Diane Ladd, acclaimed star of film and television and mother of actress Laura Dern, has died at age 89, leaving a legacy of artistic excellence and empathy.
Diane Ladd, the celebrated American actress known for her rich body of work across film, television, and stage, has died at the age of 89. Her daughter, Oscar-winning actress Laura Dern, confirmed the news in a heartfelt statement released on Monday November 3, 2025.
“My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning,” Dern said. She noted that Ladd’s final moments were peaceful and spent at home in California. No cause of death was shared.
Ladd, a three-time Academy Award nominee, forged a dynamic career spanning nearly seven decades. Her breakthrough came in 1974 with Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, where she played a sharp-tongued waitress — a role that earned her the first of her three Oscar nods. Her later nominations came for roles in Wild at Heart (1990) and Rambling Rose (1991), the latter of which she starred in alongside her daughter.
Read Also: Hollywood’s Tom Holland Suffers Mild Concussion During Filming
Born in Mississippi in 1935, Ladd grew up with a passion for the arts that led her to Hollywood, where she built a career marked by perseverance and emotion. She appeared in over 120 film and television roles, including the David Lynch cult classic Wild at Heart, the acclaimed HBO series Enlightened, and, most recently, the 2022 family drama Gigi & Nate, in which she played a loving grandmother.
Ladd’s personal life was marked by joy and tragedy. She married actor Bruce Dern in 1960, and together they had two children: Laura and a daughter named Diane Elizabeth, who died at 18 months old in a tragic drowning accident. Ladd spoke openly about her grief in later years, telling CBS in 2023 that such tragedy “never leaves you.”
Her close bond with Laura Dern became both a personal and professional anchor. They made history as the first mother-daughter duo to be nominated for Oscars for the same film, Rambling Rose. In 2023, the pair released a reflective memoir, Honey, Baby, Mine, chronicling their shared journey through love, loss, and legacy.
Remembering her mother, Dern called Ladd “the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could create.” Ladd, who once tried to dissuade her daughter from acting, ultimately left a cinematic legacy that will endure for generations.
