Veteran Hollywood actress Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89.
The three-time Oscar nominee’s passing was announced by her daughter, fellow actress Laura Dern, in a statement published by Variety today.
“My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, California. She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created. We were bless to have her. She is flying with her angels now,” Dern said.
Ladd was a prolific actress, appearing in more than 200 films and television shows, and earned Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations on three occasions: For Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, for David Lynch’s 1990 film Wild At Heart, and for Martha Coolidge’s 1991 film Ramblin’ Rose.
The latter of those two films were notable for also starring Ladd’s daughter Dern. The pair acted together frequently throughout their careers, often playing mother and daughter on screen – most recently in Mike White’s acclaimed TV series Enlightened, which ran for two seasons from 2011 to 2013 and earned a strong cult following.
Ladd married three times: First to fellow actor Bruce Dern, from 1960 to 1969. They had two daughters: Laura and Diane Elizabeth, who died at age eighteen months after a drowning accident.
The same year she and Dern divorced, Ladd wed William Shea Jr, with the pair divorcing in 1977.
Her final marriage, to former CEO of PepsiCo Food Systems Robert Hunter, began in 1999 and lasted until his death in late July of this year at the age of 77.
The Hollywood Reporter announced on August 1 that Ladd’s husband of more than a quarter of a century had died in Fort Worth, Texas, while visiting his children.
