Happy 85th Birthday Diane Ladd

Today is the 85th Birthday of the amazing actress Diane Ladd. She has has a long career full of amazing work, but if you only see one film, see Wild at Heart.  You will want to see everything she has ever done. The world is a better place because she is in it.

NAME: Diane Ladd
OCCUPATION: Film Actress
BIRTH DATE: November 29, 1935/1942
EDUCATION: Louisiana State University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Laurel, Mississippi
ORIGINALLY: Rose Diane Ladnier
GOLDEN GLOBE 1981 for Alice (television)
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME 6270 Hollywood Blvd. (2010)

BEST KNOWN FOR: Diane Lane is a Golden Globe–winning actress of films and TV and the mother of actress Laura Dern.

Diane Ladd  is an American actress, film director, producer and published author. She has appeared in over 120 roles, on television, and in miniseries and feature films, including Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), Wild at Heart (1990), Rambling Rose (1991), Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary Colors, 28 Days (2000), and American Cowslip (2008). Twice divorced and currently married, Ladd is the mother of actress Laura Dern by ex-husband actor Bruce Dern.

Ladd was born Rose Diane Ladner in Meridian, Mississippi in 1932, the only child of Mary Bernadette, a housewife and actress, and Preston Paul Ladner, a poulterer. Ladd is a second cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams and is also related to poet Sidney Lanier.  Ladd was raised in the Roman Catholic faith of her mother.

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Ladd was formerly married to actor and one-time co-star Bruce Dern from 1960–1969; the couple had two children, Diane Elizabeth Dern and actress Laura Elizabeth Dern. Diane died at 18 months from head injuries caused by falling into a swimming pool.  Ladd and Laura Dern co-starred in the films Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose.  They also appeared together in Inland Empire, another film by David Lynch.  They most recently have co-starred on the HBO series Enlightened. Ladd is now married to Robert Charles Hunter.

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 TV series Alice, in which Flo was portrayed by Polly Holliday.  When Holliday left the TV series, Ladd succeeded her as waitress Isabelle “Belle” Dupree.  In 1993, Ladd appeared in the episode “Guess Who’s Coming to Chow?” of the CBS comedy/western series Harts of the West in the role of the mother of co-star Harley Jane Kozak. The 15-episode program, set on a dude ranch in Nevada starred Beau Bridges and Lloyd Bridges.

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 entitled: Spiraling Through The School Of Life: A Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Discovery. In 2007, she co-starred in the Lifetime Television film Montana Sky.

In addition to her Academy Award nomination for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, she was also nominated (again in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category) for both Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, both of which she starred alongside her daughter Laura Dern.  Dern received a nomination for Best Actress for Rambling Rose. The dual mother and daughter nominations for Ladd and Dern in Rambling Rose marked the first time in Academy Award history that such an event had occurred.  They were also nominated for dual Golden Globe Awards in the same year.

Ladd has worked in the theatre as well. She made her Broadway debut in the play Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights in 1968. In 1976 she starred in the play, A Texas Trilogy: Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander, for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Murder, Inc.	Showgirl	Uncredited
1961	Something Wild	Bit Part	Uncredited
1962	40 Pounds of Trouble	Young Bride on Honeymoon	Uncredited
1966	The Wild Angels	Gaysh
1969	The Reivers	Phoebe
1970	The Rebel Rousers	Karen	Shot in 1967
1970	Macho Callahan	Girl
1970	WUSA	Barmaid at Railroad Station	Uncredited
1971	The Steagle	Mrs. Forbes
1973	White Lightning	Maggie
1974	Chinatown	Ida Sessions
1974	Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore	Flo
1976	Embryo	Martha Douglas
1981	All Night Long	Helen Dupler
1983	Something Wicked This Way Comes	Mrs. Nightshade
1983	Sweetwater	Lucy
1987	Black Widow	Etta
1987	Plain Clothes	Jane Melway
1989	National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation	Nora Griswold
1990	Wild at Heart	Marietta Fortune
1991	A Kiss Before Dying	Mrs. Corliss
1991	Rambling Rose	Mother
1992	Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me	Lucille
1992	Forever	Mabel Normand
1992	Spies Inc.	Alice
1993	The Cemetery Club	Lucille Rubin
1993	Carnosaur	Dr. Jane Tiptree
1993	Father Hood	Rita
1995	Mother	Olivia Hendrix	Also co-producer
1995	Mrs. Munck	Mrs. Munck	Also writer and director
1995	Raging Angels	Sister Kate
1996	Citizen Ruth	Ruth’s Mother	Uncredited
1996	Ghosts of Mississippi	Grandma Caroline Moore
1997	James Dean: Race with Destiny	Mama Pierangeli
1998	Primary Colors	Mamma Stanton
1998	Route 66
1999	Can’t Be Heaven	Nona Gina
2000	28 Days	Bobbie Jean
2000	The Law of Enclosures	Bea
2001	Daddy and Them	Jewel
2001	Rain	Audrey Turnquick
2002	Redemption of the Ghost	Aunt Helen
2002	More than Puppy Love	Aunt Edna
2002	The Virgin
2003	Charlie’s War	Jobie
2005	The World’s Fastest Indian	Ada
2006	Come Early Morning	Nana
2006	When I Find the Ocean	Edna
2006	Inland Empire	Marilyn Levens
2008	Jake’s Corner	Fran
2008	American Cowslip	Roe
2013	Grave Secrets	Emily Barnes
2014	Just Before I Go	Mamma	Uncredited
2015	I Dream Too Much	Vera
2015	Joy	Mimi
2016	Sophie and the Rising Sun	Ruth Jeffers
2016	Amerigeddon	Betty
2016	Boonville Redemption	Grandma Mary
2019	The Last Full Measure	Alice Pitsenbarger

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Decoy	Selma Richmond	Episode: “Two Days to Kill”
1958	The Big Story	Vera	Episode: “The Small of Death”
1958	The Walter Winchell File	Lois	Episode: “A Thing of Beauty: File #29”
1958–1959	Naked City	Kathie Mills / Yankee Cretias	2 episodes
1959	Deadline	Judy	Episode: “Victor Reisel”
1961	The Detectives	Gloria Tyler	Episode: “Act of God”
1963	Wide Country	Alma Prewitt	Episode: “Step Over the Sky”
1963	Armstrong Circle Theatre	Charlotte Cable	Episode: “The Counterfeit League”
1963	77 Sunset Strip	Helen Saunders	Episode: “The Left Field Caper”
1963	Perry Mason	Miss Frances	Episode: “The Case of the Shifty Shoebox”
1963	Mr. Novak	Mrs. Otis	Episode: “I Don’t Even Live Here”
1963	Hazel	Sharlene	Episode: “George’s 32nd Cousin”
1964	The Fugitive	Stella	Episode: “Come Watch Me Die”
1964	The Great Adventure	Annie Thompson	Episode: “Rodger Young”
1964	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Cissy	Episode: “The Game with Glass Pieces”
1964–1967	Gunsmoke	Bonnie Mae Haley / Lulu / Elena Kerlin	3 episodes
1966	Daniel Boone	Ronda Cameron	Episode: “Seminole Territory”
1966	Shane	Amy Sloate	Episode: “The Distant Bell”
1967	The Big Valley	Muriel Akely	Episode: “Boy into Man”
1968	Ironside	Peggy Barnard	Episode: “Robert Phillips vs. the Man”
1969	Then Came Bronson	Valerie Faber	Episode: “Old Tigers Never Die–They Just Run Away”
1971–1972	The Secret Storm	Kitty Styles #2	Unknown episodes
1973	The Devil’s Daughter	Alice Shaw	TV movie
1975	Movin’ On	Amy	Episode: “General Delivery”
1976	City of Angels	Laura	Episode: “The November Plan: Part 1”
1976	Addie and the King of Hearts	Irene Davis	TV movie
1977	The November Plan	Laura Taylor	TV movie
1978	Black Beauty	Amelia Gordon	Miniseries
1978	Thaddeus Rose and Eddie	Carlotta	TV movie
1979	Willa	Mae	TV movie
1980	Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones	Lynette Jones	TV movie
1980–1981	Alice	Belle Dupree	22 episodes
1980–1985	The Love Boat	Christa Johanson / Bernice Bronson / Ruby Gibson	3 episodes
1982	Desperate Lives	Carol Cameron	TV movie
1983	Grace Kelly	Margaret Kelly	TV movie
1983	Faerie Tale Theatre	Mother	Episode: “Little Red Riding Hood”
1984	I Married a Centerfold	Jeanette Bryan	TV movie
1985	Crime of Innocence	Rose Hayward	TV movie
1987	Celebration Family	Mrs. Heflin	TV movie
1988	Bluegrass	Verna Howland	TV movie
1989	Father Dowling Mysteries	Arlene	Episode: “The Face in the Mirror Mystery”
1989	Heartland	Marjorie	Episode: “B.L. Moves Out”
1990	Rock Hudson	Kay	TV movie
1990	In the Heat of the Night	Maybelle Cheseboro	Episode: “Home Is Where the Heart Is”
1990	The Lookalike	Mary Helen Needam	TV movie
1991	Shadow of a Doubt	Emma	TV movie
1992	Middle Ages	Bebe Cooper	Episode: “Forever Young”
1993	L.A. Law	Celeste Bauman	Episode: “Cold Shower”
1993	Harts of the West	Alison’s Mom	Episode: “Guess Who’s Coming to Chow?”
1993	Sisters	Belle Adderly	Episode: “The Best Intentions”
1993	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Charlotte Cooper	2 episodes
1994	Hush Little Baby	Edie	TV movie
1994	The Gift	Evie	TV short
1996	The Siege at Ruby Ridge	Irma Coulter	TV movie
1996	Cold Lazarus	Martina Masdon	Miniseries; 3 episodes
1997	Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops 2	Aunt Shelly Fein	TV movie
1997	Touched by an Angel	Carolyn Sellers	Episode: “An Angel by Any Other Name”
1997	Get a Clue	Berthe Erica Crow	TV movie
1998	The Staircase	Sister Margaret	TV movie
2000	Best Actress	Herself	TV movie
2000	Sharing the Secret	Nina’s Mother	TV movie
2000	Strong Medicine	Annabelle Lee Stowe	2 episodes
2000	Christy: Return to Cutter Gap	Alice Henderson	TV movie
2001	Christy, Choices of the Heart	Alice Henderson	2 episodes
2002	Living with the Dead	Regina Van Praagh	TV movie
2002	Damaged Care	Mary “Rhodie” Rhodes	TV movie
2003	Aftermath	Mother	TV movie
2004	Gracie’s Choice	Louela Lawson	TV movie
2004	Kingdom Hospital	Sally Druse	13 episodes
2005	Cold Case	Zelda Amatuzzi (2005)	Episode: “Committed”
2006	ER	Mrs. Pooler	Episode: “No Place to Hide”
2007	Montana Sky	Bess	TV movie
2008	Menace	Roszko’s Mother	TV movie
2011–2013	Enlightened	Helen Jellicoe	16 episodes
2012	Deadtime Stories	Barnsey	Episode: “Grave Secrets”
2016	Ray Donovan	Motel Lady	Episode: “Federal Boobie Inspector”
2016–present	Chesapeake Shores	Nell O’Brien	29 episodes