Diane Ladd
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| Diane Ladd | |
| Birth name | Rose Diane Lanier |
| Born | November 29, 1932 Meridian, Mississippi |
| Spouse(s) | Bruce Dern (divorced) |
| Notable roles | "Flo" in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore |
Diane Ladd (b. November 29, 1932, Meridian, Mississippi) is an American television and film actress. She was born Rose Diane Lanier and raised Catholic. She is a distant relation of the playwright Tennessee Williams (born Thomas Lanier Williams) on her father's side.
She had a supporting role in Roman Polański'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. Ladd left the series abruptly due to her strained relations with the series' star, Linda Lavin.
In 2004, Ladd played psychic Mrs. Druse in Stephen King's miniseries Kingdom Hospital. In April 2006, Diane Ladd released her first book entitled: Spiraling Through The School Of Life : A Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Discovery.
Ladd was formerly married to actor and one-time co-star, Bruce Dern, by whom she had two children, only one of whom survived, her daughter, film actress Laura Dern, with whom she co-starred in the films Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose.
She also received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for both of those films. Ladd is now married to Robert Charles Hunter.
At this time, there is some contention about her birth year. Some claim she was born in 1932 and others claim 1942; however it must be borne in mind that she began acting in the mid-1950s (as per IMDb).