Diane Ladd, the acclaimed actress known for roles in “Wild at Heart” and a three-time Academy Award nominee, has died at the age of 89.
Her daughter, actress Laura Dern, confirmed Ladd’s passing on Monday.
“My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning,” Dern stated, adding that her mother died peacefully at home in California.
Dern, who co-starred with her mother in the 1991 film “Rambling Rose,” did not disclose the cause of death.
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern shared. “We were blessed to have her.”
Ladd’s extensive career spanned decades across stage and screen. She achieved widespread recognition for her portrayal of a waitress in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” a role that garnered her an Oscar nomination.
Following this breakthrough, she appeared in numerous films, including a recent role in the 2022 coming-of-age movie “Gigi & Nate,” and maintained a steady presence in television series.
She was married to actor Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969. Together, they had two children: Oscar-winning actress Laura Dern, and a daughter, Diane Elizabeth Dern, who tragically died in an accident in 1962 at 18 months old.
“She fell into the pool. She hit her head and knocked herself out. And it all happened instantly. And she died, and you will never get over that,” Ladd recounted to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, in 2023.
Ladd shared a close bond with her daughter, Laura, and the pair appeared on screen together on multiple occasions. Ladd played Dern’s mother in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” and in the HBO series “Enlightened.”
They made history as the first mother-daughter duo to receive Academy Award nominations for the same film, “Rambling Rose,” though neither won the award that year.
In 2023, they co-authored a book titled “Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love.”
Ladd revealed to CBS that she initially discouraged Dern from pursuing an acting career.
“She was only, like, 11 years old, and I said, ‘Don’t be an actress. Be a doctor, be a lawyer,'” she said. “Nobody cares if you put on weight or your chin points when you cry if you’re a doctor. They just want you to be the best you can be. But an actress? They care, care, care, care, care.”
Dern recalled resisting this advice. “No. It is all I knew,” she stated.