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The Academy Award-nominated performer Diane Ladd, a Hollywood veteran has died 89 years old.

The star, with credits featured National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, died at her home in Ojai, California. Her passing was announced in a statement from her offspring, award-winning actress Laura Dern.

Dern, who appeared with her mom in a number of films including Rambling Rose, called her “my amazing 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 grandmother, mother, daughter, performer, creative along with empathetic spirit that seemed almost dreamlike,” she stated. “We were fortunate to know her. She is now with the angels.”

Early Career and Breakthrough

Ladd’s early career featured small roles in television programs including The Fugitive and that decade saw her starring next to actor Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

During that year, 1974, she shared the screen with Ellen Burstyn in the Martin Scorsese celebrated film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Her acting brought Ladd an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

Subsequent Years

In the 1980s, she appeared in the dramatic film Black Widow, a suspense story plus funny follow-up Christmas Vacation and appeared on Alice, a television series based on her earlier movie.

In the subsequent decade, she received a further Oscar nomination for supporting actress Academy Award nomination for her role in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, a cult classic in which she portrayed the parent of her real-life daughter the character played by Dern. A year later she was awarded another nomination for her role in the film Rambling Rose which included Dern.

“This was the film that the late Princess Diana picked as her top choice, and she invited Laura and I to London for a royal premiere and an event dedicated to us,” Ladd recalled about the film Rambling Rose. “And she sat between us, holding both our hands, with tears, watching us perform.”

That decade also saw roles in comedy The Cemetery Club bringing her back with Ellen Burstyn, the movie Primary Colors, a political comedy, featuring John Travolta and the film by Alexander Payne Citizen Ruth where she acted as Laura Dern’s mom another time. The decade also saw her score nominations for Emmy Awards for work on Dr Quinn, the show Grace Under Fire and Touched by an Angel, a drama.

Partnerships with Her Daughter

She persisted in performing with her daughter in dramatic comedies the film Daddy and Them, David Lynch’s the movie Inland Empire and White’s satirical show Enlightened. She was also seen next to Sandra Bullock in the film 28 Days, Anthony Hopkins, a legend in The World’s Fastest Indian and with Jennifer Lawrence in the film Joy.

Her more recent television parts included the series Ray Donovan and Young Sheldon, a comedy.

Behind the Camera

She additionally penned and oversaw the comedy the movie Mrs Munck that included her and previous spouse actor Bruce Dern. “Bruce is a great actor,” she noted. “I was honored to direct him in a film. Indeed, I am the sole female in recorded history to direct her ex-husband. I humorously say: ‘I advise females, if you want revenge, guide your former spouse.’ However, I’m joking.”

Personal Connections

She happened to be the third cousin of the great Tennessee Williams, who she called “a significant impact throughout my life”.

Back in 2018, she received an incorrect diagnosis with lung disease and told her life expectancy was six months yet she recovered completely when her daughter shifted her to a different hospital.

“When you use your pain and prevent it from festering similar to a wound, instead apply it to discover, to illuminate the way for yourself and others, then you are succeeding,” Ladd said.