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This Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.

The actress, whose credits spanned Chinatown, died at her home in California’s Ojai. This announcement was shared through a message shared by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Dern, who performed alongside Diane Ladd in several movies including Rambling Rose, described her as “my amazing hero plus my precious gift of a mother”, stating that she was present when she passed.

“She was the greatest mother, daughter, grandmother, star, artist along with empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she expressed. “We were lucky to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Early Career and Breakthrough

Her initial acting years included small roles in TV shows like Gunsmoke and the seventies had her appearing alongside actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

In the same year, the year 1974, she performed alongside Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

1980s and Beyond

In the 1980s, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story and funny follow-up National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and also took part in Alice, a comedy program inspired by Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

During the next ten years, she was given another supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in David Lynch’s the movie Wild at Heart where she acted as the parent of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. The next year she was awarded an additional nod for her role in Rambling Rose which included her daughter.

“This was the film that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited Laura and I to England for a premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd said about the film Rambling Rose. “She positioned herself between us, taking our hands, and crying, watching us perform.”

That decade featured performances in comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with her co-star Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a comedy about politics, featuring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy in which she portrayed Laura Dern’s mom another time. The decade also earned her Emmy nominations for work in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Collaborations with Daughter

She persisted in performing with Laura Dern in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project Inland Empire, a surreal film and Mike White’s satirical show Enlightened, a TV series. She additionally starred next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her later TV roles consisted of Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

Ladd also wrote and helmed the comedy film Mrs Munck, a film that included her and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is an excellent performer,” she said. “I was honored to direct him in a movie. Actually, I stand as the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, if you want revenge, helm a movie with your ex.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Connections

Ladd was also a relative of playwright Tennessee Williams, whom she described as “a significant impact in my life”.

During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with a respiratory illness and informed her life expectancy was six months but made a full recovery once her daughter transferred her to another medical facility.

“If you can take your pain and avoid letting it accumulate similar to a wound, instead apply it to investigate, to illuminate the way for personal and collective growth, then you are triumphing,” Ladd expressed.