- - All the Times Diane Ladd Shared the Screen with Daughter Laura Dern, From “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” to “Enlightened”

Eric AnderssonNovember 4, 2025 at 4:25 AM

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Diane Ladd and Laura Dern in 'Enlightened.' -

Actress Diane Ladd, who died on Monday, Nov. 3 at age 89, often appeared in projects with her daughter, Emmy and Oscar winner Laura Dern

As a child, Dern had a cameo in her mom's film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore — and later, mother and daughter shared scenes together in projects like Rambling Rose

"I'm proud of Laura because she’s an incredible talent and an incredible actress," Ladd once gushed of her daughter, whom she shared with ex husband, actor Bruce Dern

Screen legend Diane Ladd once tried to dissuade her daughter Laura Dern from following her into show business.

The three-time Oscar nominee — who died on Monday, Nov. 3 at 89 — recalled the conversation to CBS News in 2023, when she and Dern co-wrote the book Honey, Baby, Mine.

"She was only, like, 11 years old, and I said, 'Don't be an actress. Be a doctor, be a lawyer,'" Ladd remembered saying, even though she let Dern, now 58, make a cameo in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore when she was a kid.

"Nobody cares if you put on weight or your chin points when you cry if you're a doctor. They just want you to be the best you can be. But an actress? They care, care, care, care, care,” continued Ladd.

Dern — whose father Bruce Dern, 89, is also an actor and two-time Oscar nominee himself — was firm in her response to her mother, she recalled: "No. It is all I knew.”

Ladd may not have got what she wanted — but she soon saw why Dern was right to insist on being an actress. “I knew you had the gift when I went to a screening of [the 1980 film] Foxes,” she told Dern in a 2023 conversation with The New York Times. “You didn’t have much to do, but my heart just gasped, like when someone opens a little box and there’s this gorgeous diamond inside.”

Over the years, the mother-daughter duo were able to share their gifts together, acting in several projects over the years. Here’s a look back at their moments on screen together.

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

Warner Bros.

Diane Ladd (left) and Laura Dern (right) in 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.'

At 7 years old, Dern appeared as an extra in Martin Scorsese’s romantic drama starring Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson and Ladd, who had a supporting role as waitress Flo. Dern can be seen eating an ice cream cone in the background of the diner where Flo works. “After these many takes and having to eat that many ice cream cones and not getting sick, he [Scorsese] told my mom in front of me that I was going to be an actress and I used that to my benefit for quite a number of years,” Dern told ABC News in 2019.

Wild at Heart (1990)

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Diane Ladd and Laura Dern in 'Wild at Heart.'

Sometimes Ladd and Dern’s costars were amazed they were working together. "I remember on the set of David Lynch's film Wild at Heart, and Nicolas Cage came up behind me and whispers in my ear, 'That's your mom, like, your real mom!'" Dern told CBS in 2023. In the controversial dark comedy, she played Lula, a woman on the run with her ex-con boyfriend (Cage). Ladd played Lula’s domineering mother and earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. Dern described Ladd’s character as “the Wicked Witch of the East, West, North and South.”

Rambling Rose (1991)

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Laura Dern and Diane Ladd in 'Rambling Rose.'

Set in Georgia during the Great Depression, the drama based on the novel of the same name starred Dern as a troubled young woman hired by a family to be their domestic servant. This time, Ladd didn’t play Dern’s mother, but the matriarch of the family who takes her in. Dern and Ladd made history as the first mother and daughter to earn acting Oscar nominations in the same year.

The Siege at Ruby Ridge (1996)

CBS via Getty

Diane Ladd and Laura Dern in 'The Siege at Ruby Ridge.'

CBS’s two-part miniseries was based on the true story of Randy Weaver (Randy Quaid), a White separatist who had a multi-day standoff with the federal officials that resulted in the deaths of his wife Vicki (Dern) and others in 1992. Ladd had a small role as Vicki’s mom.

Citizen Ruth (1996)

Miramax (2)

Diane Ladd (left) and Laura Dern (right) in 'Citizen Ruth.'

The dark and edgy political comedy from director Alexander Payne featured Dern as a pregnant woman who ignites a debate when she seeks to have an abortion. “My favorite cameo ever was that the mom who I’m screaming to in Citizen Ruth was my mother. She had come to visit me and hang out. It was going to be Mother’s Day. 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,” she told Vulture in 2021.

Daddy & Them (2001)

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Laura Dern and Diane Ladd in 'Daddy & Them.'

Director and star Billy Bob Thornton filmed the comedy-drama in 1998, when he was in a relationship with Dern. The pair played a Southern couple who reunite with extended family and Ladd played — you guessed it — Dern’s mother. Ben Affleck, Jamie Lee Curtis, Andy Griffith and Brenda Blethyn also starred.

Damaged Care (2002)

Showtime (2)

Laura Dern (left) and Diane Ladd (right) in 'Damaged Care.'

Showtime’s indictment of the country’s managed care system starred Dern as Dr. Laura Peeno, a real life advocate who moved to make a change when she saw how the industry was putting profits before patients. Ladd appeared as a nun.

Inland Empire (2006)

StudioCanal (2)

Diane Ladd (left) and Laura Dern (right) in 'Inland Empire.'

The two women reunited with Wild at Heart director David Lynch for his psychological thriller about an actress named Nikki Grace (Dern) who loses her grip on reality while making a supposedly cursed film. Ladd appears as a titular host of the The Marilyn Levens Starlight Celebrity Show, a gossipy figure who grills Nikki.

Enlightened (2011-13)

Laura Dern and Diane Ladd in 'Enlightened.'

White Lotus creator Mike White was behind this dark comedy about Amy Jellicoe (Dern), a woman trying to get her life back on track following a nervous breakdown. Ladd once again played Dern’s mother on this fan-favorite series from HBO — and after the series ended, she gushed about getting to share the screen with her again: “I’m proud of Laura because she’s an incredible talent and an incredible actress and, in my own opinion, she’s an incredible, gracious human being who cares a lot about mankind.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”