Dyan Cannon

Biography

Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen in Tacoma, Washington, in 1937) is an American actress, screenwriter and director. Her career spans comedy and drama from the 1960s into the 2000s, with steady work on television as well as film. She is best known to many viewers for her role on Ally McBeal, but her private life, particularly her marriage to Cary Grant, has also drawn attention for decades.

The daughter of a life insurance salesman and a mother of Jewish background, she grew up in the Pacific Northwest and moved to Seattle as a teenager. She studied anthropology for two years at the University of Washington before leaving for Los Angeles to work as a model. With help from producer Jerry Wald, she found her way into the film industry. She made her television debut in 1958 and spent the following decade appearing in numerous episodic series, among them The Untouchables and 77 Sunset Strip. Her first film role came in 1960 with The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond.

Her breakthrough arrived in 1969 with the sex comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. In the early 1970s she worked across a range of projects, including Shamus, opposite Burt Reynolds, and The Last of Sheila. After a few years away from features, she returned with Heaven Can Wait (1978), playing the wife of the man whose body Warren Beatty's character inhabits. That performance won her the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and brought another Oscar nomination. She had earlier been nominated for an Oscar as producer of the live-action short Number One (1976), which she also wrote, directed and appeared in.

During the 1980s she moved between comedy and other genres, appearing in Honeysuckle Rose with Willie Nelson, Deathtrap with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, and Author! Author! with Al Pacino. In 1990 she wrote, directed and starred in The End of Innocence, a semiautobiographical drama that marked her feature directing debut. On television, her most recognized role was Judge Jennifer 'Whipper' Cone on Ally McBeal, a recurring part from 1997 to 2000.

She married Cary Grant in 1965, despite the large age gap between them, and they had a daughter, Jennifer. They divorced in 1968, and disputes over custody continued for years. She later married producer Stanley Fimberg, a union that ended in divorce in 1991. Cannon spoke about her past in the memoir Dear Cary (2011), which became a New York Times bestseller. In 2023 the book was adapted into the miniseries Archie, for which she served as executive producer. Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, dedicated in 1983, recognizes a career that continues to be remembered for both comedy and her work behind the camera.

Key films

• Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969): Alice, her breakthrough role and first major film success.
• Heaven Can Wait (1978): the greedy, adulterous wife of the character played by Warren Beatty, a role that won her the Golden Globe.
• Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978): co-starring in the comedy sequel in the Pink Panther series.
• The Last of Sheila (1973): a supporting role in the puzzle thriller written by Anthony Perkins and directed by Herbert Ross.
• Author! Author! (1982): a comedy opposite Al Pacino about a theatre director.