Diane Ladd, a three-time Academy Award nominee whose roles have ranged from a sassy waitress to Alice doesn't live here anymore to the insidious parent in Wild at heartdied at the age of 89.
Ladd's death was announced Monday by daughter Laura Dern, who issued a statement saying her mother and occasional co-star died at her home in Ojai, California, with Dern at her side.
Dern, who called Ladd her “amazing hero” and “profound gift of motherhood,” did not immediately provide a cause of death.
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and gentle spirit that only dreams could seemingly create,” Dern wrote. “We're lucky to have her. Now she flies with her angels.”
Life in art
A gifted comedic and dramatic actor, Ladd had a long career on television and the stage before finding success as a film actor in Martin Scorsese's 1974 film. Alice doesn't live here anymore. She was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of the blunt and outspoken Flo and starred in dozens of films over the ensuing decades.
Among her many achievements Chinatown, Primary colors and two other films for which she received best supporting reviews: Wild at heart And Rambling Roseboth of which starred her daughter.
She also continued to work in television, appearing on television. IS, Touched by an angel And Alicespin-off from Alice doesn't live here anymoreamong others.
Ladd was connected to the arts through marriage and blood. Tennessee Williams was the second cousin and first husband of Bruce Dern, Laura's father, who was himself nominated for an Academy Award. Ladd and Laura Dern achieved a rare feat among mother-daughter nominees for their work in Rambling Rose.
A native of Laurel, Mississippi, Ladd was clearly destined to stand out. In his 2006 memoirs Spiraling through the School of LifeShe recalled her great-grandmother telling her that one day she would be “in front of a screen” and “commanding” her audience.
By the mid-1970s, she had lived her life well enough to tell the New York Times that she no longer denied herself the right to call herself great.
“I’m not saying that now,” she said. “I can do Shakespeare, Ibsen, an English accent, an Irish accent, no accent, stand on my head, tap dance, sing, look 17 or 70.”
