SO. Diane Ladd, Oscar-Nominated Actress and Mother to Laura Dern, Dies at 89

• Diane Ladd, actress and mother to Laura Dern, has died at 89
• She was best known for the 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
• Ladd was nominated for three Oscars and three Emmys over the course of her career

Diane Ladd, actress and mother to Laura Dern, has died. She was 89 years old.

“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.,” Dern, 58, said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Monday, Nov. 3.

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she added. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

Ladd’s numerous movie and TV credits included Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (and the TV sitcom Alice, based on the 1974 film), Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose. She was nominated for three Oscars and three Emmys.

Born on Nov. 29, 1935, in Laurel, Miss., Ladd was the only child of veterinarian Preston Paul Ladner and actress Mary Bernadette Ladner, and she began acting, dancing and singing at a young age, according to Life After 50.

Ladd — who shortened her last name from Ladner when she started working in Hollywood — appeared on numerous TV shows like Naked City, Perry Mason and Mr. Novak in the ‘50s and ‘60s. She earned her first official film credit in the 1966 crime drama The Wild Angels, costarring Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern and Peter Fonda, her longtime friend and collaborator. 

In August 2019, Ladd shared a memory of being on set with the late Fonda and future husband Dern.

“I remember when we were filming Wild Angels, my very first film, we were practically children back then,” Ladd told PEOPLE. “It was a foggy night, and some bikers came up the mountain and threatened to tie Peter and another crew member to a generator… [but] Peter and Bruce Dern protected us and led us all to safety. His courage always shined through like that.” 

Eight years after her major film debut, Ladd starred in Martin Scorsese‘s 1974 dramedy Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore — receiving her first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress for her performance as Flo. The film spawned the CBS spinoff Alice, which earned Ladd a Golden Globe for best supporting actress on a TV series in 1981.

Following Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Ladd continued her acting career on the big screen in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), 28 Days (2000), Charlie’s War (2003), Joy (2015) and Gigi & Nate (2022). She also had recurring roles on TV series like Kingdom Hospital and Chesapeake Shores.

Despite Ladd’s initial opposition, her daughter Laura followed in her footsteps and worked alongside her mother and her father, Bruce Dern, in several films. Ladd and Laura’s first film together was 1990’s Wild at Heart, which earned Ladd her second best supporting actress Oscar nod for her turn as Marietta Fortune.

The pair followed up with 1991’s Rambling Rose, both receiving Academy Award nominations for their performances in the drama — Laura for best actress and Ladd for best supporting actress. They reunited on-screen again in 1996’s Citizen Ruth and 2006’s Inland Empire, as well as on the HBO series Enlightened.

Ladd was married three times. Before her seven-year marriage to William A. Shea, Jr. from 1969 to 1976, Ladd wed Bruce Dern in 1960. They had two daughters together — Diane and Laura.

Diane died in a swimming pool accident at 18 months. “She hit her head and knocked herself out. And it all happened instantly. And she died, and you will never get over that,” Ladd told CBS News in 2023. “I don’t care what you say to yourself. I don’t care who says what. The child is not supposed to die before the parent.”

The actress told Parade in 1992 that Diana’s drowning led to her divorce from Bruce in 1969 after nine years of marriage. 

“We suffered the tragedy of our daughter’s death together and thought another child would help us, but we were so bruised,” Ladd said before admitting that she struggled trying to shield Laura from danger and the limelight.

She continued, “I was terrified, being on my own with Laura. I had to force myself not to be overly protective because I had lost one child. The result was that it worked the other way. I allowed her to be a free thinker, and that helped her become her own person.”

“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!'” Laura told PEOPLE in May 2018.

After the release of Ladd’s two books, Spiraling Through the School of Life: A Mental, Physical and Spiritual Discovery in 2006 and A Bad Afternoon for a Piece of Cake in 2016, she and Laura published the joint memoir Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding) in 2023. The book was inspired by a series of conversations after Ladd’s diagnosis with a life-threatening lung disease — idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — in 2018. Laura explained to PEOPLE in January 2023 that “all the deep listening filled us with love, and it was very healing.”

“We started taking walks,” Laura said. “Walks that resulted in us having the deepest, most honest and even the funniest conversations of our lives together. This book is the result of not waiting to share it all and has brought us closer than ever.”

When asked what was the most important thing they learned about each other, Ladd told PEOPLE: “As parents, we do not tell our children all of our truths because we want to be loved and respected. So honestly, we lie a little. What I discovered is that there were things I hadn’t told her that I should have because I felt it would make her feel guilty or burdened. Instead, it was a release for her.”

Laura added of her mother,” She has the most open, honest face. You know what she’s feeling. It’s an amazing thing to have as a gift because I always knew I was loved. Even when it was a ferocious face or an angry face, it was so full and told so many stories that I always felt the love coming from her.”

Ladd’s husband, Robert Charles Hunter, whom she married in 1999, died early this year in July at age 77.