Diane Baker

Last updated

Diane Baker
Diane Baker.jpg
Diane Baker in 2023
Born
Diane Carol Baker

(1938-02-25) February 25, 1938 (age 86)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education Van Nuys High School
Occupations
  • Actress
  • producer
Years active1959–2013
Known for The Diary of Anne Frank
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Prize
Marnie
Mirage

Diane Carol Baker (born February 25, 1938) is an American actress, producer and educator whose career spanned over 50 years. [1]

Contents

Early life

Baker was born February 25, 1938 [2] at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and raised in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of North Hollywood and Studio City. She is the daughter of Dorothy Helen Harrington, who had appeared in several early Marx Brothers movies, and automobile salesman Clyde Lucius Baker. Baker has two younger sisters, Patricia and Cheryl. [3] At age 18, after graduating from Van Nuys High School in 1956, Baker moved to New York to study acting with Charles Conrad and ballet with Nina Fonaroff.[ citation needed ]

Career

After securing a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox in 1958,[ citation needed ] Baker made her film debut when she was chosen by director George Stevens to play Margot Frank in the 1959 motion picture The Diary of Anne Frank . In the same year, she starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth with James Mason and Pat Boone; and in The Best of Everything with Hope Lange and Joan Crawford.

Publicity photo for Marnie (1964) Diane Baker - Studio Portrait (1964).png
Publicity photo for Marnie (1964)

Other Fox films in which Baker appeared include the assassination thriller Nine Hours to Rama , Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man, and The 300 Spartans . Her television work, which began in the 1960s, includes appearances on Follow the Sun , Bus Stop , Adventures in Paradise , The Lloyd Bridges Show , The Nurses , The Invaders (in the first episode), and two episodes of Route 66 .

Finally out of her contract with Fox after starring in the fourth screen version of Grace Miller White's novel Tess of the Storm Country and The 300 Spartans (1962), Baker appeared in Stolen Hours , a 1963 remake of Dark Victory (Mirisch Corp. and United Artists), and, the same year, opposite Paul Newman and Elke Sommer in The Prize (MGM). From 1963 to 1966, Baker had a recurring role on the medical drama Dr. Kildare .

Cast of TV's Here We Go Again, from top: Dick Gautier, Nita Talbot, Larry Hagman and Diane Baker (1973) Here We Go Again (TV series).jpg
Cast of TV's Here We Go Again , from top: Dick Gautier, Nita Talbot, Larry Hagman and Diane Baker (1973)

In 1964, she co-starred with Joan Crawford in both Strait-Jacket , William Castle's thriller about an axe murderess, and an unsold television pilot Royal Bay, released to theaters as Della . Alfred Hitchcock cast her in his film Marnie (1964) as Lil Mainwaring, the sister-in-law of Mark Rutland (Sean Connery). She co-starred with Gregory Peck and Walter Matthau in the thriller Mirage (1965), directed by Edward Dmytryk, and in Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) with Maximilian Schell. In the TV movie Western The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones (1966), she played the role of a woman who falls in love with a drifter (Robert Horton) who is deputized by a dying marshal to take two killers (one of whom is played by Sal Mineo) to a distant jail.

In August 1967, Baker played David Janssen's love interest in the two-part finale of The Fugitive , which became the most-watched show in the history of episodic television up until that time. In 1968, she co-starred with Dean Jones in the Disney film The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit . In January 1970, she had the lead guest-starring female role as Princess Francesca in the only three-episode mission of Mission: Impossible . In 1973, Baker co-starred in ABC sitcom Here We Go Again . The series was canceled after one season. In 1976, she played the frequently drunken daughter of the title character of the Columbo episode "Last Salute to the Commodore".

In the decades after Mirage, she appeared frequently on television and began producing films, including the drama film Never Never Land (1980) and the miniseries A Woman of Substance (1985), in which she played Laura. She reemerged on the big screen in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as Senator Ruth Martin. Baker also appeared in the films The Joy Luck Club , The Cable Guy , The Net and A Mighty Wind . She guest-starred in four episodes of House in 2005, 2008, and twice in 2012 as Blythe House, the mother of the title character.

Baker spent more than a decade teaching acting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She was formerly the executive director of the School of Motion Pictures-Television and the School of Acting. [4] [5]

Personal life

Baker has dated Warren Beatty, Gardner McKay, Frank Langella, Michael Lerner and John Saxon. [4] [6] [7]

Selected TV and filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1959 The Diary of Anne Frank Margot Frank
Journey to the Center of the Earth Jenny Lindenbrook
The Best of Everything April Morrison
Playhouse 90 Shelia CassEpisode: "In Lonely Expectation"
1960 The DuPont Show of the Month Nurse Leora TozerEpisode: "Arrowsmith"
The Wizard of Baghdad Princess Yasmin
Tess of the Storm Country Tess MacLean
1961Follow the SunHelen HendersonEpisode: "Journey Into Darkness"
Adventures in Paradise Veronica SandersEpisode: "Vendetta"
1962 Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man Carolyn
The 300 Spartans Ellas
1963 The Doctors and the Nurses Marjorie FordEpisode: "Field of Battle"
Nine Hours to Rama Sheila
The Prize Emily Stratman
Stolen Hours Ellen
Mr. Novak Mrs. ChaseEpisode: "A Feeling for Friday"
Route 66 ElisaEpisode: "The Cruelest Sea of All"
Route 66 Marie DuplessisEpisode: "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!"
1964 Strait-Jacket Carol Harbin
Marnie Lil Mainwaring
Della Jenny ChappellTelevision movie
Wagon Train Alice WhitetreeEpisode: "The Alice Whitetree Story"
The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre Vivia MandourTelevision movie
1965 Mirage Shela
Inherit the Wind Rachel BrownTelevision movie
The Big Valley HesterEpisode: "By Fires Unseen"
1966 The Virginian Linda ValenceEpisode: "Linda"
Sands of BeershebaSusanAlternative title: Thunder Over Israel
Hawk Mary WheelisEpisode: "The Longleat Chronicles"
The F.B.I. Elyse ColtonEpisode: "The Camel's Nose"
The Dangerous Days of Kiowa JonesAmilia RathmoreTelevision movie
1967 The Fugitive Jean CarlisleEpisodes: "The Judgement" (Parts 1 & 2)
The Invaders Kathy AdamsEpisode: "Beachhead"
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre LaneyEpisode: "Free of Charge"
1967, 1971 Bonanza Mary Wharton / Norma O' Casey2 episodes
1968 The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit Suzie "S.J." Clemens
1969 Krakatoa, East of Java Laura Travis
Trial Run Carole TrenetTelevision movie
The Virginian Julie OakesEpisode: "A Love to Remember"
The Name of the Game Elaine BrennanEpisode: "Give Till It Hurts"
The D.A.: Murder One Mary BrokawTelevision movie
1970 The Interns Sheila CarmichaelEpisode: "The Quality of Mercy"
The Old Man Who Cried Wolf Peggy PulskaTelevision movie
1971 The Virginian Nan AllenEpisode: "Nan Allen"
Sarge Carol SwansonEpisode: "The Badge or the Cross"
Congratulations, It's a Boy! EdyeTelevision movie
A Little Game Elaine HamiltonTelevision movie
Night Gallery Lynn AlcottSegment: "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar"
1972Killer by NightTracey MorrowTelevision movie
Love, American Style WendySegment: "Love and the Small Wedding"
1973 Love Story Angie BurnettEpisode: "The Youngest Lovers"
Here We Go Again Susan Evans13 episodes
1974 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Katie NolanTelevision movie
Medical Center Three-Cornered CageEpisode: "Three-Cornered Cage"
The ABC Afternoon Playbreak DianaEpisode: "Can I Save My Children?"
1975 Lucas Tanner Jessica AtkinsEpisode: "Why Not a Happy Ending?"
Marcus Welby, M.D. Sister AnneEpisode: "The Medea Factor"
The Streets of San Francisco Inspector Irene MartinEpisode: "The Cat's Paw"
The Dream Makers Mary StoneTelevision movie
1976 Police Woman Cynthia LambertEpisode: "The Pawn Shop"
Baker's Hawk Jenny Baker
Columbo Joanna ClayEpisode: "Last Salute to the Commodore"
1977 Barnaby Jones Pat HalstonEpisode: "The Wife Beater"
Kojak Irene Van Patten2 episodes
1978 The Love Boat Ruth NewmanEpisode: "Pacific Princess Overtures..."
ABC Afterschool Special Carrie WilliamsEpisode: "One of a Kind"
1980 The Pilot Pat Simpson
Fugitive FamilyEllen 'Ellie' RobertsTelevision movie
1981 Trapper John, M.D. Mrs. ForsyteEpisode: "The Albatross"
1982 The Blue and the Gray Evelyn HaleMiniseries
1983 Fantasy Island Fran WoodsEpisode: "Saturday's Child..."
1985 A Woman of Substance Laura O'NeillMiniseries
1987 CBS Schoolbreak Special Helen Welker-SummersEpisode: "Little Miss Perfect"
1987 Murder, She Wrote Eleanor ThaneEpisode: "Simon Says, Color Me Dead"
1990The CloserBeatrice Grant
1990 Murder, She Wrote Anna Louisa BarlowEpisode: "The Great Twain Robbery"
1991 The Silence of the Lambs Senator Ruth Martin
The Haunted Lorraine Warren Television movie
1992 Mann & Machine Delores PetersonEpisode: "Water, Water Everywhere"
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride Laura ParrisTelevision movie
Murder, She Wrote Mary ForsytheEpisode: "A Christmas Secret"
1993 Twenty Bucks Ruth Adams
The Joy Luck Club Mrs. Jordan
1994 Imaginary Crimes Abigail Tate
1995 A Walton Wedding Charlotte GilchristTelevision movie
Chicago Hope Ellen RolstonEpisode: "Rise from the Dead"
The Net Mrs. Bennett
1996 The Cable Guy Mrs. Kovacs
Courage Under Fire Louise Boylar
1997 Murder at 1600 Kitty Neil
1998About SarahLila HollingsworthTelevision movie
The Nanny RobertaEpisode: "Sara's Parents"
2000 ER Louise DuffyEpisode: "The Domino Heart"
Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Rose Kennedy Television movie
2001 Harrison's Flowers Mary Francis
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Margo NelsonEpisode: "Inheritance"
2002 First Monday Arlene Braken3 episodes
On the RoofMrs. Arnott
2003 Dragnet Rebecca BartonEpisode: "The Brass Ring"
A Mighty Wind Supreme Folk Defense LawyerCredited last but no face-time
2005 The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam Miss TaylorAlternative title: Empire Rising
Unscripted Diane5 episodes
House Blythe HouseEpisodes: "Daddy's Boy" , Birthmarks
2008 Harrison Montgomery Mrs. Cutsworth
2010 Lie to Me Judge QuinnEpisode: "The Whole Truth"
2012 Hemingway & Gellhorn Mrs. Gellhorn
2013The SurrogateLouiseTelevision movie

Awards and nominations

Golden Globe Awards

YearCategoryNominated workResult
1960 Most Promising Newcomer – Female The Diary of Anne Frank Nominated
1964 Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture The Prize Nominated

Primetime Emmy Award

YearCategoryNominated workResult
1966 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Inherit the Wind Nominated
1985 Outstanding Limited Series A Woman of Substance Nominated

Daytime Emmy Award

YearCategoryNominated workResult
1975Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Special The ABC Afternoon Playbreak : "Can I Save My Children?"Nominated

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References

  1. "Diane Baker". catalog.afi.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  2. "Diane Baker". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  3. Blair, Doniphan (August 13, 2010). "Diane Baker: Creating Films, Schools, and Communities". CineSOURCE Magazine. Archived from the original on July 16, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Stein, Ruthe (August 27, 2004). "'Extraordinary adventure' lures ex-ingenue". San Francisco Chronicle.
  5. "Academy of Art University School of Acting – Faculty". Academy of Art University. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  6. Companions for Diane Baker tcm.com
  7. Finstad, Suzanne (2005). Warren Beatty: A Private Man. Crown Publishing Group. p. 207. ISBN   9780307345295.