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NEED TO KNOW
- Actress Diane Ladd died on Monday, Nov. 3 at age 89
- Her cause of death has been revealed as acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure, per a death certificate obtained by PEOPLE
- Ladd was cremated on Nov. 10
Diane Ladd’s cause of death has been revealed. The actress was 89 when she died on Monday, Nov. 3.
On Monday, Nov. 17, PEOPLE exclusively obtained a death certificate that confirmed Ladd’s cause of death as acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure.
According to Cleveland Clinic, hypoxic respiratory failure occurs when there isn’t enough oxygen in the blood, which is often caused by a lung condition.
In Ladd’s case, the certificate notes that she had interstitial lung disease, which had been going on for years beforehand. Esophageal dysmotility was listed as another significant contributing condition. Ladd was cremated on Nov. 10, according to the record.
Ladd’s daughter Laura Dern, whom she shared with ex-husband Bruce Dern, previously announced the news that Ladd died.
Calling her “my amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother,” Laura, 58, said in a Nov. 3 statement that Ladd “passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Calif.”
“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” she added. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
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Ladd had a prolific movie and TV career after getting her start in the 1960s.
She broke out with an Oscar-nominated performance in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (earning a Golden Globe for spinoff TV sitcom Alice, based on that 1974 film), and starred with Laura in 1990’s Wild at Heart and 1991’s Rambling Rose, earning two more Oscar nods.
She was married twice more after her 1960–69 marriage to Bruce. Ladd’s husband since 1999, Robert Charles Hunter, died in July at age 77. In addition to Laura, Ladd is survived by grandchildren Ellery Walker and Jaya Harper.
Bruce, 89, celebrated his late ex-wife in a statement on the day she died: “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.”
