Diane Baker | |
|---|---|
 Diane Baker in 2023 | |
| Born | Diane Carol Baker (1938-02-25)February 25, 1938 (age 87) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | Van Nuys High School |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1959–2013 |
| 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.
Baker was born February 25, 1938 at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital and raised in the Los Angeles neighborhoods ofNorth Hollywood andStudio City.[1] She is the daughter of Dorothy Helen Harrington, who had appeared in several earlyMarx Brothers movies, and automobile salesman Clyde Lucius Baker. Baker has two younger sisters, Patricia and Cheryl.[2] At age 18, after graduating fromVan Nuys High School in 1956, Baker moved to New York to study acting withCharles Conrad and ballet withNina Fonaroff.[citation needed]
After securing a seven-year contract with20th Century Fox in 1958,[citation needed] Baker made her film debut when she was chosen by directorGeorge Stevens to playMargot Frank in the 1959 motion pictureThe Diary of Anne Frank. In the same year, she starred inJourney to the Center of the Earth withJames Mason andPat Boone; and inThe Best of Everything withHope Lange andJoan Crawford.
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Other Fox films in which Baker appeared include the assassination thrillerNine Hours to Rama,Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man, andThe 300 Spartans. Her television work, which began in the 1960s, includes appearances onFollow the Sun,Bus Stop,Adventures in Paradise,The Lloyd Bridges Show,The Nurses,The Invaders (in the first episode), and two episodes ofRoute 66.
Finally out of her contract with Fox after starring in the fourth screen version ofGrace Miller White's novelTess of the Storm Country andThe 300 Spartans (1962), Baker appeared inStolen Hours, a 1963 remake ofDark Victory (Mirisch Corp. and United Artists), and, the same year, oppositePaul Newman andElke Sommer inThe Prize (MGM). From 1963 to 1966, Baker had a recurring role on the medical dramaDr. Kildare.
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In 1964, she co-starred withJoan Crawford in bothStrait-Jacket,William Castle's thriller about an axe murderess, and an unsold television pilotRoyal Bay, released to theaters asDella.Alfred Hitchcock cast her in his filmMarnie (1964) as Lil Mainwaring, the sister-in-law of Mark Rutland (Sean Connery). She co-starred withGregory Peck andWalter Matthau in the thrillerMirage (1965), directed byEdward Dmytryk, and inKrakatoa, East of Java (1969) withMaximilian Schell. In the TV movie WesternThe 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 bySal Mineo) to a distant jail.
In August 1967, Baker playedDavid Janssen's love interest in the two-part finale ofThe Fugitive, which becamethe most-watched show in the history of episodic television up until that time. In 1968, she co-starred withDean Jones in the Disney filmThe 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 ofMission: Impossible. In 1973, Baker co-starred inABC sitcomHere We Go Again. The series was canceled after one season. In 1976, she played the frequently drunken daughter of the title character of theColumbo episode "Last Salute to the Commodore".
In the decades afterMirage, she appeared frequently on television and began producing films, including the drama filmNever Never Land (1980) and theminiseriesA Woman of Substance (1985), in which she played Laura. She reemerged on the big screen inThe Silence of the Lambs (1991) as Senator Ruth Martin. Baker also appeared in the filmsThe Joy Luck Club,The Cable Guy,The Net andA Mighty Wind. She guest-starred in four episodes ofHouse 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 theAcademy of Art University in San Francisco. She was formerly the executive director of the School of Motion Pictures-Television and the School of Acting.[3][4]
Baker has datedWarren Beatty,Gardner McKay,Frank Langella,Michael Lerner andJohn Saxon.[3][5][6]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The Diary of Anne Frank | Margot Frank | |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | Jenny Lindenbrook | ||
| The Best of Everything | April Morrison | ||
| 1960 | The Wizard of Baghdad | Princess Yasmin | |
| Tess of the Storm Country | Tess MacLean | ||
| 1962 | Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man | Carolyn | |
| The 300 Spartans | Ellas | ||
| 1963 | Nine Hours to Rama | Sheila | |
| The Prize | Emily Stratman | ||
| Stolen Hours | Ellen | ||
| 1964 | Strait-Jacket | Carol Harbin | |
| Marnie | Lil Mainwaring | ||
| 1965 | Mirage | Shela | |
| 1966 | Sands of Beersheba | Susan | Alternative title:Thunder Over Israel |
| 1968 | The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit | Suzie "S.J." Clemens | |
| 1969 | Krakatoa, East of Java | Laura Travis | |
| 1976 | Baker's Hawk | Jenny Baker | |
| 1980 | The Pilot | Pat Simpson | |
| 1990 | The Closer | Beatrice Grant | |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | Senator Ruth Martin | |
| 1993 | Twenty Bucks | Ruth Adams | |
| The Joy Luck Club | Mrs. Jordan | ||
| 1994 | Imaginary Crimes | Abigail Tate | |
| 1996 | Courage Under Fire | Louise Boylar | |
| 1997 | Murder at 1600 | Kitty Neil | |
| 2001 | Harrison's Flowers | Mary Francis | |
| 2002 | On the Roof | Mrs. Arnott | |
| 2003 | A Mighty Wind | Supreme Folk Defense Lawyer | Credited last but no face-time |
| 2005 | The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam | Miss Taylor | Alternative title:Empire Rising |
| 2008 | Harrison Montgomery | Mrs. Cutsworth | |
| 2012 | Hemingway & Gellhorn | Mrs. Gellhorn |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Playhouse 90 | Shelia Cass | Episode: "In Lonely Expectation" |
| 1960 | The DuPont Show of the Month | Nurse Leora Tozer | Episode: "Arrowsmith" |
| 1961 | Follow the Sun | Helen Henderson | Episode: "Journey Into Darkness" |
| Adventures in Paradise | Veronica Sanders | Episode: "Vendetta" | |
| 1963 | The Doctors and the Nurses | Marjorie Ford | Episode: "Field of Battle" |
| Mr. Novak | Mrs. Chase | Episode: "A Feeling for Friday" | |
| Route 66 | Elisa/Marie Duplessis | 2 episodes | |
| 1964 | Della | Jenny Chappell | Television film |
| Wagon Train | Alice Whitetree | Episode: "The Alice Whitetree Story" | |
| The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre | Vivia Mandour | Television film | |
| 1965 | Inherit the Wind | Rachel Brown | |
| The Big Valley | Hester | Episode: "By Fires Unseen" | |
| 1966-1970 | The Virginian | Various | 3 episodes |
| 1966 | Hawk | Mary Wheelis | Episode: "The Longleat Chronicles" |
| The F.B.I. | Elyse Colton | Episode: "The Camel's Nose" | |
| The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones | Amilia Rathmore | Television film | |
| 1967 | The Fugitive | Jean Carlisle | Episodes: "The Judgement" (Parts 1 & 2) |
| The Invaders | Kathy Adams | Episode: "Beachhead" | |
| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Laney | Episode: "Free of Charge" | |
| 1967, 1971 | Bonanza | Mary Wharton / Norma O' Casey | 2 episodes |
| 1969 | Trial Run | Carole Trenet | Television film |
| The Name of the Game | Elaine Brennan | Episode: "Give Till It Hurts" | |
| The D.A.: Murder One | Mary Brokaw | Television film | |
| 1970 | Mission: Impossible | Francesca | Episodes: "The Falcon" (Parts 1, 2, & 3) |
| 1970 | The Interns | Sheila Carmichael | Episode: "The Quality of Mercy" |
| The Old Man Who Cried Wolf | Peggy Pulska | Television film | |
| 1971 | Sarge | Carol Swanson | Episode: "The Badge or the Cross" |
| Congratulations, It's a Boy! | Edye | Television film | |
| A Little Game | Elaine Hamilton | ||
| Night Gallery | Lynn Allcott | Segment: "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar" | |
| 1972 | Killer by Night | Tracey Morrow | Television film |
| Love, American Style | Wendy | Segment: "Love and the Small Wedding" | |
| 1973 | Love Story | Angie Burnett | Episode: "The Youngest Lovers" |
| Here We Go Again | Susan Evans | 13 episodes | |
| 1974 | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Katie Nolan | Television film |
| Medical Center | Three-Cornered Cage | Episode: "Three-Cornered Cage" | |
| The ABC Afternoon Playbreak | Diana | Episode: "Can I Save My Children?" | |
| 1975 | Lucas Tanner | Jessica Atkins | Episode: "Why Not a Happy Ending?" |
| Marcus Welby, M.D. | Sister Anne | Episode: "The Medea Factor" | |
| The Streets of San Francisco | Inspector Irene Martin | Episode: "The Cat's Paw" | |
| The Dream Makers | Mary Stone | Television film | |
| 1976 | Police Woman | Cynthia Lambert | Episode: "The Pawn Shop" |
| Columbo | Joanna Clay | Episode: "Last Salute to the Commodore" | |
| 1977 | Barnaby Jones | Pat Halston | Episode: "The Wife Beater" |
| Kojak | Irene Van Patten | 2 episodes | |
| 1978 | The Love Boat | Ruth Newman | Episode: "Pacific Princess Overtures..." |
| ABC Afterschool Special | Carrie Wilson | Episode: "One of a Kind" | |
| 1980 | Fugitive Family | Ellen 'Ellie' Roberts | Television film |
| 1981 | Trapper John, M.D. | Mrs. Forsyte | Episode: "The Albatross" |
| 1982 | The Blue and the Gray | Evelyn Hale | Miniseries |
| 1983 | Fantasy Island | Fran Woods | Episode: "Saturday's Child..." |
| 1985 | A Woman of Substance | Laura O'Neill | Miniseries |
| 1987 | CBS Schoolbreak Special | Helen Welker-Summers | Episode: "Little Miss Perfect" |
| 1990, 1992 | Murder, She Wrote | Eleanor Thane/Anna Louisa Barlow/Mary Forsythe | 3 episodes |
| 1991 | The Haunted | Lorraine Warren | Television film |
| 1992 | Mann & Machine | Delores Peterson | Episode: "Water, Water, Everywhere" |
| Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride | Laura Parris | Television film | |
| 1995 | A Walton Wedding | Charlotte Gilchrist | |
| 1996 | Chicago Hope | Mrs. Kovacs | Episode: "Rise from the Dead" |
| 1998 | About Sarah | Lila Hollingsworth | Television film |
| The Nanny | Roberta | Episode: "Sara's Parents" | |
| 2000 | ER | Louise Duffy | Episode: "The Domino Heart" |
| Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis | Rose Kennedy | Television film | |
| 2001 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Margo Nelson | Episode: "Inheritance" |
| 2002 | First Monday | Arlene Braken | 3 episodes |
| 2003 | Dragnet | Rebecca Barton | Episode: "The Brass Ring" |
| 2005 | Unscripted | Diane | 5 episodes |
| 2005, 2008 | House | Blythe House | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Lie to Me | Judge Quinn | Episode: "The Whole Truth" |
| 2013 | The Surrogate | Louise | Television film |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Most Promising Newcomer – Female | The Diary of Anne Frank | Nominated |
| 1964 | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | The Prize | Nominated |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Inherit the Wind | Nominated |
| 1985 | Outstanding Limited Series | A Woman of Substance | Nominated |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Special | The ABC Afternoon Playbreak: "Can I Save My Children?" | Nominated |
