High Falls Film Festival - Diane Ladd, winner of the Susan B. Anthony “Failure is Impossible” Award

Diane Ladd at Artisan Works Gala Party

With traces of her Meridian, Mississippi accent, Ladd regaled listeners with tales of her career and life as it is now.

Ladd told me the story of the cross that she wore in the classic film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore" (1974). I had related to Ladd my experience with a waitress in a small restaurant in Richmond Hill, Queens, NY. Every time I am in NYC, my sister Theresa and I have breakfast in a small restaurant on Liberty Avenue. In the restaurant  is a waitress named Patricia who wore  jewelry and pins that reminded me of Ladd’s character,Flo. In the film, her character Flo explains the meaning of the cross she is wearing that was made of safety pins and beads.

Ladd related the story of buying the pin from a waitress prior to the start of filming Alice Doesn‘t Live here Anymore. “ I was in a restaurant and this waitress was wearing a cross and I asked to buy it”. The waitress replied “ It is going to cost you alot”. The cost of the cross ended up being $10 and a small piece of film history was made with that cross.

Ladd was once a chorus girl at NYC's Copacabana in the 1950s. Ladd’s career began with the role of Yankee in an episode of The Naked City: "Line of Duty" (episode # 1.3) 14 October 1958

Ladd will receive the Susan B. Anthony “Failure is Impossible” Award on Sunday, Nov.13 at the screening of THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN at The Dryden Theatre, 6:45 pm in which she plays the role of Ada.

The World’s Fastest Indian was directed by Roger Donaldson.