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The Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Ladd has died 89 years old.

The star, with roles spanned National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, left this world in her residence in California’s Ojai. The news was announced through a message shared by her daughter, award-winning actress Laura Dern.

Dern, who starred with her mother in various films such as Rambling Rose, referred to her as “my wonderful hero as well as my profound gift as a mother”, noting that she was by her side as she died.

“She was the most wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist as well as caring individual that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she stated. “We were lucky to have her. She is now with the angels.”

Initial Roles and Major Success

Ladd’s early career featured supporting roles in television programs including Gunsmoke and the seventies saw her starring with actor Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown.

That very year, 1974, she performed with Ellen Burstyn in Scorsese’s praised comedy drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her role landed Ladd an Academy Award nomination in the supporting actress category.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she was seen in the dramatic film the movie Black Widow and funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and appeared on the show Alice, a sitcom derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

In the following decade, she was given another supporting actress nomination for her part in Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the mom of her real-life daughter Laura Dern’s role. The next year she was awarded an additional nod for her acting in Rambling Rose that also featured her daughter.

“This movie which Princess Diana selected as her very favorite, and she brought us to England for a royal premiere and an event in our honor,” Ladd said regarding Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, taking our hands, and crying, viewing our performance.”

The 1990s also saw roles in humorous films The Cemetery Club joining her again with Burstyn, Primary Colors, a satirical film, with John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy where she played the mother of Dern once more. The decade also saw her score TV award nominations for performances on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel.

Working with Laura Dern

She kept appearing with her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, Lynch’s Inland Empire, a surreal film and White’s dark comedy series Enlightened, a TV series. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock in 28 Days, a movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins in that movie and with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, a biographical drama.

Subsequent TV appearances included Ray Donovan, a drama and Young Sheldon.

Behind the Camera

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy film the movie Mrs Munck featuring her and former husband Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a talented star,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Actually, I’m the only woman in history to helm a film with her ex. I humorously say: ‘I say ladies, if you seek payback, guide your former spouse.’ But I’m only kidding.”

Personal Life

Ladd was also a relative of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a great influence in my life”.

During 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and advised she had just six months to live yet she recovered completely after her daughter transferred her to a different hospital.

“If you can take your pain and not let it back up like an injury, instead use it to investigate, to illuminate the way for you and those around, then you are triumphing,” Ladd remarked.