Diane Ladd An Enlightened Soul

Once upon a time in a Mississippi town of “300 nice folks and a few soreheads,” little Rose Diane Ladnier silently prayed to God to “let her be an actress.” That young girl with pigtails grew up to be Diane Ladd, three-time Academy Award-nominated actress, writer, director, and healer. Venice recently visited Ms. Ladd in her Ojai home, and though it’s been ages since she resided in the Magnolia State, in true old-fashioned, southern hospitality- style, she greeted us with a bountiful lunch buffet. “You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl,” laughs Ladd. It’s that warm blend of wit, worldliness, charm, and feistiness, that has kept her audiences coming back for more, as they have since her 1966 film debut in Roger Corman’s The Wild Angels. 

If you’re wondering what the acclaimed star of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Wild At Heart, and Rambling Rose has been up to lately, well, get ready, because 2011 and 2012 are shaping up to be banner years. On October 10th, HBO unveils “Enlightened,” a compelling new series starring Ladd as the guarded, conservative mother to “Amy,” a loose cannon trying to find herself, played by real life daughter, Laura Dern. And with Ladd and Dern’s career high performances in the show, don’t be surprised if Emmy comes a calling in 2012.

Venice: I read you had an opportunity to go to law school, with a partial scholar- ship, but you never went, and instead chose acting.

Diane Ladd: Acting chose me. I graduated from a little Catholic high school at six- teen. I went to New Orleans to finishing school that almost finished me, and I was doing a play. An actress saw me in the play and told John Carradine [David’s Carradine’s father] about me. So John sent me a ticket to audition for a part that an actress from New Jersey was leaving to marry a Mississippi boy — it was like she and I were changing lives. My father was T.O.ed, gave me $25, and said, “Girl, when that money’s gone, you’re comin’ back home to Mississippi.” I went to do the audition, got the part, and didn’t come home.

And that was the beginning of your acting career.

Then I did a play on Broadway and met Bruce (Dern). And he came out to L.A. to get screen tested for some picture, and we decided to stay out here. I got my first picture in 1966.

Roger Corman’s The Wild Angels.

Roger gave all of us our break. He came down like an angel into our lives, or else we’d still be pounding the pavement looking for a way in.

Is acting as tough a world as people think it is?

Yes. I love the work. I’m very serious about the work – I’m an actress. I push my work like a surgeon. I’m also a writer. Paddy Chayefsky was my mentor. I prefer the theater world of New York to Hollywood. It was easier to be a single parent in Los Angeles, getting around, it was less expensive. So I got trapped in Hollywood, which I didn’t want to do. Bruce and I were married nine years, but we lost our baby daughter in a tragic accident.  Very few marriages can handle that, particularly if you’re already fragmented because you’re struggling just to pay the rent. It was so hard. We were so young. After we divorced, Bruce was not able to give me the time, or Laura, what we needed, but he didn’t get what he needed growing up either. But he is one of the world’s greatest actors.

I think it’s amazing that you, Laura, and Bruce are the first acting family to have three stars placed together on the Holly- wood Walk of Fame.

Not even the Barrymores had that. I remained friends with Bruce, and with my second husband [stockbroker William Shea Jr.] who was from a big Republican family, and I’m a bleeding-heart liberal. I’m friends with pretty much everyone I ever dated. My first boyfriend when I was 17, I’m friends with him and his wife. I don’t think you can afford losing a friend in this life.

I try to practice that as well.

You can’t always do it, but you can by God try.

At what age did Laura say to you, “Mom, I want to be an actress?”

When she was ten. I said, “No, honey, no! Be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, a house- wife — don’t be an actress! Girl, it’s too hard on women. They judge you if your chin points, or if you cry, or if your tits are hangin’ — don’t do it!” She said softly, “Mother, you encourage everyone to use their gifts. Surely you would with your own daughter, and besides, if you let me do it now, by the time I’m fourteen, I’ll be over it and want to do something else.”

She sure snowed you!

She did! She took drama classes every Saturday, and rode her bike, and was never late. Then, at fourteen, she said, “I want to get an agent.” I said, “Yeah,  you got two chances: slim and none.” One day at [actor] Bo Hopkins’ house, Laura went up to an agent and said, “My mother won’t let me get an agent, but I’d like to come to your office and talk to you if I may.” And she got my secretary to drive her, and did a scene. I thought, “Okay, let her go, let her experience all this rejection.” Her scene for the agent ended up getting her a part in the movie, but she was so young she didn’t even know what she was saying. The line was “I think a girl should always have a diaphragm in her purse ’cause you never know.” She said to me, “What does she mean by that?” I thought, “Oh God.” The director said your daughter has a special cinema charisma, and when she’s in a scene you can’t take your eyes off of her. I thought, “What is he talking about!” So I watched and sure enough — I saw it, and started to cry. Deep down, I still wanted her to go to college, and not have the hard road of being an actress. You have the worst and the best in this business. And unfortunately now it’s worse than ever. We have the greatest talents here in the world, and look at most of the films we’re making. We need to see more quality up there on screen making money.

What do you think about the success of The Help? Number one at the box office this summer for three weeks straight.

They say you can’t make money with a “soft” picture — well, look at this one. No car chases, no murder, no rape. It gives me hope. I think The Help will open Hollywood’s eyes to making more movies about human beings that don’t require 3D or special effects. For the cost it takes to make a gigantic studio movie, you could make The Help five times over. Right?

In a perfect world you would see more films like that succeeding.

Well, you will now over the next three years. Mark my words. You heard it here first.

Was 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore your breakthrough role?

Absolutely. It was my first big part, and it was an Oscar nomination.

Was the Oscar nomination a shock?

Yeah. Gena Rowlands was the first person who said, “I’m voting for you.” I said, “For what? I’m not going to be up for an Oscar.” Gena said, “Of course you’re going to be.” She was right. When I won the British Academy Award for the role, Marlon Brando asked me, “What do you do with all your money?” I laughed because I only made five thousand dollars for that picture, and by the time I paid the agent, manager, and every- body, I cleared like two thousand, but that movie changed my life.

I really loved your character, Flo.

Me too. I went out and found the safety- pin necklace for the role on a waitress in a diner. The waitress said, “This safety-pin necklace keeps me together.” I said, “Can I buy one from you?” She said, “Yeah, but it costs a lot of money. Ten dollars.” So I bought it, and went to Marty [Scorsese] and told him, “This is my line as Flo and I want to use it.” He said, “Okay.” He was so open like that. When you have a great director it’s a very special thing.

The hit TV comedy series “Alice” spun off from the movie. Even though you appeared as “Flo” in the movie, you starred as “Belle” on the show. How was your experience on the series?

I was asked to do the series originally, but I wanted to go back to Broadway. Then, a couple seasons into the show, around 1980, I joined the cast as a waitress named “Belle.” I replaced Polly (“Flo”) Holliday when she left the show. The acting was okay, the atmosphere was terrible. I was told being on the show I’d make great money, and it would improve my profile for TV audiences. The first time I spoke to Linda (“Alice”) Lavin, she was absolutely adorable, but I’d heard the set was like a shark and a goldfish between her and Polly. Polly’s a fantastic actress, and a dear, wonderful lady. The day before my first episode, Polly came to me and said, “Diane, watch your step. Just be careful.” Then Vic (“Mel”) Tayback privately said the same thing to me. I started to get very nervous about what I’d just stepped into [but] I won a Golden Globe for my role on the show. I thought Linda would be so happy for me, but she wouldn’t even talk to me the day after I won. Even though the ratings were way up for the show, and the money was good, the environment got worse, and I finally asked to be released.

Tell us about David Lynch. You’ve done both Wild at Heart and Inland Empire with him.

David is a gentleman. He never curses on his set, never yells at the crew, and like Marty Scorsese, when you bring him an idea of something you want to do, he listens. There was one scene in Wild at Heart where I was supposed to be sucking my thumb and holding my dog in bed, and I said, “I’d like to be standing in a white evening gown holding a glass of champagne and swinging my butt to the music.” He said, “Do it.”

Did the Wild at Heart nomination surprise you?

I thought I deserved it. In fact, Whoopi Goldberg said, “I’m betting on you in Vegas to win for this.”

Who won in your category that year?

Whoopi did for Ghost. And she said to me, “You should have won.”

Your name will be called someday.

If I live long enough. [laughs]

You will.

I was also up against Annette Bening that year.

Another multiple nominee who has not yet won.

She hasn’t? Oh God, I hope she isn’t up against me someday [laughs], but I thought I was going to win for Rambling Rose. They wanted me to go up for Best Actress opposite Laura and I didn’t want to do that. But you know it’s not about the Oscar, it’s about the work standing up so that whoever wins should be the best, so that we all strive for that kind of a quality. 

You and Laura bring each other work. She brought me Wild at Heart. I brought her Rambling Rose. I’m working on a movie now about Martha Mitchell. I want Laura to play the younger Martha, and I’ll play Martha in her later years.

You’d be perfect! Her story is really worth telling.

I’ve been working on this project for thirty years. Rewritten the script fourteen times. I did not choose this project, it chose me. And I’m writing a book called Interrupted Destiny about the process of trying to get the picture made, and about Martha Mitchell affecting my life from the other side of the veil.

This is going to make one heck of an acceptance speech.

I almost chose not to do the series “Enlightened” because I’m trying to get Martha Mitchell’s story made, but HBO is just so great. You work twelve weeks out of the year, and then you have your whole year [to do other things]. And what a great network to be working with! Such terrific shows, and so much integrity there. I had heard that every actress in town was running up auditions to try to get the part as Laura’s mother on “Enlightened,” and I thought I should pay attention to the signs here. I met with [creator/writer/co-star] Mike White, and really liked him, and so I took the part. It’s a great offbeat comedy/drama. Laura is brilliant on it, and I think Luke Wilson is doing his best work on there. I miss all the wonderful shows we used to have on TV for actors. When I became an actor there was “Studio One,” “Naked City,” and Lucille Ball. I was watching “Laverne & Shirley” the other night with my six-year-old grandchild and it was great! There’s almost nothing on TV as good now as “Lucy” or “Laverne & Shirley” or “Golden Girls” or “Roseanne.” I don’t want to turn on the TV and watch somebody getting raped, murdered, autopsied, or taken to court. And Mike White is a pretty good writer, but don’t forget I come from the age of Paddy Chayefsky and Budd Schulberg—

The all-time greats.

The all-time greats, so if I say somebody is a pretty good writer, that’s a big damn compliment coming from me. I hope it’s a hit because if it is, it will open a lot of doors for other actors and writers to come in and do shows like it. We need this kind of entertainment.

In addition to “Enlightened” you have lots of other pots on the burner.

You have no idea. I already have one published book under my belt, Spiraling Through the School of Life — autobiographical, motivational stories. I’ve got the Martha Mitchell film project, and book, and another book of short stories I’ve written that I’d like to get published called A Bad Afternoon for a Piece of Cake. I’ve also just written a musical, “The Last of the Bad Girls,” with a subtitle “The Broads Are Back on Broadway.” The songs are written by a really good songwriter named Harriet Schock. I wrote the musical to star me, Lainie Kazan, Connie Stevens, and Renee Taylor. We’re the four bad girls. I tried it out in New York, and Rex Reed saw it and said, “My God, you’ve got the next ‘Producers.’ You’ve got to do this show on Broadway.” My husband, Robert [Hunter], and I have our own production company, Exxcell Entertainment, and we have fifteen projects in development, and seven ready to go including one I’m particularly excited about called Yoo Hoo Chiclets.

Of all your films, is there one film that you’d like audiences to revisit?

Rambling Rose, directed by the great Martha Coolidge. Even Clint Eastwood, when he won for The Unforgiven said, “I won the Oscar for the Best Film, but the real best film of the year didn’t even get nominated and that was Rambling Rose. Princess Diana chose it as one of her all-time favorites. She flew us to London, had a royal premiere party in our honor, and that’s a big to-do for this country girl. Anyway, I’d like people to take another look at Rambling Rose on DVD.

Is there a charity that you’d like people to check out?

My husband and I have created a 501c3, called the Art and Culture Taskforce. I am fighting to lift up culture and fighting to put music, art, and sports back in the schools of this great nation. My husband and I have made seventeen trips to Washington, D.C., and we are responsible along with former congresswoman Karen McCarthy of Kansas, for creating the only Federal tax incentive for independent filmmakers signed by a President. It has to be at least two-and-a-half million budget, and up to fifteen million, and in deprived areas, twenty million. And with this bill, your investor can depreciate their investment in the year they make their investment. That’s what we had signed. If you buy my book from my website, all the money goes to the Art and Culture Taskforce. Art and culture can be as powerful a weapon as the bomb. That’s my motto.  ▼

HBO’s series “Enlightened” premieres on October 10th. Check out Rambling Rose, Wild at Heart, and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore on DVD. For more information on the Art and Culture Taskforce, visit dianeladd.com