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The Oscar-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd left us at the age of 89.

This actress, whose filmography spanned Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was announced via an announcement by her offspring, Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who performed alongside her mother in several movies such as Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero as well as my profound gift as a mother”, writing that she was present during her final moments.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, actress, artist as well as empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Initial Roles and Breakthrough

The start of her career featured minor parts in TV shows like Perry Mason whereas the 1970s had her appearing alongside actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

That very year, the year 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. The performance earned Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a television series based on her earlier movie.

During the next ten years, she received an additional Oscar nomination for supporting actress nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the mother of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her acting in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.

“This was the film which Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited us to England for a premiere and an event for us,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, grasping our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

That decade included parts in humorous films The Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a satirical film, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne the movie Citizen Ruth where she played Laura Dern’s mom again. The decade also brought her TV award nominations for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She kept appearing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and Mike White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck which starred herself and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I’m privileged to have directed him in a movie. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Family Ties

She happened to be a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact on my life”.

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and told her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery once her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like a sore or something, instead use it to discover, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.