Career Highlights: The Last of Sheila, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Anderson Tapes
First Major Screen Credit: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
Biography
With her luxurious, sun-streaked, long mane of curly blond hair, voluptuous and beautiful Dyan Cannon is an actress who is hard to miss. She has been in films and occasionally on television since making her debut opposite Art Carney in The Ding-a-Ling Girl, a presentation on the television series Playhouse 90. Born Samille Diane Friesen in Tacoma, WA, Cannon got her start as a showroom model in L.A. following two years of study in anthropology at the University of Washington. Thanks to the help of writer/producer Jerry Wald, who came up with her stage name (which was originally Diane Cannon), she landed a contract at MGM and made her feature film debut playing Wiggles, a troubled high school student in This Rebel Breed (1960). She then appeared in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960). After a couple appearances on Broadway and some work on television, Cannon met and fell in love with Cary Grant, who was 38 years her senior. While involved with him, she placed her acting career on hold. The two married in 1965 and she bore him a daughter. Three years later, Grant and Cannon went through a bitter public divorce. In 1969, Cannon returned to films in the then-controversial sex comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and won the Best Supporting Actress award from the New York Film Critics. Her role also won her an Oscar nomination. The 1970s were her most active period as an actress and Cannon appeared frequently in films. In 1978, she earned another Best Supporting Actress nomination for playing a conniving, adulterous wife in Heaven Can Wait. By the early '80s, Cannon sharply curtailed her feature-film career, but did appear in a few television movies and miniseries. In 1976, Cannon wrote, produced, directed, and even helped edit a 42-minute film sponsored by the American Film Institute. Titled Number One, Cannon designed it to teach children about sexuality and their bodies. It earned an Oscar nomination for best live-action short. Cannon has since directed two more films, including The End of Innocence, which is based on her autobiography. Cannon returned to acting on a limited basis in the 1990s and continued to appear on television in such outings as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Christmas in Connecticut (1992) and features such as Out to Sea (1997). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Cannon made her screen debut in 1960 in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, however her small screen debut was in a late 1950s roles was as Mona Elliott, with fellow guest star Franchot Tone, in the episode "The Man Behind the Man" of the 1964 CBS drama, The Reporter, with Harry Guardino in the title role. She also made appearances on 77 Sunset Strip, the perennial western series Gunsmoke, The Untouchables and the syndicatedTwo Faces West in the 1960 episode entitled "Sheriff of the Town".
In 1969, Cannon starred with an ensemble cast led by Natalie Wood in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, a film about sexual revolution in which she played Alice. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film, as well as two Golden Globe nominations. Most of Cannon's later roles in the 1970s were less-successful, although she did receive a Best Actress Golden Globe nomination for Such Good Friends (1971). In addition, she became the first Oscar-nominated actress to be nominated in the Best Short Film, Live Action Category for Number One (1976), a project which Cannon produced, directed, wrote and edited. It was a story about adolescent sexual curiosity. In 1978, Cannon starred in Revenge of the Pink Panther. That same year, she appeared opposite Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and James Mason in Heaven Can Wait. This performance earned her a second Oscar nomination and also won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1976 she hosted Saturday Night Live during its first season.
In the 1990s, she appeared on the popular television shows Diagnosis Murder and The Practice, as well as being a semi-regular on Ally McBeal. She made film appearances in films such as That Darn Cat (1997), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), Out to Sea (1997) with the duo Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, and Kangaroo Jack (2003). She also starred on the short-lived sitcom Three Sisters (2001-2002). In 2005 she appeared in Boynton Beach Club, a movie about aging Floridians who have just lost their spouses.
Personal life
On July 22, 1965, she married Cary Grant, who was 33 years her senior. The couple lived together for three years prior to their wedding. They had one daughter, Jennifer (born February 26, 1966), also an actress. They were divorced on March 21, 1968, but the custody disputes over their daughter went on for years. In 1972, she told an interviewer that she was involved in Primal therapy.[3] Cannon married producer Stanley Fimberg in 1985. They divorced in 1991.