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Biography
Perhaps best known for her trademark curly blond tresses and her
faithful appearances at L.A. Lakers basketball games, Dyan Cannon
has enjoyed nearly forty years in the entertainment industry. Born
in Tacoma, Washington, Cannon had early dreams of becoming an
actress. She made her screen debut with a small part in the
critically acclaimed crime drama 'The Rise and Fall of Legs
Diamond' in 1960. A short-lived TV series and 'This Rebel Breed'
followed that same year. In was during this time that she caught
the eye of one of Hollywood's favorite leading men, Cary Grant, who
was 35 years her senior. The couple, a hotbed of Hollywood gossip,
experienced an on-again, off-again relationship until marrying in
1962. Cannon left her acting career behind during her short-lived
marriage to Grant and bore his daughter, Jennifer Grant, in 1966.
Cannon and Grant were divorced in 1968, and Cannon returned to the
big screen in 1969 in the pop-culture classic 'Bob & Carol & Ted &
Alice, ' garnering an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting
Actress. A series of less-than-remarkable TV and feature films
followed in the early '70s, but comedies proved her most successful
medium. Cannon again was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress
Oscar for 'Heaven Can Wait' (1978), where she portrayed a
money-hungry, adulterous wife who hatches a plot to kill her
husband only to find that another man has been reincarnated via her
husband's body. The multi-talented Cannon, who is also a
singer/songwriter, found success behind the camera as well as in
front of it. In 1976, she produced, directed, wrote and edited the
short film 'Number One, ' an Academy Award nominee for Best Short
Film-Live Action. The tedious experience of wearing so many hats
deterred her from writing and directing again until 1991, with the
release of 'The End of the Innocence.' Cannon gave a strong and
critically acclaimed performance in the picture, but the film
received a lukewarm response overall. The '80s and '90s found
Cannon on the small screen more often than the big one, as she
starred in several made-for-TV movies and made guest appearances in
numerous series. Most notable was her recurring role on the hit
show 'Ally McBeal, ' where in 1997-98 Cannon portrayed Judge
Jennifer 'Whipper' Cone in several episodes of the wacky
comedy/drama. Though it's been 20 years since Cannon scored a major
movie success and she's outgrown her sexpot image (early nude
photos of the actress are still in circulation), she continues to
find respectable roles in decent-though-not-great films, most
recently 'Drop-Dead' (1998); 'Out to Sea' (1997) with the aging
comedy duo of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon; '8 Heads In A Duffel
Bag' (1997) and 'That Darn Cat' (1997).
Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
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Dyan Cannon
