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This award-nominated actor Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.

The actress, whose roles included Chinatown, died at her home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was shared in a statement by her offspring, Academy Award-winning star Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who starred with Diane Ladd in a number of films including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, described her as “my wonderful hero plus my precious gift of a mother”, writing that she was present when she passed.

“She was an exceptional grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist along with empathetic spirit that felt like a dream come true,” she wrote. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Beginnings and Breakthrough

The start of her career included minor parts on television series such as Gunsmoke while the 1970s featured her performing alongside Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed comedy drama the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

During the eighties, she appeared in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story plus funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the show Alice, a comedy program based on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she earned a further supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her real-life daughter Dern’s character. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her acting in Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.

“This movie that Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew me and Laura to London for a royal premiere and a celebration in our honor,” Ladd said of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, with tears, viewing our performance.”

That decade included parts in humorous films Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, with John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s the movie Citizen Ruth in which she portrayed the mother of Dern once more. Those years also brought her TV award nominations for work in the series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She persisted in performing with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened. She was also seen with Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She also authored and helmed the comedy the movie Mrs Munck that included Diane Ladd and former husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Indeed, I am the sole female in history to direct her ex-husband. I often joke: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

Ladd was also the third cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact throughout my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and informed her life expectancy was six months but she regained full health 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 discover, to illuminate the way for yourself and others, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.