Dyan Cannon Movies
With her luxurious, sun-streaked, long mane of curly blond hair, voluptuous and beautiful Dyan Cannon is an actress who is hard to miss. She has been in films and occasionally on television since making her debut opposite Art Carney in The Ding-a-Ling Girl, a presentation on the television series Playhouse 90. Born Samille Diane Friesen in Tacoma, WA, Cannon got her start as a showroom model in L.A. following two years of study in anthropology at the University of Washington. Thanks to the help of writer/producer Jerry Wald, who came up with her stage name (which was originally Diane Cannon), she landed a contract at MGM and made her feature film debut playing Wiggles, a troubled high school student in This Rebel Breed (1960). She then appeared in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960). After a couple appearances on Broadway and some work on television, Cannon met and fell in love with Cary Grant, who was 38 years her senior. While involved with him, she placed her acting career on hold. The two married in 1965 and she bore him a daughter. Three years later, Grant and Cannon went through a bitter public divorce. In 1969, Cannon returned to films in the then-controversial sex comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and won the Best Supporting Actress award from the New York Film Critics. Her role also won her an Oscar nomination. The 1970s were her most active period as an actress and Cannon appeared frequently in films. In 1978, she earned another Best Supporting Actress nomination for playing a conniving, adulterous wife in Heaven Can Wait. By the early '80s, Cannon sharply curtailed her feature-film career, but did appear in a few television movies and miniseries. In 1976, Cannon wrote, produced, directed, and even helped edit a 42-minute film sponsored by the American Film Institute. Titled Number One, Cannon designed it to teach children about sexuality and their bodies. It earned an Oscar nomination for best live-action short. Cannon has since directed two more films, including The End of Innocence, which is based on her autobiography. Cannon returned to acting on a limited basis in the 1990s and continued to appear on television in such outings as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Christmas in Connecticut (1992) and features such as Out to Sea (1997). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Cross What's up Doc with Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and you get this dark screwball comedy of murder and lost luggage. Mafia hitman Tommy Spinelli (Joe Pesci) is flying to San Diego with a bag that holds eight severed heads, which he's bringing to his superiors to prove that some troublesome rival mobsters are permanently out of the picture. Medical student Charlie Pritchett (Andy Comeau) is headed to Mexico with his fiancée Laurie Bennett (Kristy Swanson) to meet her parents. Charlie's suitcase is identical to Tommy's, and it's not until Tommy arrives in San Diego that he discovers that there are no heads in his bag, while Charlie realizes his duffel most certainly does not contain his vacation wardrobe. Tommy finds Charlie's address in the bag and heads to the fraternity house he calls home, where he drafts Charlie's friends Ernie (David Spade) and Steve (Todd Louiso) into finding him some replacement heads post-haste. Meanwhile, Laurie's parents (Dyan Cannon and George Hamilton) are a bit miffed to discover that their future son-in-law is travelling with a bag full of rotting heads, while Laurie is ready to give Charlie his walking papers. Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag was the directorial debut of screenwriter Tom Schulman, who won an Academy Award for his script for the movie Dead Poets Society. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Pesci, Andy Comeau, (more)
Getting home early, Beverly Hills wife Michelle Halaburton (Lyndie Benson) catches her husband Dustin (Harry Hamlin) in bed with her best friend Allie (Joanne Baron), who works at Michelle's favorite beauty salon. Not long after this, Michelle and Allie embark on a life of crime. At the beauty salon, Michelle sees how to get access codes to homes of the salon's wealthy patrons. During the break-ins that follow, the two collect cash, art, and jewelry. Their haul escalates until the wrong house at the wrong time could lead to their downfall. Surprised by the spoiled son (James Wilder) of one of their victims, they capture him, tie him up, and try to devise a way out of the situation. Shown at the 1997 Hollywood Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lyndie Benson, Joanne Baron, (more)
- 1997
Ally McBeal, despite low expectations from the network, proved to be a highly successful endeavor from writer/producer David E. Kelley. The notoriously tiny Calista Flockhart's neurotic portrayal of Ally fueled the show for five seasons, though it could not have lasted nearly as long without the insights of its eccentric supporting cast. Unique for its forays into the surreal, Ally McBeal as a show is as conflicted as its starring character. Half feministic endeavor, half a frustratingly traditional portrayal of lovelorn women, Ally McBeal danced precariously between law dramas of a more serious nature and Bridget Jones-esque "chick-shows." The series centered around the life of Ally McBeal, the quintessential "little girl lost," who, after graduating with a law degree from Harvard University, found herself in a law firm populated by an extraordinarily unconventional staff, including but not limited to Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows), her high school sweetheart. The show's premise allowed for quite a bit of creative freedom, and most episodes switched seamlessly from the thought-provoking (modern gender issues and sexual boundaries) to the absurd (remote control toilet flushers and pet frogs). Ally's quest for love and emotional fulfillment made for the heart of the series, along with the dark undertone of her often-questionable sanity. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1998
In the series pilot, Ally (Calista Flockhart) goes to work for a former classmate (Greg Germann). ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1998
Whipper ditches Richard after she catches him succumbing to his neck fetish with the Attorney General. ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1997
Ally defends a young transvestite (Wilson Cruz) on charges of prostitution, using a modified insanity defense. Meanwhile, Richard fights to have his dead uncle's unusual last request carried out. ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1997
Ally faces a moral dilemma when she's assigned to defend Richard's partner, who was arrested for solicitation. Meanwhile, Richard tries to use Ally to snag a client. ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1997
In the series' 100th episode, Ally is hired by a man who believes he can fly, and he tries to prove to her that she can, too; and John scoffs as Richard and Elaine try matchmaker Harriet Pumple (Nell Carter). ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
The first season of Ally McBeal centers around Ally's (Calista Flockhart) introduction to a law firm as full of eccentric characters as it is legal files. Not only must Ally adjust to her former high-school sweetheart's choice to marry another, but she also has to learn how to cope with having both him and his wife as co-workers. This season was a highly successful test of Ally McBeal's unique format, which emphasized musical numbers and special effect-laden flights of fancy. Despite initial low expectations from the network, Ally McBeal became a sleeper hit, owing much of its success to its originality, incorporation of truly unique characters, and its expert combination of modern issues of political-correctness with age-old matters of the heart. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1997
Ally's anything but jolly when she's assigned to represent a threesome (Eric Pierpoint, Amanda Carlin, Katie Mitchell) who want to make their marriage legal. ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1997
Ally reexamines male-female relationships when a lawyer develops an unrequited crush on her, and she defends a prostitute (Jamie Rose). ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1997
A high-pressure case and more visions of the dancing baby prompt Ally to go into therapy with the Biscuit's therapist (Tracey Ullman). Meanwhile, Richard pursues Janet Reno (Linda Gehringer). ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1985
Originally filmed in 1982, Arthur the King wasn't able to secure a network-TV berth until April 26, 1985. Malcolm McDowell plays good King Arthur, whose dream of Camelot is endangered by the evil Morgan Le Fay, played by Candice Bergen in her TV-movie debut. That this might have been intended as the pilot for a weekly series is evidenced by the otherwise pointless inclusion of Dyan Cannon, cast as a ditzy 20th- Century tourist who falls through a time warp while roaming around Stonehenge. You'll want to see Arthur the King if only to find out why minor-player Miro Pfeiffer's character name is "Undead Knight". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Successful playwright Al Pacino can't get any work done as long as he is pestered by his wacko wife Tuesday Weld. Making things worse are the couple's obstreperous children, many of them products of her previous marriages. Just as Pacino is completing his latest work, his wife walks out on him. That's the good news: the bad news is that he's saddled with a bunch of snot-nosed kids. Still and all, Pacino finds time to inaugurate an affair with his play's leading lady, played by Dyan Cannon, while attempting to juggle the stresses of opening night with the needs of the demanding, often obnoxious children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1993
Attempting to take a well-deserved sharp poke at those based-on-a-true-story television movies that have usurped the old B-movies that once fed the public's addiction for exploitation fare, this satire chronicles the tragedy of a perfume magnate whose empire is endangered when she suddenly finds herself unable to smell. Worried, the beautiful Satin (Morgan Fairchild) runs to her longtime friend Varda (Dyan Cannon) for advice and then takes off to find her true roots. This leads her to Velour (Rikki Lake) and Corduroy (Victoria Jackson), her sister from whom she was separated at birth. It is they who finally solve her painful mystery with the odious truth of Satin's past. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
