I saw the sad news that Diane Ladd passed away yesterday – she was 89.
She began acting at the age of 18 and just retired 3 years ago; her last roles were in Gigi & Nate and Isle of Hope. When she first came to my attention was the year I graduated high school, when she appeared in Chinatown and then Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Both great performances and she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Academy Award and a BAFTA – winning the BAFTA.
One of my favorite of her performances was as Etta, the sister-in-law of Theresa Turner in Black Widow. It wasn’t a huge part but she really made her cool but nasty character sizzle on the screen. The header photo is the best one I can find of her in that role.
I also really liked Rambling Rose in which she plays a southern woman who battles to keep a younger teenager from going under the knife unnecessarily. Here’s a good clip from that:
I also remember a really nice part she played in a Columbo episode. She’s a wheelchair bound woman whose husband kills her mother. She wears pretty, diaphanous dresses and appears fragile, but turns out to be a strong and kind woman. It’s one of my favorite Columbo episodes.
Her part in Alice didn’t do much for me. Of course, the I didn’t care the the show BEFORE she stepped in, but trying to shoehorn her into the role that Flo had vacated didn’t seem to work all that well. But she was popular and did win a Golden Globe for her work.
Most of the news stories today have “mother of Laura Dern” in their titles. It’s a shame because I don’t think that’s her big claim to fame. She had a long, diverse and entertaining career; that’s what the headlines should be!
Have you seen Diane Ladd in anything? Do you have a favorite?
Trail Baboon 
Smaller parts, but The Reivers, a marvelous quiet movie few remember. And a movie I have on my list of enchanting failures, Something Wicked This Way Comes.
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Diane Ladd played Flo in the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. It was a wonderful movie, and I recall her performance as superb. Later Flo became a cort of caricature in the far inferior TC show based on the movie.
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I have seen very few of her movies, but that’s mainly because I see very few movies – would you believe I’ve never seen the entire Chinatown?
I did love what she did with Flow in “Alice…” , and I see several that I would now like to see, esp. Rambling Rose.
Boy, it seems like a lot of actors are passing lately.
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What is even more distressing is that their ages are getting closer to my age. Diane Keaton was only 79 years old and that is getting too close for me!
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
I did not know Diane Ladd’s work well. A lot of her movies and work came between 1981 and 3 years ago when her career ended, when I often did not pay attention due to parenting, career, and extended family demands. I completely missed “Rambling Rose.” I was surprised to find Robert Duvall, one of my very favorite actors, pop up on the screen.
What I do find fascinating is that her face and her daughter’s face have similar expressions and planes that the camera picks up. Laura Dern’s face also has similarities to her father’s face. The way genetics are reflected from generation to generation is always fascinating to me.
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I don’t know much of her work. I’ll look for it more closely.
At the risk of embarrassment, I confess when first seeing a banner notification, I read it as one of Charlie’s Angels who had died.
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Ha ha. No relation!
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I’ve seen Chinatown, and that’s about all I know her from.
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One of the things that I discovered when I was looking up details for this post was that Diane Ladd did not pass up small roles. For example, Etta in Black Widow. She was only in two actual scenes, totaling maybe five minutes. But she was quite memorable.
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I recognized her from Chinatown the most. Beautiful actress, didn’t even know that she was Laura Dern’s mother until today! How interesting.
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Me too, about not realizing she was LD’s mom.
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Welcome to the Trail!
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She had interesting roles. I watch more movies in winter. It is time for a Diane Ladd Film Festival.
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Start with Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
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OT – I hope everyone got outside to gaze at tonight’s beaver moon. Did you see any Northern Lights while you were at it?
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No, but a friend of mine in the country did… Shared on FB…
And you’re right, the moon is gorgeous.
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I didn’t see any of the Lights, but I did see the moon on the way to and from the bakery yesterday morning. Simply amazing.
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