Diane Ladd died from acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure, according to a death certificate released two weeks after the veteran actor’s death at age 89.
The document, obtained by People on Nov. 17, lists the respiratory condition as the immediate cause.
It also states that Ladd had interstitial lung disease for several years before her death and identifies esophageal dysmotility as another contributing factor. The record shows she was cremated on Nov. 10.
Ladd died on Nov. 3 at her home in Ojai, California.
The death was announced the same day by her daughter, actor Laura Dern.
In a statement, Dern described her mother as “my amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother,” adding that Ladd “passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Calif.”
Dern also said, “She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created. We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
Ladd built a long career across film, television and stage, gaining widespread attention through her work in the early 1970s.
Her role as Flo in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” marked her breakthrough in Hollywood and earned her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
She went on to appear in numerous productions over the following decades, taking on both comic and dramatic parts.
Her subsequent film credits included “Chinatown,” “Primary Colors” and two additional roles that earned her Oscar nominations for best supporting actress: “Wild at Heart” and “Rambling Rose.”
Dern co-starred with her mother in both of those films.
She continued working regularly in television, including appearances in “ER,” “Touched by an Angel," and “Alice,” the TV adaptation of Scorsese’s movie.
Over the course of her life, Ladd married three times and was divorced twice.
Her marriage to actor Bruce Dern ended in the mid-1970s, the same period in which she also divorced William A. Shea Jr.
Her third marriage, to author and former PepsiCo executive Robert Charles Hunter, began in 1999 and continued until his death in August of this year.
Bruce Dern issued a statement on the day Ladd died, describing her contributions to the entertainment industry and her long involvement with the performers’ union.
“She was a great value as a decades-long board member of [SAG-AFTRA], giving a real actress’ point of view,” he said, according to People. “She lived a good life. She saw everything the way it was. She was a great teammate to her fellow actors. She was funny, clever, gracious.”
He added, “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 Associated Press contributed to this report
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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