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This award-nominated performer Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.

The actor, whose credits featured Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died at her home in Ojai, California. Her passing was announced through a message from her child, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in various films such as Wild at Heart, called her “my incredible hero as well as my precious gift of a mother”, stating that she was at her bedside as she died.

“She was an exceptional mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist along with caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Early Career and Major Success

Her initial acting years saw supporting roles on television series like Perry Mason while the seventies saw her starring next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese praised comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow and humorous film National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and also took part in the sitcom Alice, a comedy program based on her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she earned a further supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the parent of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The following year she obtained an additional nod for her acting in Rambling Rose, another movie which included her daughter.

“This was the picture that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she invited me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and an event for us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, and crying, seeing us act.”

That decade featured performances in humorous films Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a political story, a political comedy, starring John Travolta and Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother another time. The decade also brought her Emmy nominations for roles in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She kept appearing alongside her daughter in dramatic comedies Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened. She also appeared with Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Her later TV roles consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

She also authored and directed the comedy Mrs Munck that included herself and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Life

She was additionally a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration throughout my life”.

During 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and advised her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health once her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering like an injury, instead use it to discover, to clarify the journey for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd said.