Actress Diane Cilento dies at 78

Cilento and then-husband Sean Connery in 1965.Actress Diane Cilento, who was Oscar nominated for her supporting role in 1963's "Tom Jones" during a career on stage and screen, died on Thursday, Oct. 6, in Queensland, Australia. She was 78, dying a day after her birthday.The beautiful blonde actress -- wide eyed, with a throaty voice -- was at one time married to Sean Connery and playwright Anthony Shaffer, and she appeared uncredited with Connery in the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice" (she was a swimming stunt double in the film) and in 1973 horror pic "The Wicker Man," penned by Shaffer. In the latter she played the schoolteacher, Miss Rose.Born in Brisbane, Cilento headed to England in the early '50s after winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. She started appearing in films in 1951 (she had uncredited roles in "Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N." and "Moulin Rouge") but larger roles came in "Passage Home," for example, with Peter Finch.In 1956 she drew a Tony nomination for role as Helen of Troy in Jean Giradoux's "Tiger at the Gates."Cilento also made an impression on both American and British TV, starring in a 1956 adaptation of "Taming of the Shrew" for "Hallmark Hall of Fame" and in a 1957 ITV production of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie" with Connery. (The couple married in 1962 after she divorced Andrea Volpe, an assistant director.)In addition to her work in "Tom Jones," as one of the women who lust after the title character, Cilento also appeared in "The Third Secret," with Stephen Boyd; "The Agony and the Ecstasy," with Charlton Heston; and "Hombre," with Paul Newman.She also worked in TV during the 1960s, starring in a 1967 adaptation of "Dial M for Murder" with Laurence Harvey for ABC and starring in the brief Granada Television series "Rogues' Gallery."Cilento appeared in the 1978 BBC miniseries "Tycoon" and starred with her son Jason Connery in 1985 Australian film "The Boy Who Had Everything."Cilento divorced Connery in 1973. British playwright Shaffer joined her when she moved back to Queensland in 1975 (they had met during the making of "The Wicker Man"), and the couple married in 1985.In an Australia rain forest, Cilento built and operated a successful open-air theater.The actress did her last screen acting in a recurring role in the Australian series "Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left" in 1994.Cilento also penned two novels, "The Manipulator" (1967) and 1971's "Hybrid."Shaffer died in 2001.In addition to son Jason, survivors include a daughter from Cilento's first marriage, Giovanna Volpe. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com