Diane Ladd is an American actress. She has appeared in over 120 film and television roles. For the 1974 film '' Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'', she won the

BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film. This award ...

and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television for '' Alice'' (1980–81), and to receive Academy Award nominations for '' Wild at Heart'' (1990) and '' Rambling Rose'' (1991). Her other film appearances include '' Chinatown'' (1974), ''

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' is a 1989 American Christmas comedy film and the third installment in ''National Lampoon'' magazine's ''Vacation'' film series. ''Christmas Vacation'' was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, written and co ...

'' (1989), ''

Ghosts of Mississippi ''Ghosts of Mississippi'' is a 1996 American biographical courtroom drama film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, and James Woods. The plot is based on the true story of the 1994 trial of Byron De La Beckwith, the ...

'' (1996), ''

Primary Colors A set of primary colors or primary colours (see spelling differences) consists of colorants or colored lights that can be mixed in varying amounts to produce a gamut of colors. This is the essential method used to create the perception of a br ...

'' (1998), '' 28 Days'' (2000), ''

American Cowslip ''American Cowslip'' is a 2009 independent American comedy feature film directed by Mark David. It revolves around heroin addict, Ethan Inglebrink, whose life is centered on his garden and his group of eccentric friends. ''American Cowslip'' is Dav ...

'' (2008) and '' Joy (2015 film) '' (2015) . Ladd is the mother of actress

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and a ...

, with her ex-husband, actor Bruce Dern.

Personal life

Ladd was born Rose Diane Ladner, the

only child An only child is a person with no siblings, by birth or adoption. Children who have half-siblings, step-siblings, or have never met their siblings, either living at the same house or at a different house—especially those who were born consider ...

of Mary Bernadette (née Anderson), a housewife and actress, and Preston Paul Ladner, a veterinarian who sold products for poultry and livestock. She was born in

Laurel, Mississippi Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, M ...

, while the family were visiting relatives for Thanksgiving, though they lived in Meridian, Mississippi. Ladd is related to playwright

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...

and poet

Sidney Lanier Sidney Clopton Lanier (February 3, 1842 – September 7, 1881) was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private, worked on a blockade-running ship for which he was imprisoned (resulting in his catch ...

. Ladd was raised in her mother's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

faith. Ladd was married to actor and one-time co-star Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969, and had two daughters; Diane Elizabeth Dern, who died at 18 months, and

, who became an actress. Ladd and Laura Dern co-starred in the films '' Wild at Heart'', '' Rambling Rose'', ''

Citizen Ruth ''Citizen Ruth'' is a 1996 American satirical black comedy film directed by Alexander Payne, in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz, Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, Kurtwood Smith, Mary Kay Place, Kenneth ...

,'' and '' Inland Empire'' and in the HBO series '' Enlightened''. The two also appeared together in ''White Lightning'' and '' Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'', although the very young Laura Dern was uncredited in both. , Ladd is married to Robert Charles Hunter. In 2018, Ladd was misdiagnosed with pneumonia and given 6 months to a year to live after she inhaled “poison spray” from the farms neighbouring her home, constricting her esophagus. Her daughter, Laura, transferred her to another hospital where she made a full recovery.

Career

In 1971, Ladd joined the cast of the CBS soap opera ''

The Secret Storm ''The Secret Storm'' is an American soap opera that the CBS television network transmitted from February 1, 1954, to February 8, 1974. It was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas ''Search for Tomorrow'' and ''Love ...

''. She was the second actress to play the role of Kitty Styles on the long-running daytime serial. She later had a supporting role in

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

's 1974 film '' Chinatown'', and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role as Flo in the film '' Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore''. That film inspired the television series '' Alice'', in which Flo was portrayed by

Polly Holliday Polly Dean Holliday (born July 2, 1937) is a retired American actress who has appeared on stage, television and in film. She is best known for her portrayal of sassy waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the 1970s sitcom ''Alice'', which s ...

. When Holliday left the TV series, Ladd succeeded her as waitress Isabelle "Belle" Dupree. DianeLaddHWOFMay2013

She appeared in the independent

screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" is a song written by Harry Noble and originally performed by Karen Chandler in 1952. It has been re-recorded several times since then, the most notable covers being by Mel Carter in 1965 and Gloria Estefan in 1994. ...

'' in 1992, where she played a flirty, aging Southern belle alongside her real mother, actress Mary Lanier. In 1993, Ladd appeared in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Chow?" of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

comedy/

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

series ''

Harts of the West Harts of the West is a humorous contemporary western about a Chicago family moving to a run-down Nevada ranch. The series consisted of 15 hour-long episodes that aired on CBS Saturdays, 9:00 to 10:00 p.m., from September 1993 until June 1994. ...

'' in the role of the mother of co-star

Harley Jane Kozak Harley Jane Kozak (born January 28, 1957) is an American actress and author. She made her film debut in the slasher film ''The House on Sorority Row'' (1982), and had a recurring role as Mary Duvall on the soap opera '' Santa Barbara'' between 1 ...

. The 15-episode program, set on a dude ranch in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, starred Beau Bridges and

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

In 2004, Ladd played

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

Mrs. Druse in the television miniseries of Stephen King's ''

Kingdom Hospital ''Kingdom Hospital'' (sometimes known as ''Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital'') is a thirteen-episode television series based on Lars von Trier's '' The Kingdom'' ( Danish title: ''Riget''), developed by horror writer Stephen King in 2004 for Amer ...

''. In April 2006, Ladd released her first book, ''Spiraling Through The School of Life: A Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Discovery''. In 2007, she co-starred in the

Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...

film ''

Montana Sky ''Montana Sky'' is a 2007 American television film directed by Mike Robe and starring Ashley Williams, John Corbett, and Charlotte Ross. Based on the 1996 Nora Roberts novel of the same name, the film is about a wealthy stock dealer who bequea ...

''. In addition to her Academy Award nomination for ''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'', she was also nominated (again in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category) for both '' Wild at Heart'' and '' Rambling Rose'', both of which she starred alongside her daughter

. Dern received a nomination for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

for ''Rambling Rose''. The dual mother and daughter nominations for Ladd and Dern in ''Rambling Rose'' marked the first time in

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

history that such an event had occurred. They were also nominated for dual Golden Globe Awards in the same year. Ladd has also worked in theatre. She made her Broadway debut in '' Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights'' in 1968. In 1976, she starred in '' A Texas Trilogy: Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander'', for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination. On November 1, 2010, Ladd, Laura Dern, and Bruce Dern received adjoining stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; this is the first time family members have been given such consideration on the Walk. Ladd's star is the 2,421st. She currently stars in the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies a ...

series ''

Chesapeake Shores ''Chesapeake Shores'' is a drama television series, based on the novel series of the same name by Sherryl Woods, produced by Chesapeake Shores Productions Inc in association with Borderline Distribution. The series had a two-hour premiere on the ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * * * *
Diane Ladd biodata (with wrong year of birth)
alicehyatt.com; accessed May 9, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ladd, Diane 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Living people Actresses from Mississippi American film actresses American memoirists American people of German descent American stage actresses American television actresses American women film directors American women memoirists Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award winners Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (television) winners Catholics from Mississippi Dern family Film directors from Mississippi Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female winners People from Laurel, Mississippi People from Meridian, Mississippi Writers from Mississippi Year of birth missing (living people)