Laura Dern paid tribute to her late mother Diane Ladd on what would have been her 90th birthday, just weeks after the celebrated actress’s death.
On Sunday, Dern shared a black-and-white portrait of her mom alongside a heartfelt caption, which read ‘Happy birthday to my hero, the most extraordinary person I have ever known, on what would have been her 90th today.’
‘As an artist and human being, you were always loving, always dreaming, always creating, and ever in service for all. I love you, Mom,’ she concluded.
Ladd, best known for her role as Flo in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died earlier this month at age 89 at her home in Ojai, California.
Dern, 58, confirmed the loss in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, ‘My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Calif.’
She described Ladd as ‘the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,’ adding, ‘We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.’
Laura Dern paid poignant tribute to her late mother Diane Ladd on what would have been her 90th birthday, just weeks after the celebrated actress’s death
Ladd enjoyed one of Hollywood’s most prolific careers, earning three Academy Award nominations for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), Wild at Heart (1990) and Rambling Rose (1991).
Over more than 300 film and television appearances, her work ranged from Stephen King’s 2004 ABC horror series to roles in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), 28 Days (2000), Charlie’s War (2003) and Joy (2015).
Her final TV role was as matriarch Nell O’Brien in Chesapeake Shores from 2016 to 2022, and she completed her last film performance in the 2022 drama Gigi & Nate.
She also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed 1995 film Mrs. Munck.
In 1992, she and Dern made Oscars history as the first mother-daughter pair to earn acting nominations in the same year for Rambling Rose, a film reportedly singled out by Princess Diana as a personal favorite and given a Royal premiere in London.
In 2018, Ladd faced a terrifying health scare after inhaling poison spray from a neighboring farm, which was initially misdiagnosed as pneumonia and left her with a constricted esophagus.
Doctors predicted she had only months to live, but Dern sought alternative treatment and transferred her to another hospital, where she ultimately made a full recovery.
Determined to help her mother rebuild her lung strength, Dern accompanied her on long walks and began recording their conversations, which became the foundation of their 2023 joint memoir Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother And Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (And Banana Pudding).
‘As an artist and human being, you were always loving, always dreaming, always creating, and ever in service for all. I love you, Mom,’ she concluded; seen in 2020
The book was praised by The Telegraph as ‘the best, truest, most shockingly entertaining Hollywood memoir… it is also one of the most loving.’
Their memoir explores their deeply bonded yet candid relationship.
In one exchange, Ladd asks, ‘Do you feel like I screwed you up?’ to which Dern replies, ‘Absolutely.’
Ladd reflects on slapping her daughter during a moment of stress, saying, ‘You mouthed off to me, and I’d had a horrible day… I thought, ‘What am I doing wrong as a parent?’
Ladd, best known for her role as Flo in Martin Scorsese ‘s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, died earlier this month at age 89 at her home in Ojai, California; seen in 2023
Dern replies that she was 14 at the time and remembered her mother being ‘really unhappy at work and wanted to come home and blame someone else.’
Ladd and Dern collaborated frequently throughout their careers on projects including Enlightened, Inland Empire, Damaged Care, Daddy & Them, Citizen Ruth, The Siege at Ruby Ridge and more.
Dern has said her mother initially tried to steer her away from acting, telling People in 2018, ‘I think the quote of my mother’s was, ‘Be a lawyer, be a doctor, be a leper missionary, but don’t be an actress!’
Ladd shared daughter Laura with her ex-husband Bruce Dern, 89, to whom she was married from 1960 to 1969.
Ladd and Dern pictured at the First Annual Actors Studio Awards Dinner at the Waldorf Hotel in New York; seen in 1980
Ladd starred in more than 300 films and TV shows including Stephen King’s 2004 supernatural horror television series for ABC (seen in 2010)
Bruce paid tribute to his former wife in a statement to Us Weekly, saying, ‘She lived a good life.
She saw everything the way it was.’ He called her ‘funny, clever, gracious’ and ‘a great teammate to her fellow actors,’ adding, ‘But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter. And for that I will be forever grateful to her.’
The couple’s first daughter, also named Diane, died tragically at 18 months after falling into a pool.
Laura was born five years later. Ladd is survived by Dern and her two grandchildren, Ellery Walker Harper, 24, and Jaya Harper, 20.
