Diane Ladd Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Diane Ladd
OCCUPATION: Film Actress
BIRTH DATE: November 29, 1942 (Age: 70)
EDUCATION: Louisiana State University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Laurel, Mississippi
Originally: Rose Diane Ladnier
ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius

Best Known For

Diane Lane is a Golden Globe–winning actress of films and TV and the mother of actress Laura Dern.

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Diane Ladd

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On the show, famously set in Mel's Diner, Ladd depicted the charming waitress Belle Dupree and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series.

Mainstream Success

Finally a well-established actress on the Broadway stage, on television and in feature films, Ladd went on to a long and distinguished acting career. Her notable television credits include Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), Grace Under Fire (1994), and Touched by an Angel (1997)—all three of which earned her Emmy Award nominations. Ladd has also turned in numerous acclaimed performances in feature films. She earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Wild at Heart (1990) and made film history with the 1991 film Rambling Rose, for which both Ladd and her daughter, actress Laura Dern, were nominated for Academy Awards (Ladd for Best Supporting Actress and Dern for Best Actress). Ladd's other notable films include Primary Colors (1998) and 28 Days (2000).

Off Camera

Besides her acting career, Diane Ladd has also pursued a lesser-known career as a medical counselor, healer, and proponent of alternative medicine. Ladd says that for several decades she lived a secret second life in addition to her public life as an actress. "For 30 years, which I never talked about in Hollywood, I actually worked with doctors lecturing and doing some medical intuitive counseling both in a medical setting and for the community at large." In 2007, Ladd went public with her health work, publishing Spiraling Through the School of Life: A Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Discovery. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for The National Foundation for Alternative and Integrative Medicine.

Ladd married acclaimed actor Bruce Dern in 1960, when she was only 18. Ladd gave birth to her first daughter, Diane, in 1961, but the child drowned in a tragic swimming accident when only 18 months old. In 1967, the couple had a second daughter, Laura Dern, who has followed in her mother's footsteps as a popular and acclaimed actress. Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern divorced in 1969, and she married William Shea Jr. in 1973, but after four years that marriage also ended in divorce. In 1998, Ladd married her third husband, Robert Charles Hunter, and they have since formed a production company named Exxcell Entertainment.

While Ladd continues to act in feature films and on television, she also travels the country offering motivational speeches and personal consultations on health, healing, and alternative medicine. She says, "If I can help one person in this world, then it's enough, and I've done my job." Ladd has a personal motto, inspired by her Southern roots, that she likes to share in her speeches and consultations: "Have a little faith, kick a little dirt."