# Diane Cilento

Elizabeth Diane Cilento (2 April 1932 – 6 October 2011) was an Australian actress. She is best known for her film roles in Tom Jones (1963), which earned her an Academy Award nomination, Hombre (1967) and The Wicker Man (1973). She also received a Tony Award nomination for her performance as Helen of Troy in the play Tiger at the Gates.

## Early life

Cilento was born on 2 April 1932 in Brisbane, Queensland, the daughter of Phyllis (née McGlew) and Raphael Cilento, both medical practitioners in Queensland. She was the fifth of six children; four of her siblings became medical practitioners, while her sister Margaret was an artist. Cilento's paternal great-grandfather, Salvatore Cilento, arrived from Naples, Italy, in 1855.
It was from a young age that Cilento decided to follow a career as an actress. After being expelled from school in Australia, she was schooled in New York while living with her father. Cilento later won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and moved to Britain in the early 1950s.

## Career

After graduation, Cilento found work on stage almost immediately and was signed to a five-year contract by Alexander Korda. Her first leading film role was in the British film Passage Home (1955), opposite fellow Australian Peter Finch.
She soon secured roles in British films and worked steadily until the end of the decade. In 1956, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for Helen of Troy in Jean Giraudoux's Tiger at the Gates. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tom Jones in 1963 and appeared in The Third Secret the following year.
She starred with Charlton Heston in the 1965 film The Agony and the Ecstasy, and with Paul Newman in the 1967 western film Hombre, and had a supporting role in The Wicker Man (1973).
Cilento continued working as an actress, in films and television. In the 1980s, she settled in Mossman, north of Cairns, where she built her own outdoor theatre, named "Karnak", in the tropical rainforest. The venture allowed her to participate in experimental drama.
In 2001, she was awarded the Centenary Medal for "distinguished service to the arts, especially theatre".

## Personal life

In 1955, Cilento married Andrea Volpe, an Italian. She gave birth to their daughter Giovanna in 1957. Cilento and Volpe divorced in 1962. Later that year, Cilento married actor Sean Connery, with whom she had a son, Jason (born 1963). Cilento and Connery separated in 1971 and divorced in 1974. In her autobiography My Nine Lives, Cilento said that Connery was emotionally and physically abusive during their marriage. In 1985, Cilento married playwright Anthony Shaffer, whom she met in 1972 while working on The Wicker Man. They remained married until his death in 2001.

## Death

Cilento died of cancer at Cairns Base Hospital on 6 October 2011.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1951 | Captain Horatio Hornblower | Maria Hornblower (voice) | Uncredited |
| 1952 | Wings of Danger | Jeannette | |
| 1952 | Moulin Rouge | Midinette | Uncredited |
| 1953 | All Hallowe'en | Harriet | Short film |
| 1953 | Meet Mr. Lucifer | Woman on the street | Uncredited |
| 1954 | The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp | The Angel | |
| 1954 | The Passing Stranger | Jill | |
| 1955 | Passage Home | Ruth Elton | |
| 1955 | The Woman for Joe | Mary | |
| 1957 | The Admirable Crichton | Tweeny | |
| 1957 | The Truth About Women | Ambrosine Viney | |
| 1959 | Jet Storm | Angelica Como | |
| 1960 | The Full Treatment | Denise Colby | |
| 1961 | The Naked Edge | Mrs. Heath | |
| 1962 | I Thank a Fool | Liane Dane | |
| 1963 | Tom Jones | Molly Seagrim | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance (4th place) |
| 1964 | The Third Secret | Anne Tanner | |
| 1964 | Rattle of a Simple Man | Cyrenne | |
| 1965 | Once Upon a Tractor | Geraldine | Short film |
| 1965 | The Agony and the Ecstasy | Contessina de'Medici | |
| 1967 | Hombre | Jessie | |
| 1968 | Negatives | Reingard | |
| 1972 | Z.P.G. | Edna | |
| 1973 | Hitler: The Last Ten Days | Hanna Reitsch | |
| 1973 | The Wicker Man | Miss Rose | |
| 1975 | The Tiger Lily | Charlotte Brain | |
| 1982 | Duet for Four | Margot Mason | Feature film |
| 1985 | The Boy Who Had Everything | Mother | Feature film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1951 | A Tomb with a View | Amy Heron | TV film |
| 1955 | The Alcoa Hour | Small Servant | TV series, Episode: "The Small Servant" |
| 1956 | The Taming of the Shrew | Bianca | TV film |
| 1956 | Film Fanfare | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1957 | Rich and Rich | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1957–1961 | ITV Television Playhouse | Various roles | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1958 | Television World Theatre | Nina Leeds Evans | TV series, Episodes: "Strange Interlude: Part 1 & 2" |
| 1959–1964 | ITV Play of the Week | Various roles | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1959 | Sunday Night Theatre | Anne | TV series, Episode: "The Concert" |
| 1960 | Armchair Theatre | Sadie Thompson | TV series, Episode: "Rain" |
| 1961 | Vanity Fair | Becky Sharp | TV series, Episode: "Part 1" |
| 1963 | Espionage | Lina | TV series, 1 Episode: "Festival of Pawns" |
| 1964 | The 36th Annual Academy Awards | Nominee | TV special |
| 1964 | Festival | Lysistrata | TV series, 1 Episode: "Lysistrata" |
| 1964 | Juke Box Jury | Panellist | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1965 | Blackmail | Euphrasia Jones | TV series, 1 Episode: "Cut Yourself a Slice of Throat" |
| 1966 | Court Martial | | TV series, Episode: "La Belle France" |
| 1966 | The Eamonn Andrews Show | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1967 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Penelope | TV series, 1 Episode: "Another Moon Called Earth" |
| 1967 | Dial M for Murder | Margo Wendice | TV film |
| 1967 | Whicker's World | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1967 | Good Company | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1967 | The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1968 | Late Night Horror | Lady Sannox | TV series, Episode: "The Kiss of Blood" |
| 1968 | The Frankie Howerd Show | Guest | TV special |
| 1968 | Sydney Tonight | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1969 | ITV Sunday Night Theatre: Rogues' Gallery | Lady Sarah Bellasize | TV series, Regular role, 6 episodes |
| 1970 | Morecambe & Wise | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1971 | The Mike Douglas Show | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1971 | The David Frost Show | Guest | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1972 | The Persuaders! | Kate Sinclair | TV series, Episode: "A Death in the Family" |
| 1973 | Thriller | Clara | TV series, Episode: "Spell of Evil" |
| 1974 | The Book Programme | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1975 | Affairs of the Heart | Elizabeth Damerel | TV series, Episode: "Elizabeth" |
| 1975 | The 17th Annual TV Week Logie Awards | Presenter | TV special |
| 1975 | Celebrity Squares | Contestant | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1978 | Cappriccio! | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1978 | Everyman | Narrator | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1978 | Tycoon | Diana Clark | TV series, Regular role, 13 episodes |
| 1979 | Call My Bluff | Herself | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1979–1984 | The Mike Walsh Show | Guest - Herself | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 1980 | The British Greats | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1980 | Big Toys | Mag TV film |
| 1981 | Parkinson in Australia | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1981 | Diane Cilento: I Love Music | Host | TV special |
| 1981 | 1981 Australian Film Institute Awards | Presenter | TV special |
| 1982 | Diane Cilento Festa Italiana | Presenter | TV special |
| 1983 | For The Term of His Natural Life | Lady Elinor Devine | TV miniseries, Recurring role, 2 episodes |
| 1983 | Willesee: Survival | Herself | TV special |
| 1984 | The Mike Walsh Show | Guest - Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1985 | Fountain of Youth | Herself | Film documentary |
| 1985 | Out of Shot | Narrator | Film documentary |
| 1986 | The 1986 Australian Film Institute Awards | Presenter | TV special |
| 1987; 1992 | Sunday Afternoon | Herself | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1988 | Queensland Day Royal Expo Concert | Host | TV special |
| 1989 | Burke's Backyard | Celebrity gardener | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1993–1994 | Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left | Authoritax / Principa | TV series, Recurring role, 6 episodes |
| 1994; 1995: 1998 | Good Morning Australia | Guest | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1994 | Ten Eyewitness News | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1999 | Laws | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2003 | The Brits Go To Hollywood | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2004 | Australian Story | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2006 | Enough Rope with Andrew Denton | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2006 | Mornings with Kerri-Anne | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2006 | 9am with David & Kim | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2007 | Ken Adam's Production Films: You Only Live Twice | Herself | Video |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Location | Notes |
| 1955 | Tiger at the Gates | Helen | Helen Hayes Theatre | Theatre World Award Nominated — Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play |
| 1959 | Heartbreak House | Ellie Dunn | Billy Rose Theatre | |
| 1960 | The Good Soup | Marie-Paule II | Plymouth Theatre | |

## Writings

* 1967 novel: The Manipulator. Charles Scribner's Sons.
* 1970 novel: Hybrid. Dell Publishing.
* 2007 autobiography: My Nine Lives. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143006077