscar nominated — Citizen Ruth, Inland Empire, and in the HBO series Enlightened.
Ladd and Dern’s mother-daughter nominations for Rambling Rose marked the first time in Oscar history that such an event occurred.
Ladd and Dern also achieved another Hollywood first when, on November 1, 2010, Ladd, Dern, and Bruce Dern received adjoining stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first time family members have been given such an honor.
“Diane was a tremendous actress,” said ex-husband Dern, 89 to People. “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,” commented the Oscar-nominated actor.
In addition to her film work, Ladd had an extensive television career that included early appearances on shows like Perry Mason and Gunsmoke, as well as a significant role as Belle Dupree on the sitcom Alice, the television adaptation of her hit film, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. She also starred in the Hallmark series Chesapeake Shores, in which she played matriarch Nell O’Brien.
Over her career, Ladd was nominated for three Emmy Awards, earning recognition for her guest roles in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, and Touched by an Angel.
Ladd and her daughter Dern wrote a joint memoir titled Honey, Baby, Mine, in which Ladd offered sound advice to people learning to cope with the harshness of life: “If you can take your pain and not let it back up like a sore or something, instead use it to explore,” Ladd said during an interview with CNN. “Make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning.”
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