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The Oscar-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd passed away at the age of 89.

The actor, with roles featured Chinatown, passed away at home at her Ojai, California home. The news was shared through a message from her child, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern.

Laura Dern, who starred with her mother in several movies such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my incredible hero as well as my special gift of a mother”, noting that she was at her bedside as she died.

“She was an exceptional daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and caring individual that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Rise to Fame

The start of her career included minor parts in TV shows including Perry Mason while the seventies saw her starring next to actor Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

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

1980s and Beyond

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in the thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a sitcom based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she was given another supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she obtained a further nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose which included Laura Dern.

“This movie that the late Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to London for a premiere and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, taking our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

The nineties included parts in the comedy Cemetery Club, a film joining her again with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom another time. That period also saw her score TV award nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She kept appearing with her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and Mike White’s dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She also appeared next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her more recent television parts included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and helmed the humorous movie the movie Mrs Munck which starred her and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Actually, I am the sole female ever who directed her former husband. I make a joke: ‘I advise females, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a significant impact in my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed she had just six months to live but made a full recovery after her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead use it to investigate, to clarify the journey for yourself and others, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.