Diane Ladd had died at 89. Born on November 29, 1935, in Laurel, Mississippi, Ladd is a three-time Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990), and Rambling Rose (1991), the latter two alongside her daughter, Laura Dern.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Laura Dern shared the news of her mother Diane Ladd’s death. Read her statement below:
My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Ca.
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.
Diane Ladd was a classic Southern belle and spirited actress known for her fierce performances that combined strength, vulnerability, humor, and charm. Her breakout role as Flo, the sharp-tongued and big-haired waitress in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, perfectly showcased her talent. That movie also marked her daughter Laura Dern’s debut, who appears briefly as a 7-year-old eating an ice cream cone in the diner during the final scene.
Ladd’s gift for improvisation helped her land the role of Marietta Fortune, the controlling and emotionally scarred mother of Lula (played by Laura Dern), in Wild at Heart. The mother and daughter reunited on screen the following year in Rambling Rose, in which Ladd played an eccentric Southern matriarch whose household is thrown into chaos when the troubled Rose (played by Dern) becomes their servant. Dern also received an Oscar nomination for her performance.
Ladd met her ex-husband, actor Bruce Dern, in an off-Broadway production in 1958. The two married in 1960, and Ladd would go on to make her film debut alongside Bruce Dern in The Wild Angels (1966). Ladd gave birth to their daughter, Laura Dern, in 1967, and they would later divorce in 1969.
Diane Ladd‘s film credits also include Chinatown (1974), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), Primary Colors (1998), and Joy (2015).
- Birthdate
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November 29, 1932
- Birthplace
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Meridian, Mississippi, USA