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Diane Ladd
Rose Diane Ladd (née Ladner; November 29, 1935 – November 3, 2025) was an American actress. With a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in over 200 films and television shows, receiving three Academy Award nominations for her roles in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Wild at Heart (1990) and Rambling Rose (1991), the first of which won her a BAFTA Award. She was also nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards, winning one for her role in the sitcom Alice (1980–1981).
Ladd's other film appearances included Chinatown (1974), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Primary Colors (1998), 28 Days (2000) and Joy (2015). She was the mother of actress Laura Dern, with her ex-husband, actor Bruce Dern.
Ladd was born Rose Diane Ladner, the only child of Mary Bernadette Ladner (née Anderson; 1912–2002), a housewife and actress, and Preston Paul Ladner (1906–1982), a veterinarian who sold products for poultry and livestock. She was born in Laurel, Mississippi, on November 29, 1935, while the family was visiting relatives for Thanksgiving, though they lived in Meridian, Mississippi. Ladd was related to playwright Tennessee Williams and poet Sidney Lanier. Ladd was raised in her mother's Roman Catholic faith.
In 1953, while living in New Orleans, Ladd was cast in a production of the Jack Kirkland play Tobacco Road, and later moved to New York City, where she acted on stage and screen.
Ladd met Bruce Dern in an off Broadway production of Orpheus Descending in 1960; during the course of the production they got married. Together they appeared in several films including The Wild Angel and The Rebel Rousers in the 1960s, Mrs. Munck in 1995, and American Cowslip in 2009.
In 1971, Ladd joined the cast of the CBS soap opera The Secret Storm. 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'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. When Holliday left the TV series, Ladd succeeded her as waitress Isabelle "Belle" Dupree.
Her subsequent film appearances included Black Widow (1987), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Primary Colors (1998), 28 Days (2000) and Joy (2015). She appeared in the independent screwball comedy Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me in 1992, where she played a flirty, aging Southern belle alongside her real mother, actress Mary Lanier.
In 2004, Ladd played psychic Mrs. Druse in the television miniseries of Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. 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 film Montana Sky.
Diane Ladd
Rose Diane Ladd (née Ladner; November 29, 1935 – November 3, 2025) was an American actress. With a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in over 200 films and television shows, receiving three Academy Award nominations for her roles in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Wild at Heart (1990) and Rambling Rose (1991), the first of which won her a BAFTA Award. She was also nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards, winning one for her role in the sitcom Alice (1980–1981).
Ladd's other film appearances included Chinatown (1974), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Primary Colors (1998), 28 Days (2000) and Joy (2015). She was the mother of actress Laura Dern, with her ex-husband, actor Bruce Dern.
Ladd was born Rose Diane Ladner, the only child of Mary Bernadette Ladner (née Anderson; 1912–2002), a housewife and actress, and Preston Paul Ladner (1906–1982), a veterinarian who sold products for poultry and livestock. She was born in Laurel, Mississippi, on November 29, 1935, while the family was visiting relatives for Thanksgiving, though they lived in Meridian, Mississippi. Ladd was related to playwright Tennessee Williams and poet Sidney Lanier. Ladd was raised in her mother's Roman Catholic faith.
In 1953, while living in New Orleans, Ladd was cast in a production of the Jack Kirkland play Tobacco Road, and later moved to New York City, where she acted on stage and screen.
Ladd met Bruce Dern in an off Broadway production of Orpheus Descending in 1960; during the course of the production they got married. Together they appeared in several films including The Wild Angel and The Rebel Rousers in the 1960s, Mrs. Munck in 1995, and American Cowslip in 2009.
In 1971, Ladd joined the cast of the CBS soap opera The Secret Storm. 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'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. When Holliday left the TV series, Ladd succeeded her as waitress Isabelle "Belle" Dupree.
Her subsequent film appearances included Black Widow (1987), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Primary Colors (1998), 28 Days (2000) and Joy (2015). She appeared in the independent screwball comedy Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me in 1992, where she played a flirty, aging Southern belle alongside her real mother, actress Mary Lanier.
In 2004, Ladd played psychic Mrs. Druse in the television miniseries of Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. 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 film Montana Sky.
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