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This award-nominated actress Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.

The star, with credits spanned Chinatown, passed away at home in California’s Ojai. Her passing was announced in a statement shared by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who appeared with her mom in several movies including Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing hero plus my precious gift of a mother”, stating that she was present as she died.

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

Beginnings and Breakthrough

The start of her career included supporting roles in TV shows like Gunsmoke and the seventies had her appearing alongside the legendary Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated dramatic comedy the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role earned Ladd her initial Oscar nod as best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow plus humorous film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while also joining the show Alice, a comedy program inspired by her earlier movie.

In the following decade, she earned a further best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her part in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart where she acted as the mom of her biological child Laura Dern’s role. The next year she received an additional nod for her acting in the film Rambling Rose which also starred Laura Dern.

“This was the film that the late Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she brought Laura and I to London for a royal premiere and a celebration dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, grasping our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

The 1990s included parts in humorous films Cemetery Club, a film bringing her back with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, with John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth where she acted as Dern’s mother another time. Those years also earned her TV award nominations for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom plus Touched by an Angel.

Collaborations with Daughter

She continued to star with her daughter in films blending humor and drama Daddy and Them, a movie, the David Lynch project Inland Empire and the series by Mike White comedy-drama series the program Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock, a star in the film 28 Days, Sir Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film plus Jennifer Lawrence in Joy.

Subsequent TV appearances featured Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Filmmaking Ventures

Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck that included her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I’m privileged to have directed him on a project. Indeed, I stand as the only woman in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”

Family Ties

She happened to be a relative of Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a major inspiration on my life”.

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she only had half a year left but she regained full health when her daughter shifted her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead use it to investigate, to make the path clearer for you and those around, then you are winning,” Ladd remarked.