Elizabeth Diane Cilento[1][2] was born on 2 April 1932[3][4][5][6][7][8] in Brisbane,[4][5][7][8] Queensland, the daughter of Phyllis (née McGlew) and Raphael Cilento, both medical practitioners in Queensland.[9][10][11] She was the fifth of six children; four of her siblings became medical practitioners, while her sister Margaret was an artist.[9][12] Cilento's paternal great-grandfather, Salvatore Cilento, arrived from Naples, Italy, in 1855.[13]
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.[9]
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.[14]
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.[16]
In 2001, she was awarded the Centenary Medal for "distinguished service to the arts, especially theatre".[17]
Personal life
In 1955, Cilento married Andrea Volpe, an Italian aristocrat.[18] She gave birth to their daughter Giovanna in 1957.[19] Cilento and Volpe divorced in 1962.[20] Later that year, Cilento married actor Sean Connery, with whom she had a son, Jason (born 1963).[21] Cilento and Connery separated in 1971 and divorced in 1974.[22][23] In her autobiography My Nine Lives, Cilento said that Connery was emotionally and physically abusive during their marriage.[24][25][26] 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.[27][28]
Death
Cilento died of cancer at Cairns Base Hospital on 6 October 2011.[29][30][20][31]
^"Margaret Cilento". 19 January 2007. Archived from the original on 13 February 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
^Desmond O'Connor, Italians in South Australia: The first hundred years Archived 20 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, In D. O’Connor and A. Comin (eds) 1993. "Proceedings: the First Conference on the Impact of Italians in South Australia, 16–17 July 1993", Italian Congress: Italian Discipline, The Flinders University of South Australia: Adelaide, pp.15–32.
^"MARIAN MARCH PAGE". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 23 November 1954. p. 16. Retrieved 11 February 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
^Vallance, Tom (24 October 2011). "Diane Cilento: Actress who won Oscar and Tony nominations and was married to Sean Connery and Anthony Shaffer". The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
^"Cilento, Diane". It's An Honour – Australia Celebrating Australians. 1 January 2001. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
^"Mother Did Not Know Diane Cilento Wed". Leicester Mercury. 15 February 1955.
^"How they live: Comfort for the Cilentos". The Australian Women's Weekly. 2 July 1958. p. 21.
^ a bKeepnews, Peter (8 October 2011). "Diane Cilento, Oscar-Nominated Actress, Dies at 78 [sic]". The New York Times.
^Surprise gift for Diane The Australian Women's Weekly 25 December 1968 p. 2 – Contains photo of Sean, Gigi, Jason and Diane
^"Sean Connery, Wife Reveal Separation". The La Crosse Tribune. Associated Press. 17 February 1971.
^Gardner, Hy (3 August 1974). "Personal Postscripts". Lansing State Journal. Sean Connery finally got his divorce from lovely Diane Cilento
^McFarlane, Brian (29 April 2006). "My Nine Lives". The Age. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010.
^"Jealous Connery beat me, says ex-wife". The Scotsman. 26 September 2005. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
^Neal, Aly (12 February 2012). "No more free passes to famous men who abuse women". The Washington Post. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
^"Obituary: Anthony Shaffer". The Guardian. 8 November 2001. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017.
^"Playwright's family fight off mistress's claim to share legacy". The Guardian. 10 February 2004. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016.
^"Actress Diane Cilento dies". ABC News Australia. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011.
^Bergan, Ronald (7 October 2011). "Diane Cilento obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
^"Australian actress Diane Cilento dies aged 78 [sic]". BBC News. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.