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This Oscar-nominated performer the celebrated Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.

This actress, with filmography included National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, died at her home in Ojai, California. Her passing was shared via an announcement from her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern, her daughter.

Laura Dern, who starred with her mother in a number of films including Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my special gift as a mother”, noting that she was present as she died.

“She was the most wonderful grandmother, mother, daughter, star, artist and caring individual that felt like a dream come true,” she expressed. “We were blessed to have her. Her spirit soars with angels.”

Early Career and Rise to Fame

Ladd’s early career saw minor parts in TV shows such as Gunsmoke whereas that decade saw her starring with Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

In the same year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s celebrated film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic. Her acting landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

Later Decades

During the eighties, she starred in crime thriller Black Widow, a suspense story and comedy sequel National Lampoon’s holiday comedy and appeared on the show Alice, a sitcom inspired by her earlier movie.

During the next ten years, she was given a further best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart where she played the parent of her biological child Dern’s character. A year later she was awarded another nomination for her performance in the film Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.

“This was the picture that Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she invited Laura and I to the UK for a special screening and a party in our honor,” Ladd shared of Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

The 1990s also saw roles in the comedy Cemetery Club bringing her back with Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a satirical film, starring John Travolta and Payne’s Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played Dern’s mother again. Those years also earned her TV award nominations for work on Dr Quinn, Grace Under Fire, a sitcom and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Working with Laura Dern

She continued to star with her daughter in comedy drama Daddy and Them, the David Lynch project the movie Inland Empire and White’s comedy-drama series Enlightened. She additionally starred alongside actress Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in that movie and Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Her later TV roles featured Ray Donovan plus Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She also authored and oversaw the humorous movie Mrs Munck featuring her and ex-husband actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she said. “It was a privilege to guide him in a film. Indeed, I am the sole female in recorded history who directed her former husband. I humorously say: ‘I tell women, should you desire retribution, direct your ex-husband.’ Though I’m just teasing.”

Personal Life

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

In 2018, doctors misdiagnosed Ladd with a respiratory illness and informed her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely when her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“Should you harness your suffering and not let it back up like an injury, instead apply it to investigate, to make the path clearer for yourself and others, then you are succeeding,” Ladd expressed.