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US actress Diane Ladd, nominated for 3 Oscars, dies at 89

Ladd’s credits include Chinatown, Primary Colors and Wild at Heart, in which she co-starred with her daughter Laura Dern

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Diane Ladd at the Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California in 2020. The American actress has died at the age of 89. Photo:  EPA
Associated Press

Diane Ladd, the three-time Academy Award nominee whose roles ranged from the brash waitress in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore to the protective mother in Wild at Heart, has died at 89.

Ladd’s death was announced on Monday by her daughter Laura Dern, who issued a statement saying her mother and occasional co-star had died at her home in Ojai, California, with Dern at her side.

Dern, who called Ladd her “amazing hero” and “profound gift of a mother”, did not immediately cite a cause of death.

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“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern wrote.

“We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Diane Ladd and her daugther Laura Dern arrive at the 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony in February 2020. Photo: EPA
Diane Ladd and her daugther Laura Dern arrive at the 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony in February 2020. Photo: EPA

A gifted comic and dramatic performer, Ladd had a long career in television and on stage before breaking through as a film performer in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 release Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

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