Dyan Cannon

	Dyan Cannon
	; Cannon, circa 1960
	Background information
Born as:	Samille Diane Friesen
Born	Jan 4, 1937; Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Spouse(s):	Cary Grant; (1965 - 1968) div; Stanley Fimberg; (1985 - 1991) div
Children:	Jennifer Grant
Relatives:	David Friesen (brother)
Occupation:	Actress, director, screenwriter, producer, editor
	Editor's note about articles in this category

	Note: This is an abridged Wikipedia articleSee: Dyan Cannon on Wikipedia

Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, filmmaker, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was named Female Star of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners in 1973 and the Hollywood Women's Press Club in 1979.

A former beauty queen who held the title of Miss West Seattle, Cannon made her television debut in 1958. Over the next decade, she became a familiar presence on episodic shows while also occasionally performing on Broadway and in B movies. In 1969, she had her breakthrough film role in the sex comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Cannon received another nomination in that category for Heaven Can Wait (1978), winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her lead role in Such Good Friends (1971). Additionally, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film as the producer of Number One (1976).

Other films in which Cannon has performed include The Love Machine (1971), Shamus (1973), The Last of Sheila (1973), Child Under a Leaf (1974), Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Coast to Coast (1980), Deathtrap (1982), Author! Author! (1982), Caddyshack II (1988), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), Out to Sea (1997), and Boynton Beach Club (2005). Cannon made her feature directorial debut with 1990's semiautobiographical drama The End of Innocence, which she also wrote and in which starred. From 1997 to 2000, she played a recurring role on the legal series Ally McBeal.

Before her career took off, Cannon was married to Cary Grant for three years and gave birth to his only child, daughter Jennifer. Reluctant to discuss the marriage since their 1968 divorce, Cannon initially turned down publishing deals following Grant's death in 1986. Her memoir Dear Cary was published in 2011 and became a New York Times Best Seller. In 2023, the book was adapted into a miniseries called Archie with Cannon executive producing.

Early life

Cannon was born Samille Diane Friesen in Tacoma, Washington, on January 4, 1937, the daughter of housewife Claire (née Portnoy) and life insurance salesman Ben Friesen. She was raised in the Jewish faith of her mother, who was an immigrant from Ukraine; her father was an Anabaptist of Canadian Mennonite ancestry. Her younger brother is jazz musician David Friesen. Cannon attended West Seattle High School and was crowned Miss West Seattle in 1954. She spent two and a half semesters at the University of Washington, majoring in anthropology.

In 1956, Cannon dropped out of college and went to live with her aunt Sally in Phoenix, Arizona, where she took a job at Merrill Lynch & Co. Courted by nightclub owner Sonny Orling, then 32, she got engaged and followed him to Beverly Hills, California. They soon parted, but she decided to stay in the area and enroll at UCLA. A part-time modeling job led to an interview with producer Jerry Wald, who suggested she change her last name to Cannon. She signed to MGM, doing promotional work for the film Les Girls, and studied with acting teacher Sanford Meisner.

Personal life

In 1961, Cannon began dating actor Cary Grant, who was 33 years her senior. They married on July 22, 1965, and had one daughter, Jennifer (b. February 26, 1966). Cannon filed for divorce in September 1967, and the divorce was finalized on March 21, 1968.

Cannon married a second time on April 18, 1985, to lawyer-turned-real estate investor Stanley Fimberg. They divorced in 1991. In 2024, Cannon said Fimberg and she are still friends.

Cannon has also been in relationships with comedian Mort Sahl, talent agent Ron Weisner, and sculptor Carl Hartman, as well as producers Murray Shostak and Leonard Rabinowitz, directors Hal Ashby and Jerry Schatzberg, and actors Armand Assante, Hy Chase, Ron Ely, and Michael Nouri. She remains friendly with Nouri and accompanied him to a premiere four decades after their breakup. In 2025, Cannon told a reporter for People magazine that she has several friends with whom she has a "friends with benefits" arrangement.

Cannon has often collaborated with her significant others on film and TV projects. Shostak and Rabinowitz produced her starring vehicles Child Under a Leaf and The End of Innocence, respectively; Schatzberg directed her in Honeysuckle Rose; Assante and Nouri were her leading men in Lady of the House and Boynton Beach Club, respectively; and she guest-starred on Ely's series Malibu Run.

In 1972, Cannon revealed that she engaged in primal therapy. She also dabbled in metaphysics and was subsequently expelled from Esalen.

A longtime fixture at Los Angeles Lakers games, she is considered the team's second-most famous fan behind Jack Nicholson.

She is a born-again Christian.