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- 1997
In this comedy, a famous housewife must put her alleged homemaking skills to the test after she and her family are marooned on a tropic island. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A pair of grumpy old men hit the high seas in this comedy. Small-time con man Charlie (Walter Matthau) fast-talks his considerably more straight-laced friend Herb (Jack Lemmon) into joining him for a luxury cruise on an ocean liner headed to the Bahamas. Charlie tells Herb that the trip is free and will be a good way to meet rich widows; both parts are true enough, but Herb doesn't know that Charlie has signed them on as dance hosts (hence the free tickets), and Herb isn't sure if he's ready for romance after the recent death of his wife. As the men struggle with the fact that Herb isn't much of a hoofer (and Charlie can't dance at all) under the strict tutelage of cruise director Godwyn (Brent Spiner), Charlie starts sweet-talking beautiful heiress Liz (Dyan Cannon), while Herb finds a soul mate in Vivian (Gloria DeHaven), who lost her husband not long ago. Out to Sea also stars Elaine Stritch, Hal Linden, Rue McClanahan, and Donald O'Connor, who pulled his dancing shoes out of mothballs for his role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, (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
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)
- 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)
The original Disney feature film, That Darn Cat, was a feel-good hit in 1965, thanks largely to stars such as Hayley Mills, Roddy McDowall, and William Demarest. This 1996 remake also closely follows the novel Undercover Cat by Mildred Gordon and Gordon Gordon and features Christina Ricci in the Hayley Mills role. In a small Massachusetts town, two bumbling criminals mistakenly kidnap a maid, thinking her to be the wife of a prominent businessman. D.C., short for Darn Cat, is an alley cat who, while looking for his nightly snack, stumbles upon the kidnap victim, bound and gagged in a shed. The kidnap victim scratches a plea for help on the back of her wristwatch and puts it around the cat's neck. Patti (Ricci) finds the watch and links it to the missing maid. Playing amateur detective, she enlists the aid of an FBI agent, Zeke (Doug E. Doug), who has been assigned to the case. Patti and Zeke follow D.C. through tight openings to track down the captive. The cat also leads them to the woman's abductors (Peter Boyle and Rebecca Schull) and to a climactic car chase. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Ricci, Doug E. Doug, (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
Paul Mazursky directed this comedy, which blends a broad satire of the film industry with a thoughtful tale of a middle-aged man looking back on his life's failures. Harry Stone (Danny Aiello) is a film director who desperately needs a hit -- so desperately that he gets talked into directing an inane sci-fi film about a group of farm kids (led by Ally Sheedy) who grow an enormous pickle that they turn into a spaceship, allowing them to visit the planet Cleveland (ruled by Little Richard and his right hand man, Griffin Dunne) where everyone eats nothing but meat. Convinced that the film will flop, Harry is in a state of panic as he returns to New York with his Parisian girlfriend Francoise (Clotilde Courau), a mere 20 years his junior, and visits his ex-wife Ellen (Dyan Cannon); his mother Yetta (Shelley Winters); and his son Gregory (Chris Penn). Meanwhile Harry flashes back on his childhood and the film he could have made of it, and pitches his dream film (a historical epic about the life of Montezuma) to studio executives, who instead want him to make a movie kids can relate to. The Pickle was filmed in 1991, but only received a token theatrical release two years later. Actually, the sci-fi story with Little Richard as the undisputed ruler of Cleveland looks like it might have been an ideal vehicle for Edward D. Wood Jr.. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1992
Made for cable television, a TV-show homemaker (Dyan Cannon) invites a local hero (Kris Kristofferson) over for a live-broadcast Christmas dinner, but her lack of cooking skills could cause a problem. The film was directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The made-for-TV Jailbirds is a distaff comedy variation on The Defiant Ones. Phylicia Rashad plays an important LA business executive, while Dyan Cannon portrays a trailer-trash babe from Louisiana. Both Rashad and Cannon are thrown into a dank Southern jail for crimes they didn't commit. While manacled together, the ladies escape, driving each other cuckoo as they elude their captors. Apparently, CBS had so little faith in Jailbirds that the network hardly bothered to advertise the film went it premiered May 16, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
Actress Dyan Cannon, whose 1976 directorial debut Number One was nominated for a "best short subject" Academy Award, moves on to feature-length projects with The End of Innocence. In addition to directing, Ms. Cannon wrote the screenplay and played a leading role in this story of a young girl spiritually torn apart by forces beyond her control. Rebecca Schaeffer plays Stephanie Lewis, unwanted and ignored by her eternally squabbling parents. Mom and Dad do further damage to Stephanie's battered psyche by giving her mixed messages concerning sex and religion. The girl's self-esteem dwindles to microscopic proportions thanks to a series of no-good boyfriends. Suffering a nervous breakdown, she is placed in an asylum, where for the first time she treated as a human being rather than a nuisance by compassionate psychiatrist John Heard. Completed in the late 1980s, End of Innocence was released in 1990, one year after the death of star Rebecca Schaeffer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, John Heard, (more)
This comedy returns to the exclusive but crazy country club golf course seen in the original Caddyshack. This time its the blue-bloods against the blue collars as a loud, vulgar self-made millionaire tries to join the stuffy upper-crust club after his daughter falls in love with the son of one of the members. Naturally, the boisterous millionaire is rejected by the genteel jerks. He retaliates by buying the golf course and turning it into an ultra-tacky amusement park. Merry mayhem ensues, but in the end, the snobs learn a valuable lesson, the millionaire gets to join, and his daughter and her lover are finally united. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Mason, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1988
Dyan Cannon plays the title character, a middle-aged housewife and mother who enjoys singing in local amateur contests. Almost overnight, she becomes a nationally famous rock star, with all the attendant trappings of glamour and adulation. But fame has its price: As Cannon rises to the top of her profession, she neglects her two teenaged children. Heather Locklear guest stars as a rocker who calls herself Darcy X; also in the cast is a pre-stardom Fran Drescher. Rock 'n' Roll Mom was originally telecast on The Disney Sunday Movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, Telma Hopkins, (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
- 1985
- PG
Dyan Cannon stars in this 4-hour TV drama as Jenny Baines, an American woman of the pre-WW II era. Anxious to learn the fate of her son, a pilot who was shot down over Germany, Jenny travels to Berlin. Here she is reunited with her husband Hartmut Becker, who is now a high-ranking Nazi officer. With the help of allied prisoners, Jenny is smuggled into the POW camp where her son is presumably being held. The part of Jenny's son is played by Hugh Grant, meaning that Jenny's War is probably due for a revival. The 2-part drama was originally syndicated the week of October 26, 1985, as part of the Operation Prime Time series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Another of the many Sidney Sheldon novels given the TV-miniseries treatment in the 1970s and '80s, Master of the Game yielded a three-part, nine-hour extravaganza, with enough corporate and romantic intrigue to fill an entire television season. Covering nearly 100 years, the story (which remained astonishingly faithful to the book) begins in the late 19th century, when ruthless young Scottish entrepreneur Jamie McGregor (Ian Charleson) emigrates to South Africa, in hopes of accumulating enough wealth and power to get even with his longtime enemy, Dutch merchant Van der Merwe (Donald Pleasence). Thanks to an extremely prolific diamond mine, the money comes quickly -- as does vengeance, when McGregor deflowers Van der Merwe's convent-educated daughter, Margaret (Cherie Lunghi). The result of this indiscretion is a daughter named Kate (Dyan Cannon), who turns out to be the "Master" of the title. Upon attaining adulthood, Kate assumes control of her father's vast financial empire, ruling her inherited international conglomerate, and her husband, David Blackwell (David Birney), with an iron fist. The story continues into the next several generations, with Kate's lily-livered son, Tony (Harry Hamlin), giving birth to twin daughters, Eve and Alexandra (both played by Liane Langland). One is good, the other evil; the evil twin threatens threaten to destroy everything that Kate has so painstakingly built up. Eventually, they both become the victims of a sneering, malevolent gigolo (Fernando Allende) with a penchant for beating young women senseless. Told in flashback, the narrative comes to a head during Kate's 90th birthday celebration, an event tainted by the efforts of a mysterious killer to wipe the domineering matriarch and her family from the face of the earth. Largely filmed on location, Master of the Game was telecast by CBS from February 19 to 22, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, Harry Hamlin, (more)
- 1983
Malibu is a two-part, four-hour adaptation of William Murray's best-selling novel. William Atherton and Susan Dey play a green-as-grass married couple from Milwaukee who take a vacation in Malibu. Amidst the elite and their million-dollar beach houses, Atherton starts up an affair with divorcee Valerie Perrine, while Dey fends off the attentions of TV star Steve Forrest before succumbing to the charms of tennis pro Chad Everett. Other Southern California satyrs and nymphs wandering in and out of Malibu include James Coburn, Eva Marie Saint, Ann Jillian, Kim Novak, Richard Mulligan, and (who else?) George Hamilton. The multiple story lines all come to a head during a climactic tennis match. Malibu is trash, true, but it's trash cultivated from the highest-quality refuse heaps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Having It All is a tailored-for-television attempt at "screwball" comedy from the director of About Last Night... and Glory. Dyan Cannon plays a fashion designer who believes that all good things come in pairs. She not only has two different clothing lines in two different cities (New York and LA), but also has two different husbands. Husband #1, Barry Newman, is a straight-arrow type in New York, while husband #2, Hart Bochner, is a laid-back Californian. Adapted by Ann Beckett from a story by Elizabeth Gill, Having It All first aired on October 13, 1982. ~ 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)
Sidney Lumet provides another of his film adaptations of Broadway successes -- in this case Ira Levin's 1978 clever Broadway murder mystery that starred John Wood in a triumphant turn as down-on-his-luck playwright Sidney Bruhl. Wood's brittle airiness is replaced in the film version by Michael Caine's smoldering bitterness. Sidney Bruhl is a successful writer of Broadway mystery plays who was at one time considered the Neil Simon of Broadway mystery writers. Unfortunately, Bruhl is now struggling to live up to his own reputation, suffering through a series of four consecutive flops. But then Bruhl comes upon the manuscript of a brilliant suspense drama written by unknown writer Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve). Bruhl, desperate for a hit play, invites Clifford to come to see him, telling him that he is interested in collaborating with him on the play. Actually, Bruhl plans to murder Clifford and pass off Clifford's play as his own. What Bruhl doesn't know, however, is that Clifford has some surprise plot points of his own up his sleeve. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, (more)
- 1980
- PG
Comedy falls as flat as a blowout in this film by Joseph Sargent about a down-to-earth trucker (Robert Blake) and the rich and looney witch (Dyan Cannon) he is forced to take on a haul from New York to L.A. Madie (Cannon) is running away from her money-grubbing husband who is conniving to get the most inexpensive divorce he can. Charlie (Blake) the trucker is under pressure from a ruthless creditor and is in desperate need of cash. As the mismatched duo continues in a stressful journey across country, sparks fly but fail to ignite much of anything along the way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, Robert Blake, (more)
- 1980
- PG
After displaying his easygoing charm in a number of television appearances and a showy supporting role in The Electric Horseman, Willie Nelson scored his first leading role in this romantic comedy-drama in which he (appropriately enough) plays a musician. Buck Bonham (Nelson) is a country singer/songwriter with a loyal following in his native Texas and the neighboring Western states. However, Buck hasn't yet had the hit record that would make him a star nationwide; in the meantime, Buck and his band keep up a busy tour schedule, much to the annoyance of his wife, Viv (Dyan Cannon), and son, Jamie (Joey Floyd), who would like to see Buck at home every once in a while. As Buck wonders if he should press on with his musical career or call it quits, his close friend and longtime guitarist Garland Ramsey (Slim Pickens) announces he's retiring, and suggests a good replacement -- his daughter, Lily (Amy Irving). Lily had a crush on Buck as a child, and now as a full-grown and very beautiful woman, her infatuation has only increased with time. Consequently, Buck must choose between Viv and Lily as well as his home and his career. Honeysuckle Rose was written specifically for Nelson, and his character bears more than a passing similarity to Willie and his life before the album Red Headed Stranger made him a star; the film also earned Nelson an Academy Award nomination for the film's theme song, "On the Road Again." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willie Nelson, Dyan Cannon, (more)
Opting for light entertainment after the critical satire of Shampoo (1975), producer-director-writer-star Warren Beatty remade the 1941 comic fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Dimly amiable L.A. Rams quarterback Joe Pendleton (Beatty) is prematurely called to Heaven by an over-eager escort (Buck Henry, who co-directed) after a traffic accident. When archangel Mr. Jordan (James Mason) discovers the error, he offers to return Joe to his body, only to find that it has been cremated. On the verge of playing in the Super Bowl, Joe demands a fit body rather than the old about-to-be-murdered industrialist Farnsworth he has been offered, but he reconsiders when he sees environmentalist Betty Logan (Julie Christie) in Farnsworth's house. Assuming Farnsworth's body while keeping his sweet self, Joe hires his beloved coach Max Corkle (Jack Warden) to get him in shape (after convincing Max who he really is), sets Farnsworth's business on an eco-friendly path, and romances Betty. Farnsworth's homicidal wife (Dyan Cannon) and secretary (Charles Grodin), however, are still determined to succeed in their plan to kill him. When Mr. Jordan finally finds the Super Bowl body Joe wanted, Joe has to trade his old self for the new life -- but will he remember his love for Betty? Heaven Can Wait offered contemporary yet old-fashioned escapism and tapped into the late-1970s vogue for nostalgic fun, becoming one of 1978's most popular summer movies after Grease. Updating the original while following its blueprint, Beatty and co-writer Elaine May switched Joe's sport and turned Joe into a man of his '70s moment, adoring Betty for her convictions and favoring "green" policies over corporate greed. Gently breathing life into a classic form, Heaven Can Wait found romantic innocence in a jaded time, and it went on to receive nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, (more)
- 1978
Dyan Cannon stars in this film inspired by the true story of Sally Stanford, who rose from notoriety as the madam of a famous San Francisco brothel of the 1930s to winning election as the city's mayor in 1976. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1978
- PG
- Add The Revenge of the Pink Panther to QueueAdd The Revenge of the Pink Panther to top of Queue
In Revenge of the Pink Panther, for the final time, the bumbling but impeturbable Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) maddens his long-suffering boss Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), sharpens his wits and martial skills with his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) and foils the bad guys without ever having a clue about what he is doing. In the story, Clouseau allows a gang of drug racketeers to believe that he has been assassinated and dons a series of disguises as he travels all over the world in order to apprehend the culprits. He is assisted by Simone Legree (Dyan Cannon), the former girlfriend of the drug-lord Douvier (Robert Webber). Though it received a very mixed reception from critics, this, the fifth of the Pink Panther series, did very well at the box-office. Sadly, it was actor Peter Sellers' final screen appearance before his death in 1980 (the later film, The Trail of Pink Panther was composed of outtakes from previous Pink Panther films). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, (more)
