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Diane Ladd\u2019s cause of death has come to light, weeks after the three-time Oscar-nominated \u201cRambling Rose\u201d and \u201cWild at Heart\u201d star died at age 89. <\/p>\n
The actor died of \u201cacute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure,\u201d according to her death certificate obtained by People<\/a>. The Cleveland Clinic<\/a> says the condition is a result of insufficient oxygen in a person\u2019s blood and is commonly caused by heart and lung conditions. <\/p>\n The death certificate reportedly notes that Ladd had the latter. Two years before her death, Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease wherein \u201clung tissue becomes damaged and scarred,\u201d according to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>. Esophageal dysmotility \u2014disorders<\/a> that affect the esophagus\u2019 ability to move food and liquid to a person\u2019s stomach \u2014 also contributed to Ladd\u2019s death, People reported. <\/p>\n Ladd was cremated on Nov. 10, a week after her death, the death certificate reportedly said. <\/p>\n Laura Dern, Ladd\u2019s daughter with prolific Oscar-nominated actor Bruce Dern, announced her mother\u2019s death Nov. 3: \u201cMy amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,\u201d Dern, Oscar-winning star of \u201cMarriage Story,\u201d said in her statement. \u201cWe were blessed to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n Bruce Dern, the first of Ladd\u2019s three husbands, praised his ex-wife for her work on- and off-screen, including her longtime tenure as a Screen Actors Guild board member. <\/p>\n \u201cShe was a great teammate to her fellow actors. She was funny, clever, gracious,\u201d he said. \u201cBut most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter. And for that I will be forever grateful to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Mississippi native Ladd was an enduring talent whose screen career included more than 200 movie and TV credits from the 1960s to the 2020s, and multiple Emmy and Oscar nominations. Famously, she appeared in director Martin Scorsese and writer Robert Getchell\u2019s 1974 feature \u201cAlice Doesn\u2019t Live Here Anymore,\u201d originating the role of snarky roadside-diner waitress Florence Jean \u201cFlo\u201d Castleberry.<\/p>\n When Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2023, she was told she might have only six months to live. This inspired Laura Dern to take her mother out for strolls along Santa Monica, sparking intimate conversations that would become fodder for their joint book, \u201cHoney, Baby, Mine,\u201d released in April 2023.<\/p>\n