35 Beautiful Photos of Diane Cilento in the 1950s and ’60s _ AuVintage

Born 1932 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australian actress and author Diane Cilento had her first leading film role in Passage Home (1955). She soon secured roles in British films and worked steadily until the end of the decade. In 1956, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for Helen of Troy in Jean Giraudoux’s Tiger at the Gates. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tom Jones in 1963 and appeared in The Third Secret the following year.

Cilento starred with Charlton Heston in the 1965 film The Agony and the Ecstasy, and with Paul Newman in the 1967 western film Hombre, and had a supporting role in The Wicker Man (1973). She continued working as an actress, in films and television.

In the 1980s, Cilento 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. In 2001, Cilento was awarded the Centenary Medal for “distinguished service to the arts, especially theatre”. She died of cancer at Cairns Base Hospital in 2011 at the age at 79.

Take a look at these beautiful photos to see portraits of a young Diane Cilento in the 1950s and 1960s.