Diane Ladd, a three-time Academy Award nominee whose roles ranged from the sassy waitress in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore to the protective mother in Wild at Heart, has died at the age of 89.
Mr. Rudd's death was announced on Monday by his daughter, Laura Dern, who released a statement saying that her mother and occasional co-star passed away at her home in Ojai, California, with Mr. Dern by her side.
Dern called Rudd a “great hero” and “a profound gift from her mother,” but did not immediately discuss the cause of her death.
“She was the best daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist, and empathetic spirit that only a dream could create,” Dern wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is now flying with the angels.”
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A talented comic and drama performer, Rudd had a long career in television and stage before breaking out as a film performer in Martin Scorsese's 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
She earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for her portrayal of the acerbic and candid Flo, and went on to appear in dozens of films over the next few decades.
Her credits include “Chinatown,'' “Primary Colors,'' and two other films in which she received top support, “Wild at Heart'' and “Rambling Rose,'' both of which she co-starred with her daughter.
She continued to work in television, appearing, among others, in the spin-off of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, ER, Touched by Angel and Alice.
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Through marriage and blood ties, Rudd was connected to art. Tennessee Williams is also her cousin, and her first husband, Laura's father, Bruce Dern, was himself an Academy Award nominee. Rudd and Laura Dern achieved the rare feat of being nominated as a mother and daughter for their work on Rambling Rose.
Rudd, a native of Laurel, Mississippi, seemed destined to stand out. In her 2006 memoir, Spiraling Through the School of Life, she recalled being told by her great-grandmother that she would one day stand “in front of a screen” and “command” to her audience.
By the mid-1970s, she had lived up to her destiny and told the New York Times that she was no longer denying herself the right to call herself great.
“I don't say that now,” she said. “I can do Shakespeare, Ibsen, do an English accent, an Irish accent, no accent, do a handstand, tap dance, sing, and I can do it even if I look like I'm 17 or 70.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press