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The award-nominated performer Diane Ladd passed away aged 89.

This actress, with roles included Chinatown, died at her home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was revealed via an announcement shared by her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who starred with her mom in several movies including Wild at Heart, referred to her as “my amazing hero as well as my precious gift being my mom”, writing that she was at her bedside when she passed.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative along with compassionate soul that seemed almost dreamlike,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Beginnings and Breakthrough

The start of her career included minor parts in television programs including Gunsmoke while the seventies had her appearing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen with actress Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s praised dramatic comedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination as best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

During the eighties, she was seen in crime thriller Black Widow plus comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the sitcom Alice, a sitcom based on her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she received another best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she acted as the mother of her biological child the character played by Dern. The next year she obtained another nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose that also featured Laura Dern.

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

The 1990s featured performances in the comedy The Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, starring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed the mother of Dern once more. That period also earned her nominations for Emmy Awards for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Collaborations with Daughter

She kept appearing with Laura Dern in films blending humor and drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and the series by Mike White dark comedy series the program Enlightened. She also appeared with Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles featured Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

Ladd also wrote and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck which starred Diane Ladd and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. In fact, I’m the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I advise females, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Family Ties

Ladd was also a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a great influence on my life”.

During 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with a respiratory illness and informed she only had half a year left but she regained full health after her daughter moved her to a new hospital.

“When you use your pain and avoid letting it accumulate like an injury, instead use it to discover, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are winning,” Ladd said.