The three-time Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd, who died Monday at the age of 89, appeared in films as diverse as “Chinatown” (1974) and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989). But to many, she was known as the mother of Laura Dern, both on and off screen.
Their mother-daughter connection went far beyond the uncredited roles Dern took on in Ladd’s films as a child, like in the Burt Reynolds flick “White Lightning” (1973). Rather, the two had a remarkably fruitful creative partnership. Auteurs like David Lynch and Mike White also recognized the power of putting the two opposite one another.
Ladd initially didn’t want Dern to go into acting, but together they made some of the best work of their careers. Here’s where to stream some of their collaborations.
‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ (1974)
Rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Ladd earned her first Oscar nomination for her role in Martin Scorsese’s drama, about a single mother (Ellen Burstyn), trying to care for her young son while pursuing her own dreams and navigating a new relationship. Ladd, hair piled high, plays Flo, Alice’s fellow diner waitress. Flo and Alice, both tough cookies, are first at odds, but become close confidants. Flo lets Alice in on the secrets of their gig and offers her a shoulder when she’s crying. Dern, who was just a child at the time, makes a brief appearance eating an ice cream cone. Later, Ladd won a Golden Globe for playing a totally different character on “Alice,” a sitcom based on the movie.
‘Wild at Heart’ (1990)
Rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Perhaps Ladd’s most out-of-the-box performance comes alongside her daughter in David Lynch’s riotous love story “Wild at Heart.” Ladd plays Marietta, the crazed mother of Dern’s Lula who wants to torpedo Lula’s relationship with Sailor, played by Nicolas Cage. In her most memorable scene, Ladd covers her face in red lipstick — an action that was not in Lynch’s script. Ladd told Vulture that the moment came about because she was thinking about the way sex is used to sell makeup. “So I took the lipstick, and I’m holding it to put on my lips,” she said. “She’s thinking about her wrist, but she’s putting lipstick on her lips and thinking, ‘Yeah, I’ll attract them, maybe if I put the lipstick bigger. If I use it all over my face, will the whole world come? More, more, more. I’ll use it all.’ So that’s what that was and then the whole face became painted red.” Lynch, of course, loved that choice, and Ladd earned the divisive-at-the-time film its only Oscar nomination.
‘Rambling Rose’ (1991)
Stream it on Kanopy and Hoopla. Rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Both mother and daughter were nominated for Oscars thanks to Martha Coolidge’s Depression-era, Southern tale of Rose (Dern), a young woman brought into the world of the Hillyer family to save her from a hardscrabble life. Rose, a force of unfettered sexuality, falls madly in love with the Hillyer father (Robert Duvall), while his son Buddy (Lukas Haas) develops an obsession with her. However, Ladd’s progressive Mrs. Hillyer, working on a thesis in American history, doesn’t fall into an easy trope of the jealous spouse, instead choosing to care for Rose. Ladd relished the relative normalcy of the role, telling The New York Times in 1990 that she had “never had the role of mother as a normal human being, a normal, neurotic human being.”
‘Citizen Ruth’ (1996)
Stream it on Kanopy. Rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
It’s Ladd who is uncredited in Alexander Payne’s satire, which stars Dern as a paint huffing ne’er do well who unwittingly ends up in the middle of an abortion debate. Ladd briefly plays Ruth’s mother who asks her, “What if I aborted you?” at a rally. Ruth responds with an unprintable statement. According to an interview Dern did with Vulture, Ladd was simply visiting the set when Payne asked her mother if she wanted to jump into the fray. “I had been there for nine weeks, and Alexander was like, ‘Hey, you want to come do something for fun?’ Just the memory of Mom and I getting to say those lines together tickles me,” Dern said.
‘Daddy and Them’ (2001)
Rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Dern and Billy Bob Thornton were a couple when he cast the mother-daughter pair as another mother-daughter pair in “Daddy and Them,” which he wrote and directed. In the chaotic comedy, Dern is Ruby Montgomery, the wife of Claude (Thornton). Claude once dated Ruby’s sister, Rose (Kelly Preston), much to Ruby’s irritation. When Claude’s uncle is put in jail for armed robbery, Ruby’s family, including her mom (Ladd), demands to come along on the trip to Little Rock, Ark. Thornton had left Dern suddenly for Angelina Jolie by the time the movie finally released, after a long delay.
‘Inland Empire’ (2006)
Stream it on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel.
Lynch, Ladd and Dern are reunited for “Inland Empire,” Lynch’s digital video epic, which ended up being his final feature. In Lynch’s complex narrative — which was shot without a final screenplay — Dern is an actress named Nikki Grace, who is taking on a new potentially star-making role that will lead her down an increasingly inexplicable path. Nikki and her co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) sit for an interview with the nosy talk show host Marilyn Levens, played by Ladd. There’s something deeply unnerving about the way she coos at her guests, digging for dirt.
‘Enlightened’ (2011)
Mike White’s underappreciated HBO series “Enlightened” gave both Dern and Ladd juicy roles during its all too short, two-season run. In the pilot, Dern’s Amy Jellicoe has a very public breakdown at her workplace after an affair with her boss. After going through treatment, she moves in with her mother Helen, played, of course, by Ladd. Amy returns from her stint at a paradisiacal rehab with a false sense of optimism; the steadfast Helen has her guard up and is wildly skeptical of her troubled child’s newfound purpose. Their energies collide with one another.
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