Diane Ladd, the Oscar-nominated actress and mother to Laura Dern, has died. She was 89.
Dern announced the news in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. She revealed that her mom died in California on Monday, Nov. 3. No cause of death was given.
“My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Ca.,” the “Jurassic Park” star, 58, shared.
Diane Ladd and Laura Dern in 1995. Getty Images
Ladd and Dern in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 11, 2020. FilmMagic“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern added.
“We were blessed to have her,” the “Blue Velvet” actress said. “She is flying with her angels now.”
Ladd’s many movie and TV credits included the 1974 rom-com “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” the 1990 black comedy “Wild at Heart” and 1991’s “Rambling Rose.”
Diane Ladd in 1976. Everett Collection / Everett Collection
Ladd during her early years in Hollywood. Getty ImagesShe was nominated for three Oscars and three Emmys during her more than six-decade acting career.
Born Diane Ladner in Laurel, Mississippi, on Nov. 29, 1935, Ladd began acting at a young age.
After moving to Hollywood and shortening her last name, Ladd went on to appear in TV shows like “Naked City” and “Perry Mason” throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Ladd and Ellen Burstyn in the 1974 rom-com “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” Courtesy Everett Collection
Burstyn and Ladd in another scene from “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” Courtesy Everett CollectionBut it wasn’t until 1966, when she was cast as Gaysh in Roger Corman’s crime drama “The Wild Angels” with Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern and Peter Fonda, that Ladd earned her first official film credit.
“I remember when we were filming ‘Wild Angels,’ my very first film, we were practically children back then,” the late actress told People in a 2019 interview.
“It was a foggy night, and some bikers came up the mountain and threatened to tie Peter and another crew member to a generator,” she recalled. “Peter and Bruce Dern protected us and led us all to safety. His courage always shined through like that.”
Harry Dean Stanton and Ladd in the 1990 David Lynch film “Wild at Heart.” ©Samuel Goldwyn Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
Dern and Ladd together in “Wild at Heart.” ©Samuel Goldwyn Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
Diane Ladd as Marietta Fortune in “Wild at Heart.” ©Samuel Goldwyn Films/Courtesy Everett CollectionEight years after “The Wild Angels,” Ladd was cast as sharp-tongued waitress Flo in Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”
The role earned her her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and she later received a Golden Globe nomination in the same category for the film’s TV spinoff, “Alice,” in 1981.
Ladd went on to receive two more Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress for “Wild at Heart” and “Rambling Rose.” She also starred as Nora Griswold, the mother to Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold, in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” in 1989.
Ladd as Mrs. Hillyer in 1991’s “Rambling Rose.” ©New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection
Lukas Haas, Ladd and Robert Duvall in the 1991 movie “Rambling Rose.” ©New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett CollectionHer final role before her death was as Mama Blanche in the 2022 coming-of-age drama “Gigi & Nate.”
As for her personal life, Ladd was married three times. She tied the knot with her “Wild Angels” co-star, Bruce Dern, in 1960.
The pair welcomed daughters Diane and Laura before their 1969 divorce. Diane tragically died in a swimming pool accident at only 18 months old.
Ladd in the 1993 horror movie “Carnosaur.” ©New Horizons/Courtesy Everett Collection
John Randolph, Ladd, Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, E.G. Marshall and Doris Roberts in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection“She hit her head and knocked herself out. And it all happened instantly. And she died, and you will never get over that,” Ladd told CBS News in 2023.
“I don’t care what you say to yourself. I don’t care who says what,” she added. “The child is not supposed to die before the parent.”
Ladd revealed that her daughter’s death led to her and Bruce’s divorce after nine years of marriage.
“We suffered the tragedy of our daughter’s death together and thought another child would help us, but we were so bruised,” she shared with Parade in 1992.
Ladd and Dern attend a special screening of “99 Homes” in Los Angeles on Aug. 31, 2015. WireImage
Ladd and Dern at SiriusXM Studios in New York City on April 24, 2023. Getty Images“I was terrified, being on my own with Laura,” Ladd added. “I had to force myself not to be overly protective because I had lost one child. The result was that it worked the other way. I allowed her to be a free thinker, and that helped her become her own person.”
Bruce Dern has since remembered his ex-wife in a touching tribute following the news of her passing.
“Diane was a tremendous actress and I feel like, a bit of a ‘hidden treasure’ until she ran into David Lynch,” the “Nebraska” star, 89, said in a statement. “When he cast her as Laura‘s mom in ‘Wild at Heart’ it felt like the world then really understood her brilliance.”
Bruce and Laura Dern during the 87th Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 2, 2015. Getty Images“She was a great value as a decades-long board member of SAG, giving a real actress’ point of view,” he continued. “She lived a good life. She saw everything the way it was. She was a great teammate to her fellow actors. She was funny, clever, gracious.”
“But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter,” the “Great Gatsby” star concluded. “And for that I will be forever grateful to her.”
Ladd and her youngest daughter, meanwhile, appeared in several films together throughout their respective Hollywood careers.
Ladd and Dern attend the 92nd annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, on Feb. 9, 2020. Getty ImagesFollowing a short appearance as an extra in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” at 7 years old, Dern starred alongside her mom in Lynch’s “Wild at Heart.”
The mother-daughter pair would go on to appear together in seven more projects, including “Rambling Rose,” “The Siege at Ruby Ridge,” “Citizen Ruth,” “Daddy & Them,” “Damaged Care,” “Inland Empire” and the HBO series “Enlightened.”
Dern honored both her parents when she won her first-ever Academy Award for “Marriage Story” in 2020.
Ladd and Dern attend the First Annual Actors Studio Awards Dinner at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City on Nov. 5, 1980. Getty Images
Dern and Ladd at SiriusXM Studios in New York City on April 24, 2023. Getty Images“Some say never meet your heroes,” she said while accepting the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. “I say if you’re really blessed, you get them as your parents.”
“I share this with my acting hero my legends, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern,” she went on. “You got game. I love you.”
The “Big Little Lies” actress and her mother teamed up once more in 2023 for their joint memoir “Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding).”
Ladd in the 2015 film “Joy.” 20th Century Fox Licensing/Merchandising / Everett Collection
Ladd in 2022’s “Isle of Hope.” Courtesy Everett CollectionThe book was said to be inspired by conversations following Ladd’s diagnosis with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, in 2018.
Shortly after her 1969 split from Bruce, Ladd married William A. Shea, Jr. The pair divorced eight years later in 1976.
Ladd tied the knot with her third husband, Robert Charles Hunter, in 1999. The couple remained married until Hunter’s death this past July at 77.






