Diane Ladd, 3-time Oscar nominee, mother of Laura Dern, dead at 89

Diane Ladd, a three-time Academy Award nominee for her roles in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Wild at Heart” and “Rambling Rose,” died Monday. She was 89.

Ladd’s daughter, Oscar-winner Laura Dern, said in a statement that her mother died in Ojai, California, calling her “my amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother.”

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern said. “We were blessed to have her.”

“She is flying with her angels now.”

Ladd, who was born Rose Diane Lanier on Nov. 29, 1935, in Meridian, Mississippi, was married to Bruce Dern for nine years beginning in 1960. She was also a second cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams.

Ladd earned her first Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 1974 film, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” Ladd played Flo, the earthy, blunt and brash waitress with a piled-up hairdo, to Ellen Burstyn’s main character, Alice Hyatt.

The film also marked Laura Dern’s film debut, when she was 7 years old. She was eating an ice cream cone during the final scene in the diner.

In 1976, the movie was adapted into a sitcom, “Alice,” starring Linda Lavin, with Polly Holliday playing Flo. When Holliday left the series in 1980 for her own spin-off comedy (“Flo”), Ladd was brought in as Belle Dupree, a hard-nosed waitress once romantically linked to diner owner Mel (Vic Tayback). Ladd won a Golden Globe for her work but left after one season.

Ladd was nominated for her second Academy Award for her role as Laura Dern’s villainous mother in the 1990 film, “Wild at Heart.”

Mother and daughter both received Oscar nominations for 1991’s Rambling Rose. Ladd played the well-educated, eccentric matriarch of a Southern family, while Dern played the promiscuous Rose, who was hired as a servant.

Ladd also played a small but crucial role in the 1974 film “Chinatown,” portraying a prostitute named Ida Sessions.

Ladd and Laura Dern played mother and daughter on the HBO series “Enlightened” and also worked together in “Citizen Ruth” (1996), “Daddy and Them” (2001) and “Inland Empire” (2006).

Other films on Ladd’s résumé also included “All Night Long” (1981), “Something Wicked This Way Comes” (1983), “Black Widow” (1987), “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989), “A Kiss Before Dying” (1991), “The Cemetery Club” (1993), “Ghosts of Mississippi” (1996), “Primary Colors” (1998), “28 Days” (2000), “Charlie’s War” (2003) and “Joy” (2015).

Early in her career, Ladd landed dozens of credits on television series, appearing in “The Detectives,” “Naked City,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “Perry Mason,” “Hazel,” “The Fugitive,” “Ironside” and “Then Came Bronson.”

Ladd made her film debut in “The Wild Angels” (1966), which also starred Bruce Dern.

Ladd met Bruce Dern in 1958 when both had roles in an off-Broadway play, “Orpheus Descending.” They were married in 1960 and divorced in 1969. Laura Dern was born in 1967. The couple had another daughter, Diane Elizabeth, who died in an accidental drowning when she was 18 months old.

In a statement, Bruce Dern called Ladd “a tremendous actress” and “a bit of a hidden treasure” until she landed her role in “Wild at Heart.”

“When (David Lynch) cast her as Laura’s mom in ‘Wild at Heart’ it felt like the world then really understood her brilliance. … She lived a good life. She saw everything the way it was. She was a great teammate to her fellow actors,” the actor said. “She was funny, clever, gracious. But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter.

“And for that I will be forever grateful to her.”

Ladd was also married to businessman William Shea Jr. from 1973 to 1976 and to Robert Charles Hunter, a former PepsiCo executive, from 1999 until his death earlier this year.

0 of 19

© 2025 Cox Media Group