Dyan Cannon

Early TV Appearances

Cannon guest starred on TV shows like Have Gun - Will Travel, Target, Highway Patrol (several times), Playhouse 90, Lock-Up, Zane Grey Theater, 77 Sunset Strip, Hotel de Paree, and Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Cannon made her film debut in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960). She followed it with This Rebel Breed (1960).

However, in the 1960s, Cannon mostly focused on the small screen: The Detectives, Johnny Ringo, Tombstone Territory, Two Faces West, Bat Masterson (several times), Hawaiian Eye, The Aquanauts, Follow the Sun, and Ben Casey.

She had a regular role on the short-lived soap opera Full Circle and guest starred on The Untouchables, The Red Skelton Hour, Ripcord, Stoney Burke, Mr. Broadway, The Reporter, Gunsmoke, Burke's Law and Medical Center.

In 1963, Cannon joined the national touring production of the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, in which she played Rosemary.

Cannon had another role in a feature with The Murder Game (1965), then took several years off.

Film stardom

Cannon's first major film role came in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), which earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

In 1971 she starred in five films: The Love Machine, from the novel by Jacqueline Susann; Doctors' Wives, with Gene Hackman; The Anderson Tapes with Sean Connery; The Burglars, with Jean-Paul Belmondo; and Such Good Friends, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

Cannon starred opposite Burt Reynolds in Shamus (1973) as well as the mystery The Last of Sheila, playing an agent based on Sue Mengers that year, and gave a critically acclaimed performance in Child Under a Leaf in 1974.

She starred in the TV movie Virginia Hill (1974) with Harvey Keitel. Following this she took a four-year absence from acting.^[3]

Director

Cannon enrolled in the Women's Directing Workshop of the American Film Institute. She wrote, produced and directed a 45-minute film, Number One, which earned an Oscar nomination. It was a story about adolescent sexual curiosity.^[4]

In 1978, Cannon co-starred in Revenge of the Pink Panther. That same year, she appeared in Heaven Can Wait, for which she received another Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1976, she hosted Saturday Night Live during its first season and she guest starred in the fourth season of The Muppet Show in 1979.^[5]

She starred in a TV movie Lady of the House (1978).

1980s

In the 1980s, Cannon, who is also a singer/songwriter, appeared in Honeysuckle Rose (1980) with Willie Nelson, Coast to Coast (1980) with Robert Blake, Author! Author! (1982) with Al Pacino, and Deathtrap (1982) with Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.

She starred in a TV movie Having It All (1982) and a mini series Master of the Game (1985). She did Arthur the King (1985) and another mini series Jenny's War (1985).^[6]

For her contributions to the film industry, Cannon was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983 with a motion pictures star located at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard.^[7]

After Rock 'n' Roll Mom (1988) for Disney she had a supporting role in Caddyshack II (1988).^[8]

1990s

Cannon wrote, directed, and starred in The End of Innocence (1990). She was in Jailbirds (1991), Christmas in Connecticut (1992), The Pickle (1993), and Based on an Untrue Story (1993).^[9]

She had a guest role on Diagnosis Murder, A Perry Mason Mystery, The Naked Truth, The Rockford Files: If the Frame Fits... (1996) and starred in Beverly Hills Family Robinson (1997), That Darn Cat (1997), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), Allie & Me (1997) and Out to Sea (1997) with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.

She could also be seen in guest roles in The Practice, Arli$$, and Ally McBeal, and had roles in The Sender (1998), Harlequin Mills & Boon: Diamond Girl (1998),Kiss of a Stranger (1998), and Black Jaq (1998).

Later career

Cannon had a role in My Mother, the Spy (2000), and a regular part in the TV series Three Sisters (2001–02), as well as the film Kangaroo Jack (2003).

In 2005, she appeared in Boynton Beach Club, a movie about aging Floridians who have just lost their spouses.

Her later roles included A Kiss at Midnight (2008), and Women Without Men (2010). She wrote and directed another short, Unleashed (2010).