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The Oscar-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died at the age of 89.

This actress, with credits included Chinatown, died at her home in Ojai, California. The news was revealed through a message by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern.

Dern, who appeared with Diane Ladd in a number of films including Wild at Heart, described her as “my wonderful hero and my special gift of a mother”, stating that she was at her bedside as she died.

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

Early Career and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career featured supporting roles in television programs such as Gunsmoke while that decade had her appearing next to Jack Nicholson in the classic Chinatown.

That very year, the year 1974, she appeared with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd her initial Oscar nod in the supporting actress category.

Subsequent Years

Throughout the 1980s, she was seen in crime thriller the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a comedy program inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the subsequent decade, she earned a further best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, a cult classic where she played the parent of her actual daughter Laura Dern’s role. A year later she obtained a further nomination for her role in Rambling Rose, another movie which included her daughter.

“This was the picture which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited me and Laura to England for a royal premiere and a party dedicated to us,” Ladd shared about the film Rambling Rose. “She sat with us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

The nineties included parts in humorous films Cemetery Club joining her again with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she played Laura Dern’s mom again. The decade also earned her TV award nominations for roles in 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 comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series Enlightened. She additionally starred next to actress Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Her more recent television parts consisted of Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film featuring herself and previous spouse Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she mentioned. “I was honored to direct him on a project. Actually, I’m the only woman ever who directed her former husband. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

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

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and told she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely after her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like an injury, rather utilize it to explore, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd said.