Ladd was a no-nonsense Southern belle who brought together strength, vulnerability, silliness, and charm throughout her career.
She was married to Bruce Dern for nine years, starting in 1960, and was a second cousin of Tennessee Williams. She was part of a real show business family.
Ladd was in her late 30s and had appeared often on TV and on stage when she landed a role that perfectly fit her talents: Flo, the sassy, straightforward waitress with a big hairdo in Martin Scorsese’s *Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore* (1974).
Ellen Burstyn was the main star of the movie, but Diane Ladd brought a lot of laughter. Her funny lines like "Kiss me where the sun don't shine" and "I could lay under you, eat fried chicken and do a crossword puzzle at the same time, that's how much you bother me" made people laugh a lot. She also had some touching moments where she became friendly with Alice.
Roger Ebert, who wrote about the movie, said it had great scenes.
For example, Alice had a conversation with another waitress who had a lot of colorful words. They became friends and had an honest chat while sunbathing. That scene worked really well.
Scorsese worked with actors who had stage training and let them come up with their own lines.
In a 2014 interview, she said, "The scene where we were sitting outside with the sun on our face was improvised.
My father's name was Preston Paul. So when I said, 'My daddy's P.P., and don't call me P.P., because I'm all your-in,' that was a line he used to say that I added to the movie. Marty let us bring our own ideas to the table."
Diane Ladd's ability to improvise helped her get the role of Marietta Fortune in Wild at Heart.
Marietta is a controlling and emotionally troubled mother of Lula, played by Laura Dern. Under David Lynch's direction, Ladd brought a lot of energy to the character, who tries to seduce her daughter's boyfriend, Nicolas Cage. When he rejects her, she plans revenge.
Peter Travers wrote that Ladd brought a lot of energy to the role.
He mentioned a line Marietta says, "No tongue — my lipstick," as Johnnie tries to steal a kiss.
Diane Ladd and her daughter Laura Dern were in the same movie, Rambling Rose, directed by Martha Coolidge.
Ladd got her third Oscar nomination for playing the matriarch of a Southern family whose life is turned upside down when her daughter, played by Laura Dern, is hired as a servant. Ladd's character tries to help the troubled young woman with care and thoughtfulness.
At the Academy Awards, Ladd was nominated but didn't win.
She lost to Ingrid Bergman in 1975, Whoopi Goldberg in 1991, and Mercedes Ruehl in 1992.
Diane Ladd was born on November 29, 1935, in Meridian, Mississippi.
Her father was a veterinarian. She described her mother, Mary, as "a beautiful, blue-eyed, gracious housewife."
After high school, she went to New Orleans to attend finishing school and sang with the Dixie Hi De Ho Jo jazz band on weekends.
She was offered a law scholarship at LSU but chose acting instead. She got a role in Room Service at the Gallery Circle Theater in New Orleans.
Actor John Carradine saw her in that play and gave her a role in his touring production of Tobacco Road.
Shortly after, she was in New York City, dancing as a Copa Girl at the Copacabana nightclub.
In 1958, Ladd met Bruce Dern, a castmate in an off-Broadway play called Orpheus Descending.
She then appeared opposite Robert De Niro in One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger and with Jane Fonda in Woman Speak, then co-starred with Ben Gazzara in a national tour of A Hatful of Rain.
Ladd made her first appearance on Broadway in 1968 in the play "Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights." The play was directed by Sidney Poitier and had stars like Louis Gossett Jr., David Steinberg, and Cicely Tyson.
At the same time, Ladd was getting a lot of work on TV shows.
She appeared in series like "The Detectives," "Naked City," "77 Sunset Strip," "Perry Mason," "Hazel," "The Fugitive," "Ironside," and "Then Came Bronson."
Her first movie role was in "The Wild Angels" in 1966.
It was one of Roger Corman's films about youth and motorcycles. She acted with Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, and Bruce Dern. After that, she had parts in "The Reivers" (1969), "Rebel Rousers" (1970), "The Steagle" (1971), and "White Lightning" (1973).
She played an important character named Ida Sessions, a prostitute, in "Chinatown" in 1974.
"Laura Dern also started her acting career in the movie 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.'
At the age of seven, she can be seen eating an ice cream cone at the end of the movie in a diner."
In 1976, the movie was turned into a TV show called "Alice" on CBS.
It starred Linda Lavin as Alice, and Polly Holliday played Flo. When Polly left in 1980 for her own comedy show, Ladd was brought in to play Belle Dupree, a strong-willed waitress who had a past with the diner owner, Mel. Ladd won a Golden Globe for her performance but left after one season.
In a 1990 interview with the French magazine Positif, David Lynch talked about the difficulties of working with Ladd on "Wild at Heart."
He said that in her first scene, she was far from the script he had written. She captured the spirit of the scene perfectly, but she didn't say the exact words. After talking to her, they worked well together. She wasn't good at sticking to the dialogue, but she really loved getting lost in the emotions of the scene, which was a lot to handle.
Ladd and Laura Dern played mother and daughter on the HBO series "Enlightened" from 2011 to 2013.
They also worked together in movies like "Citizen Ruth" (1996), "Daddy and Them" (2001), and "Inland Empire" (2006). In 1993, they were in two different dinosaur movies: Dern in "Jurassic Park" and Ladd in "Carnosaur."
Ladd also had roles in films like "All Night Long" (1981), "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (1983), "Black Widow" (1987), "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989), "A Kiss Before Dying" (1991), "The Cemetery Club" (1993), "Ghosts of Mississippi" (1996), "Primary Colors" (1998), "28 Days" (2000), "Charlie's War" (2003), and "Joy" (2015).
She wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy thriller "Mrs. Munck" in 1995.
She cast her ex-husband and Shelley Winters, who was also Laura's godmother.
Ladd was also nominated for Emmys for playing Brett Butler's mom on "Grace Under Fire," a midwife who dies in the first episode of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," and for a guest role on "Touched by an Angel."
Recently, she played the head of the O'Brien family on the Hallmark Channel show "Chesapeake Shores."
Ladd was married to Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969.
They had another daughter named Diane Elizabeth, who died in an accident when she was 18 months old.
Ladd was a long-time member of the SAG board.
She received the Ralph Morgan Award for her service to the guild. She was also married to businessman William Shea Jr. from 1973 to 1976 and to Robert Charles Hunter, a PepsiCo executive, from 1999 until his death in July.
Survivors include her grandchildren, Ellery and Jaya.
Bruce Dern said in a statement:
"Di was a great actress, and I felt like a hidden treasure until I met David Lynch.
When he cast her as Laura's mom in 'Wild at Heart,' it felt like the world finally understood her brilliance.
She lived a good life.
She saw everything for what it was. She was a good teammate to other actors. She was funny, smart, and kind. But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our amazing daughter. For that, I will always be grateful."
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