The Silver Screen Oasis

Diane Cilento 5-Oct-1933—6 Oct 2011

Actress Diane Cilento died yesterday in Cairns Base Hospital after a long battle with cancer.. She had appeared in a number of films and was oscar nominated for her role in Tom Jones. She retired to her family`s property in the Daintree Forest, north of Cairns.

She had married three times (including a marriage to Sean Connery). She had built and operated an open air theatre at her home.

I always liked her, she popped up in some surprising movies like the western, Hombre. Such a distinctive voice, you knew her anywhere. I first noticed her in a little English movie called The Rattle of a Simple Man. I haven't seen it since the old Arts & Entertainment Network used to air it. She played the hooker a meek little soccer fan becomes involved with. It was rather a sweet movie and she was terrific. Then I saw her in the weird and fun "bad movie", I Thank a Fool with Susan Hayward and Peter Finch (sigh). And then, of course, looking very different but sounding just the same, as the careworn boarding house manager in Hombre. She was so moving when she offered herself in marriage to Cameron Mitchell, and he turns her down.

I remember her in a tv series called Tycoon which she made with Jean Kent

Gosh, I just posted her birthday October 5th on CANDIDS at age 78. May she rest in peace.

Hi,

How sad that she died a day after her birthday.
I remember her in "The Agony and the Ecstasy" as Michelangelo's aristocratic friend. She suited those elaborate costumes and looked like she belonged in the 16th century, mucha as she looked liked she belonged in the 18th century in "Tom Jones"....

A unique actress.

R.I.P. Miss Cilento

Larry