Vulture Honorary Degree–winner Laura Dern could have thanked Laura Dern (the Indie Awards basically did Saturday night) for her first win at the Oscars Sunday night, but the actress instead gave credit to her acting heroes and shouted out her parents. Oh wait, those two groups are one and the same, seeing as how her dad is Bruce Dern and mom Diane Ladd. The actress also thanked Marriage Story filmmaker Noah Baumbach, who tearfully looked on beside equally emotional wife, Little Women director Greta Gerwig.
“Thank you, Noah, for your words, and for your friendship in art and life with you and Greta,†said Dern. “Thank you to this cast, the majesty Adam, Scarlett, Alan, Ray, our amazing crew, David.â€
“Noah wrote a movie about love, and about breeching divisions in the name and in the honor of family and home, and hopefully for all of us, in the name of our planet, and I would like to say a special thank you to the gifts of the love stories in my life,†she said, before thanking her children and stepchildren.
“You know, some say, never meet your heroes, but I say if you’re really blessed, you get them as your parents,†the Marriage Story actress joked, as Ladd wept in the audience. “I share this with my acting heroes, my legends, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern. You got gave. Thank you. This is the best birthday present ever.â€
Bruce Dern is himself a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominee twice over for 1978’s Coming Home and 2013’s Nebraska, while Diane Ladd received Best Supporting Oscar noms for 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, 1990’s Wild at Heart, and 1991’s Rambling Rose.