leonid17 Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/movies/diane-cilento-oscar-nominated-actress-dies-at-78.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries I remember seeing her in a number of films and although there was something fascinating about her(I was fairly young at the time)I can't say that Miss Cilento was a favourite actress of mine. Link to comment
dirac Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 I tend to share your feelings, leonid. I can recall big hair and a rather mannered voice, but a very striking woman. I remember her in Tom Jones and The Wicker Man, offhand. This article in The Australian has more details. Quite a life. She even studied ballet briefly. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/vibrant-star-swapped-fame-for-a-rainforest/story-e6frg8n6-1226164239742 Cilento met her second husband, Sean Connery, at a film preview in 1957. Far from being the smooth, martini-drinking James Bond, he presented himself as rough trade. Cilento liked what she saw but the edges required bevelling. To start with his Scottish brogue was almost undecipherable and he was then known as Tom. It turned out Connery had been cast as her next leading man and Cilento was delighted. She divorced the count, married Connery, and renamed him Sean. A son, Jason, was born and the Connerys stayed together for more than a decade.Cilento returned to Australia in 1975 where she remained, other than short trips abroad, for the rest of her life. She bought a 81ha sugar farm and adjoining rainforest in the Whyanbeel Valley, north of Port Douglas. Then she set about achieving her dreams of owning and starring in her own theatre. She named it Karnak after an Egyptian temple complex. Shaffer followed her to Australia and they became partners in business and in life, marrying in 1985. Cilento drew up plans for an auditorium based on Glyndebourne. Five neighbours protested to the municipal authorities claiming that Cilento was about to ruin the peace of their idyllic valley... Link to comment
dirac Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 I tend to share your feelings, leonid. I can recall big hair and a rather mannered voice, but a very striking woman. I remember her in Tom Jones and The Wicker Man, offhand. This article in The Australian has more details. Quite a life. She even studied ballet briefly. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/vibrant-star-swapped-fame-for-a-rainforest/story-e6frg8n6-1226164239742 Cilento met her second husband, Sean Connery, at a film preview in 1957. Far from being the smooth, martini-drinking James Bond, he presented himself as rough trade. Cilento liked what she saw but the edges required bevelling. To start with his Scottish brogue was almost undecipherable and he was then known as Tom. It turned out Connery had been cast as her next leading man and Cilento was delighted. She divorced the count, married Connery, and renamed him Sean. A son, Jason, was born and the Connerys stayed together for more than a decade.Cilento returned to Australia in 1975 where she remained, other than short trips abroad, for the rest of her life. She bought a 81ha sugar farm and adjoining rainforest in the Whyanbeel Valley, north of Port Douglas. Then she set about achieving her dreams of owning and starring in her own theatre. She named it Karnak after an Egyptian temple complex. Shaffer followed her to Australia and they became partners in business and in life, marrying in 1985. Cilento drew up plans for an auditorium based on Glyndebourne. Five neighbours protested to the municipal authorities claiming that Cilento was about to ruin the peace of their idyllic valley... Link to comment
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