Diane Baker
Encyclopedia
Diane Carol Baker is an American actress who has appeared in motion pictures and on television since 1959.
movies, and Clyde L. Baker. At the age of 18 Baker moved to New York
to study acting with Charles Conrad
and ballet
with Nina Fonaroff.
, 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 in The Best of Everything
with Hope Lange
and Joan Crawford
.
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 in the late 1950s and 1960s includes appearances on Follow the Sun
, Bus Stop
, Adventures in Paradise
, The Lloyd Bridges Show
, The Nurses
, The Invaders
and Route 66
.
Finally out of her contract with Fox after starring in 1960 in the fourth screen version of Grace Miller White
's novel Tess of the Storm Country, Baker appeared in The 300 Spartans
(1962) and Stolen Hours
, a 1963 remake of Dark Victory
, and, the same year, opposite Paul Newman
and Elke Sommer
in The Prize.
In 1964, she co-starred with Joan Crawford
in both Strait-Jacket
, the William Castle-directed 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 August 1967, Baker had the distinction of playing 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 1976, she played the alcoholic 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 1980 drama film
Never Never Land and the 1985 miniseries
A Woman of Substance
. She reemerged on the big screen in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as Senator Ruth Martin. ("Love your suit," Hannibal Lecter
memorably said to her.)
Baker also appeared in the films The Joy Luck Club
, The Cable Guy
, The Net and A Mighty Wind
. She guest starred in two episodes of House
in 2005 and 2008 as Blythe House, the mother of the title character.
Since August 2004, Baker has been the director of the Motion Pictures and Television major at Academy of Art University
in San Francisco.
Early life
Baker was born and raised in Hollywood, California. She is the daughter of Dorothy Helen Harrington, who had appeared in several early Marx BrothersMarx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
movies, and Clyde L. Baker. At the age of 18 Baker moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to study acting with Charles Conrad
Charles E. Conrad
Charles Erich Conrad was an American actor, best known for his work as a film acting coach.-Early years:Born in New York City, the only child of German immigrants, Charles Conrad spent his early years growing up in New York City’s upper east side...
and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
with Nina Fonaroff.
Career
After securing a contract with 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, Baker made her film debut when she was chosen by director George Stevens
George Stevens
George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...
to play "Margot Frank
Margot Frank
Margot Betti Frank was the older sister of Anne Frank, whose deportation order from the Gestapo hastened the Frank family into hiding, and who subsequently perished in Bergen-Belsen...
" in the 1959 motion picture The Diary of Anne Frank. In the same year, she starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film)
Journey to the Center of the Earth is a 1959 adventure film adapted by Charles Brackett from the novel by Jules Verne. It stars Pat Boone, James Mason, Arlene Dahl, Peter Ronson, Diane Baker, Thayer David and Alan Napier...
with James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
and in The Best of Everything
The Best of Everything (1959 film)
The Best of Everything is a 20th Century-Fox film starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan, Robert Evans, and Joan Crawford...
with Hope Lange
Hope Lange
Hope Elise Ross Lange was an American stage, film, and television actress.- Early life :Lange was born into a theatrical family in Redding, Connecticut...
and Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
.
Other Fox films in which Baker appeared include the assassination thriller Nine Hours to Rama
Nine Hours to Rama
Nine Hours to Rama is 1963 CinemaScope British film, directed by Mark Robson, and based on a 1962 book by Stanley Wolpert of the same name. The film was written by Nelson Gidding and was filmed in England and parts of India...
, Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man is a 1962 drama film directed by Martin Ritt based on the Nick Adams stories by Ernest Hemingway, and featuring Richard Beymer as Adams.-Cast:*Richard Beymer as Nick Adams*Diane Baker as Carolyn...
and The 300 Spartans
The 300 Spartans
The 300 Spartans is a 1962 Cinemascope film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese...
. Her television work in the late 1950s and 1960s includes appearances on Follow the Sun
Follow the Sun (TV series)
Follow the Sun is an American drama series which ran for thirty episodes on the ABC television network from September 17, 1961, through April 8, 1962.-Synopsis:...
, Bus Stop
Bus Stop (TV series)
Bus Stop is a 26-episode drama which aired on ABC from October 1, 1961, until March 25, 1962, starring Marilyn Maxwell as Grace Sherwood, the owner of a bus station and diner in the fictitious town of Sunrise in the Colorado Rockies...
, Adventures in Paradise
Adventures in Paradise
Adventures in Paradise is an American television series which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962. It starred Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. The show was created by James Michener...
, The Lloyd Bridges Show
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
, The Nurses
The Nurses (Primetime CBS drama)
The Nurses is a serialized primetime medical drama which aired on CBS from September 27, 1962 to May 11, 1965. It was originally called The Nurses when it premiered in 1962; for the second season, the title was expanded to The Doctors and the Nurses and it ran until 1965, when it was transformed...
, The Invaders
The Invaders
The Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...
and Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
.
Finally out of her contract with Fox after starring in 1960 in the fourth screen version of Grace Miller White
Grace Miller White
Grace Miller White was an American authoress. Born Mary Esther Miller, she lived her whole life in Ithaca, New York. She adopted the name Grace around 1897, in memory of a younger sister who had died before reaching her first birthday. She married twice, first to Homer White, and then to Friend H...
's novel Tess of the Storm Country, Baker appeared in The 300 Spartans
The 300 Spartans
The 300 Spartans is a 1962 Cinemascope film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese...
(1962) and Stolen Hours
Stolen Hours
Stolen Hours is a 1963 remake by United Artists of the Bette Davis film, Dark Victory, which was released by Warner Bros. in 1939, and was owned by UA at the time. The remake was directed by Daniel Petrie and starred Susan Hayward in the Davis role of a bitchy socialite who is operated on for a...
, a 1963 remake of Dark Victory
Dark Victory
Dark Victory is a 1939 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, and Ronald Reagan...
, and, the same year, opposite Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Elke Sommer
Elke Sommer
Elke Sommer , born Baroness Elke Schletz, is a German actress, entertainer and artist.-Career:Sommer was born in Berlin to a Lutheran minister and his wife...
in The Prize.
In 1964, she co-starred with Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
in both Strait-Jacket
Strait-Jacket
Strait-Jacket is a 1964 American thriller film starring Joan Crawford and Diane Baker in a macabre mother and daughter tale about a series of axe-murders. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by Dona Holloway...
, the William Castle-directed thriller about an axe murderess, and an unsold television pilot Royal Bay, released to theaters as Della. Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
cast her in his film Marnie
Marnie (film)
Marnie is a 1964 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the novel of the same name by Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. The original film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.-Plot:...
(1964) as Lil Mainwaring, the sister-in-law of Mark Rutland (Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
). She co-starred with Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
and Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
in the thriller Mirage (1965), directed by Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy-era 'red scare'.-Early life:Dmytryk was born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada,...
, and in Krakatoa, East of Java
Krakatoa, East of Java
Krakatoa, East of Java is a movie starring Maximilian Schell and Brian Keith. This film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.-Plot:...
(1969) with Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
.
In August 1967, Baker had the distinction of playing David Janssen
David Janssen
David Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive , the starring role in the 1950s hit detective series Richard Diamond, Private Detective , and as Harry Orwell on Harry O.In 1996 TV Guide...
's love interest in the two-part finale of The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, which became the most-watched show in the history of episodic television up until that time. In 1968, she co-starred with Dean Jones
Dean Jones (actor)
Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...
in the Disney film The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit is a 1968 film directed by Norman Tokar....
. In January 1970, she had the lead guest-starring female role as Princess Francesca in the only three-episode mission of Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
. In 1976, she played the alcoholic 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 1980 drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
Never Never Land and the 1985 miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
A Woman of Substance
A Woman of Substance
A Woman of Substance is a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, and was published in 1979.This novel is the first of a saga about the fortunes of a retail empire and the machinations of the business elite across three generations....
. She reemerged on the big screen in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as Senator Ruth Martin. ("Love your suit," Hannibal Lecter
Hannibal Lecter
Hannibal Lecter M.D. is a fictional character in a series of horror novels by Thomas Harris and in the films adapted from them.Lecter was introduced in the 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon as a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer...
memorably said to her.)
Baker also appeared in the films The Joy Luck Club
The Joy Luck Club
The Joy Luck Club is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco, California who start a club known as "the Joy Luck Club," playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods...
, The Cable Guy
The Cable Guy
The Cable Guy is a 1996 black comedy film, directed by Ben Stiller, and starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. The film also features Leslie Mann, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson...
, The Net and A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind is a 2003 mockumentary about a folk music reunion concert in which three folk bands must reunite for a television performance for the first time in decades. It was directed by Christopher Guest...
. She guest starred in two episodes of House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
in 2005 and 2008 as Blythe House, the mother of the title character.
Since August 2004, Baker has been the director of the Motion Pictures and Television major at Academy of Art University
Academy of Art University
The Academy of Art University , a for-profit university owned by the Stephens Institute, was founded in San Francisco, California in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens...
in San Francisco.