Actress Diane Ladd has died at 89, her daughter, actress Laura Dern, confirmed in a statement obtained by People.
Dern said that her mother died Monday morning in her home in Ojai, Calif., with Dern by her side. The Big Little Lies star called Ladd, an Oscar-nominated actress whose career spanned six decades, “my amazing hero” and a “profound gift.”
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern continued. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Yahoo has reached out to Dern for comment.
Ladd, born on Nov. 29, 1935, in Laurel, Miss., appeared in more than 100 films and television shows beginning in the 1950s. Her role in the 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, directed by Martin Scorsese, earned her a BAFTA award as well as an Academy Award nomination. She appeared in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown that same year. Ladd also portrayed the character Nora in the 1989 classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, opposite Chevy Chase.
Other notable film roles include David Lynch’s 1990 film Wild at Heart and Martha Coolidge’s 1991 film Rambling Rose, both of which also earned her Oscar nominations. Ladd also received Emmy nominations for her TV roles in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.
Ladd married Bruce Dern, father of Laura Dern, in 1960; they split up in 1969. The couple also shared a daughter named Diane Elizabeth, who died as a toddler in a pool accident in 1962.
Ladd and Dern at the Academy Awards in February 2020 in Hollywood. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
After her marriage to Bruce Dern ended, Ladd was married to William Shea Jr. from 1969 to 1976. In 1999, she married Robert Charles Hunter, a former executive at PepsiCo. Ladd and Hunter were married up until Hunter’s death in July.
In 2023, Dern said that her mother was given only six months to live in 2019. “She was exposed to pesticides being sprayed in the neighborhood and was not notified and realized that she had scarring on her lungs,” Dern explained to host Hoda Kotb on the Today show. “And they said, ‘If you can get her walking, expand her lung capacity, maybe it will help.’”
At the time, Dern said she was “shocked” at how little she’d asked her mother about her life, especially about “the hard stuff,” as she did not want to hurt her mom. “But even the simple stuff,” Dern said. “I’ve been raised by an actor, I’ve worked alongside my mother, and yet I’d never asked, ‘Why did you want to become an actress?’”
Ladd shared her last Instagram post in September, writing, “THE LAST FULL MEASURE is now streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. The day before it was set to come out, Covid hit… and you know the rest. Anyway, it’s out and it’s something really terrific. Not to be forgotten, among a bevy of brilliant actors in this film, three magnificent artists gave us the last great performances of their lives: Christopher Plummer, Peter Fonda, and William Hurt. What an honor.”
She also teased that she may consider getting into podcasting, saying, “More to come.”