Diane ladd "bruce dern",A stage-trained blonde character player, Diane Ladd first garnered attention in 1974 with her roles in "Chinatown" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". In the former, she was a woman of mystery while in the latter she delivered a scene-stealing turn as the wisecracking waitress Flo, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress. "Discovered" by actor John Carradine who cast her in a production of "Tobacco Road", the Mississippi native moved to NYC where she enrolled at The Actors Studio and supported herself as a model and dancer at the Copacabana. She landed her first major stage role in an Off-Broadway production of her cousin Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending" in 1959. Also in the cast was Bruce Dern, whom she married the following year. After making her feature debut in "Something Wild" (1961), Ladd had her first significant role alongside Dern in Roger Corman's landmark biker exploitation flick "The Wild Angels" (1966), and though there was the occasional prestige effort (i.e., Mark Rydell's "The Reivers" 1969), she spent most of her early movie career in low-to-medium budget genre fodder like "Rebel Rousers" (1970), another biker pic with Dern.

Ladd made her Broadway debut in "Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights" (1968), and after her Academy Award nomination brought her a degree of recognition, she returned to Broadway as "Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander", one-third of "A Texas Trilogy" (1976). Film offers were still not forthcoming, so she turned to the small screen, joining the cast of the CBS sitcom "Alice" as Belle Dupree, a toned-downed version of Flo, when Polly Holliday moved on to her own spin-off. Throughout the 80s, the actress continued to make appearances in features (i.e., "All Night Long" 1981, "Black Widow" 1987) and turned up as Main Line socialite Margaret Kelly, mother to "Grace Kelly" (ABC, 1983), as well as assuming the maternal role in the 1990 ABC biopic "Rock Hudson". Ladd earned a second Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination playing mother to her real-life daughter Laura Dern in David Lynch's "Wild at Heart" (1990). As the murderous, witchlike Marietta, she was appropriately over-the-top in what was a typical Lynchian dreamscape. She and her daughter reteamed the following year for the modest "Rambling Rose", with Ladd as a Southern matron and Dern as a boarder who disrupts the genteel lives of her hosts. Both received Academy Award nominations, making them the first mother-daughter acting team to be nominated in the same year for the same film.

After starring opposite Mark Harmon in a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" remake of "Shadow of a Doubt" (CBS, 1991), Ladd began her run as recurring character Charlotte Cooper on that network's "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" before appearing in her daughter's directing debut, "The Gift" (1994), airing as part of Showtime's "Directed By" series. She subsequently played Dern's mother in the acclaimed miniseries "Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy" (CBS, 1996) and again in a raunchy, unbilled cameo for the feature "Citizen Ruth" (1996), a satire audaciously attacking both sides of the abortion issue, which starred Dern as an unredeemed inhalant "huffing" mother caught in the middle of the two factions. Ladd made her own directorial debut (from her own script) with "Mrs. Munck" (Showtime, 1996), acting opposite ex-husband Bruce Dern. She had a small role as Mamma Stanton, mother to the Clintonesque presidential candidate played by John Travolta, in Mike Nichols' "Primary Colors" (1998) and also appeared in Betty Thomas' "28 Days" (2000), starring Sandra Bullock. She was then back opposite her real-life daughter, playing Dern's mother in Billy Bob Thornton's "Daddy and Them" (2001), one of two movies that year serving as the director's follow-up to his acclaimed "Sling Blade" (1996).

Also Credited As:Rose Diane Ladner
Born:November 29, 1932 in Meridian, Mississippi, USA
Job Titles:Actor, Model, Nightclub dancer, Singer, Secretary
Family
Cousin: Tennessee Williams.
Daughter: Diane E Dern. born on November 27, 1960; drowned at age 18 months in a swimming pool while in a teenage maid s care on May 18, 1962
Daughter: Laura Elizabeth Dern. born on February 10, 1965
Father: Preston P Ladner.
Grandson: Ellery Walker Harper. born on August 21, 2001; mother, Laura Dern; father, Ben Harper
Mother: Mary Bernadette Ladner.
Education
Actors Studio, New York, New York
Milestones
1956 Early TV credit, a guest appearance on the syndicated Big Story
1959 Off-Broadway debut, Orpheus Descending ; met her future first husband, actor Bruce Dern; play written by her cousin Tennessee Williams
1960 Toured in revue, Medium Rare
1961 Film debut in Something Wild
1966 Had first major film role in Roger Corman s biker pic The Wild Angels (with husband Dern)
1968 Broadway debut, Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights , co-starring with Louis Gossett Jr and Cicely Tyson
1970 Appeared with Robert De Niro in Shelley Winters play One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger
1970 Reteamed with Dern for another biker pic, Rebel Rousers
1973 TV-movie debut The Devil s Daughter (ABC)
1974 Breakthrough film role, the tough-talking waitress Flo in Alice Doesn t Live Here Anymore ; earned first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
1974 Played Ida Sessions in Roman Polanski s Chinatown
1976 Starred on Broadway as Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander in Preston Jones A Texas Trilogy
1983 Portrayed Margaret Kelly, mother of the actress, in the ABC biopic Grace Kelly
1988 Gained 24 pounds to play character 15 years her senior in Martha Coolidge s pleasant teen flick Plain Clothes
1990 Played the insane, obsessive mother of Lula (played by real-life daughter Laura Dern) in David Lynch s Wild at Heart ; garnered second Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination
1991 Co-starred with daughter Laura Dern in Coolidge s Rambling Rose ; became first mother-daughter team to win Oscar nominations (Dern, Best Actress; Ladd, Best Supporting Actor) in the same year for the same film
1991 Starred opposite Mark Harmon in Hallmark Hall of Fame remake of Shadow of a Doubt (CBS), originally directed by Alfred Hitchcock
1994 Acted in daughter Laura Dern s directorial debut The Gift , which aired on Showtime s Directed By series
1996 Appeared alongside daughter in quality CBS miniseries, Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy , directed by Roger Young
1996 Film directing debut, Mrs. Munck ; also scripted; aired on Showtime; featured ex-husband Bruce Dern; daughter Laura made a behind-the-scenes documentrary called Mom and Dad s Movie , which aired on Showtime following the picture
1996 Played mother to Laura Dern s character in Citizen Ruth
1998 Portrayed Mamma Stanton (mother of Clintonesque presidential candidate played by John Travolta) in Mike Nichols Primary Colors
2000 Appeared in Betty Thomas 28 Days
2001 Acted with daughter and Laura s then-boyfriend Billy Bob Thornton in Thornton s Daddy and Them (shot in 1998); screened at Montreal; released theatrically in 2002
2002 Had featured role in Rain ; screened at Sundance
2006 Appeared in Lynch s Inland Empire starring her daughter Laura Dern
2006 Co-starred with Ashley Judd in Joey Lauren Adams screenwriting and directing debut, Come Early Morning
Appeared in touring production of A Hatful of Rain
Appeared on the TV soap operas Search For Tomorrow and The Secret Storm (both CBS)
Cast by Carradine in his production of Tobacco Road
Co-starred as Belle Dupree on the CBS sitcom Alice , based on the film Alice Doesn t Live Here Anymore
Discovered by John Carradine while performing at the Galley Circle Theatre in New Orleans, Louisiana
Had recurring role on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (CBS)
Stage debut in The Verdict in Meridian, Missippi

Source:yahoo
Worked as a model and as a Copacabana nightclub dancer