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This Academy Award-nominated actor Diane Ladd left us aged 89.

The actor, with roles featured Chinatown, passed away at home in Ojai, California. The news was shared through a message from her offspring, award-winning actress her daughter Laura Dern.

Her daughter, who performed alongside her mother in a number of films such as Wild at Heart, called her “my wonderful hero as well as my precious gift of a mother”, noting that she was present when she passed.

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she wrote. “We were fortunate to know her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

The start of her career included small roles on television series like Perry Mason while the 1970s featured her performing with actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she shared the screen alongside Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The performance landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Later Decades

Throughout the 1980s, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow and humorous film Christmas Vacation while also joining Alice, a comedy program inspired by the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she was given a further supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her actual daughter the character played by Dern. The following year she was awarded another nomination for her performance in Rambling Rose, another movie which included Laura Dern.

“This was the picture which Princess Diana chose as her absolutely favorite, and she flew us to England for a premiere and a celebration for us,” Ladd shared regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and weeping, watching us perform.”

That decade also saw roles in comedy The Cemetery Club reuniting her with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother 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.

Collaborations with Daughter

She continued to star with her daughter in comedy drama the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened. She additionally starred with Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian, a film and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her later TV roles consisted of the series Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Writing and Directing

Ladd also wrote and directed the comedy film Mrs Munck that included herself and former husband Bruce Dern, an actor. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him on a project. Indeed, I’m the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I often joke: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Life

Ladd was also a family member of Tennessee Williams, who she referred to as “a major inspiration on my life”.

Back in 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live but she regained full health when her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.