Diane Ladd, Oscar nominated actress and mother of Laura Dern, dies aged 89

Three-time Academy Award nominated actress Diane Ladd, best known for her roles in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and in David Lynch’s Wild At Heart, has died at 89.

Ladd’s death was announced by her daughter, Oscar-winning actress Laura Dern, who issued a statement saying her mother and occasional co-star had died at her home in Ojai, California, with Dern at her side. Dern, who called Ladd her “amazing hero” and “profound gift of a mother”, did not immediately cite a cause of death.

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

Ladd, born on 29 November 1935 in Laurel, Mississippi, had a long career in television and on stage before breaking through as a film performer in 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. She earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her turn as the acerbic, straight-talking Flo.

Her many credits included Chinatown, Primary Colors and two other movies for which she received best supporting nods: Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, both of which co-starred her daughter Laura. She also continued to work in television, with appearances in ER, Touched by Angel and Alice - the spinoff from Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Ladd was married to actor Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969. The couple had two children, Laura Dern and a baby girl, Diane Elizabeth Dern, who died in an accident in 1962, when she was 18 months old.

Diane Ladd and Laura Dern became the first mother-daughter pair to be nominated for an Oscar for the same movie, Rambling Rose.