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Diana Hyland

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Diana Hyland
Hyland as Susan Winter in Peyton Place, 1968
Born
Diane Gentner

(1936-01-25)January 25, 1936
Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMarch 27, 1977(1977-03-27) (aged 41)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1955–1977
Spouse
Joe Goodson
​
​
(m. 1969; div. 1974)​
PartnerJohn Travolta (1976-1977; her death)
Children1
AwardsEmmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special
1977 The Boy in the Plastic Bubble; awarded posthumously

Diana Hyland (born Diane Gentner; January 25, 1936 – March 27, 1977)[1] was an American stage, film, and television actress.

Early years

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Hyland was born Diane Gentner[2] to John Theodore and Mary (Gorman) Gentner in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She had one sibling, a brother, John Gorman Gentner.[3]

Career

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She made her acting debut in 1955 at age 19 in an episode of Robert Montgomery Presents. Over the next decade, she appeared often in guest and supporting roles in various television series, including Naked City, The Eleventh Hour, The Fugitive, The Invaders, The Green Hornet, and The Twilight Zone, and she was cast in the feature film The Chase (1966) with Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, and Robert Redford.

In 1959, she originated the role of Heavenly Finley in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth[4][5] on Broadway, appearing with Geraldine Page and Paul Newman.

In 1966, she co-starred in the movie Smoky in which she played Julie Richards, owner of the Rockin' R Ranch, who falls in love with Clint Barkeley (Fess Parker), owner of Smokey, a black stallion turned cutting horse. The same year she appeared in an episode of the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. titled "The Candidate's Wife Affair" and in another episode titled "The Nowhere Affair". From 1958 to 1963, Hyland was a regular on the NBC soap opera Young Doctor Malone, playing Gig Houseman, wife of the younger Dr. Malone.

Hyland's debut in a feature film was in One Man's Way (1963), playing the wife of Norman Vincent Peale.[6][7] She had a continuing role as Susan Winter in the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place[8]: 829  from 1968 to 1969. She appeared in the 1976 television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, for which she won a posthumous Emmy Award.[6] The following year, she co-starred with Dick Van Patten in the series Eight Is Enough.[8] She appeared in only five episodes before her death, and her character, Joan Bradford, was subsequently killed off.[9]

Personal life

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Hyland married actor Joe Goodson on April 24, 1969. The couple had one son, Zachary, born in July 1973. Hyland and Goodson divorced in August 1974.[citation needed]

She began a romantic relationship with actor John Travolta, 18 years her junior, in 1976 after meeting him when she played his mother in the television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.[10]

Death

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Hyland was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975, and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy .[10] However, the cancer spread and her health continued to deteriorate. Hyland and Travolta remained together until her death at age 41 on March 27, 1977, in Los Angeles.[11] She died with Travolta, Eight Is Enough co-star Dick Van Patten, and his wife Patty by her side.[12]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role
1963 One Man's Way Ruth Stafford Peale
1966 The Chase Elizabeth Rogers
Smoky Julie Richards
1968 Jigsaw Sarah

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1955 Robert Montgomery Presents Judy Season 6 Episode 38: "Second Chance"
1956 Star Tonight (1) Louise (1) Season 2 Episode 32: "Two Windows"
(2) Season 2 Episode 48: "Will Power"
1956-1958 Kraft Television Theatre (2) Deputy's Girlfriend
(3) Laura 		(1) Season 10 Episode 1: "Out to Kill" (1956)
(2) Season 10 Episode 48: "Ride into Danger" (1957)
(3) Season 11 Episode 34: "The Last of the Belles" (1958)
1957 The Alcoa Hour Isabel Season 2 Episode 14: "The Big Build-Up"
1960-1961 Play of the Week (1) Mabel
(2) Estelle (No Exit)
(3) Helen 		(1) Season 1 Episode 21: "Climate of Eden" (1960)
(2) Season 2 Episode 23: "No Exit/The Indifferent Lover" (1961)
(3) Season 2 Episode 27: "A Cool Wind Over the Living" (1961)
1961-1962 Young Doctor Malone Gig Houseman Malone
1962 The Defenders Mary DiFalco Robinson Season 2 Episode 5: "The Unwanted"
The United States Steel Hour Season 10 Episode 4: "Wanted: Someone Innocent"
Alcoa Premiere Liza Laurents Season 2 Episode 4: "The Voice of Charlie Pont"
Sam Benedict Donna Heistand Season 1 Episode 10: "The Bird of Warning"
1963 Ben Casey Greta Bauer Season 2 Episode 22: "Rigadoon for Three Pianos"
Stoney Burke Eileen Fowler Season 1 Episode 22: "To Catch the Kaiser"
The DuPont Show of the Week Ellen Graham Season 2 Episode 14: "The Shark"
Naked City Vivian North Season 4 Episode 25: "Stop the Parade! A Baby Is Crying!"
Wagon Train Kitty Pryer Season 7 Episode 10: "The Kitty Pryer Story"
1963-1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1) Janet Nelson
(2) Grace Renford 		(1) Season 1 Episode 19: "To Catch a Butterfly" (1963)
(2) Season 2 Episode 14: "Beyond the Sea of Death" (1964)
1963-1965 Dr. Kildare (1) Dr. Lilith McGraw
(2) Marguerite Williams 		(1) Season 2 Episode 14: "Love Is a Sad Song" (1963)
(2) Season 4 Episode 18: "Please Let My Baby Live" (1965)
1964 Twilight Zone Anne Henderson Season 5 Episode 21: "Spur of the Moment"
The Eleventh Hour Madelyn Marner Season 2 Episode 23: "A Full Moon Every Night"
Kraft Suspense Theatre Laura DeLinda Stevenson /
Laura Murdoch 		Season 1 Episode 24: "The Sweet Taste of Vengeance"
1964-1967 The Fugitive (1) Carol Hollister
(2) Stella Savano
(3) Penny
(4) Alison Priestley 		(1) Season 2 Episode 4: "When the Bough Breaks" (1964)
(2) Season 3 Episode 11: "Set Fire to a Straw Man" (1965)
(3) Season 4 Episode 12: "The Devil's Disciples" (1966)
(4) Season 4 Episode 26: "Dossier on a Diplomat" (1967)
1965 Burke's Law Celeste Martel Season 2 Episode 21: "Run for the Money"
The Nurses Dr. Mai Lind Season 3 Episode 25: "The April Thaw of Doctor Mai"
Hercules and the Princess of Troy Princess Diana TV movie
Convoy Lieutenant Katya Katrovich Season 1 Episode 7: "Katya"
The Wackiest Ship in the Army Margaret Cochran Season 1 Episode 2: "The Sisters"
Season 1 Episode 14: "I'm Dreaming of a Wide Isthmus"
1965-1966 Run for Your Life (1) Ellen Henderson
(2) Diana Hays 		(1) Season 1 Episode 2: "The Girl Next Door Is a Spy" (1965)
(2) Season 2 Episode 2: "I Am the Late Diana Hays" (1966)
1966 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Mrs. Collier Season 3 Episode 15: "Guilty or Not Guilty"
Scalplock Marta Grenier TV movie (pilot for the TV series Iron Horse)
A Man Called Shenandoah Nancy Pruitt Season 1 Episode 30: "An Unfamiliar Tune"
Iron Horse Marta Grenier Season 1 Episode 1: "Rail Runs West" (aired September 12, 1966)
Episode: "Joy Unconfined" (adapted and changed from "Rail Runs West")
I Spy Marisa Terizcu Season 2 Episode 1: "So Coldly Sweet"
The Green Hornet Attorney Claudia Bromley Season 1 Episode 2: "Give 'Em Enough Rope"
Twelve O'Clock High Heidi Voss Season 3 Episode 6: "Practice to Deceive"
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1) Mara
(2) Miranda Bryant / Irina 		(1) Season 2 Episode 24: "The Nowhere Affair"
(2) Season 3 Episode 8: "The Candidate's Wife Affair"
Felony Squad Cloris Harte Season 1 Episode 10: "Killer with a Badge"
1967 Tarzan Diana Russell Season 2 Episode 7: "The Fanatics"
The Invaders (1) Sherri Vikor
(2) (3) Ellie Markham 		(1) Season 1 Episode 5: "Vikor"
(2) Season 2 Episode 9: "Summit Meeting, Part I"
(3) Season 2 Episode 10: "Summit Meeting, Part II"
1967-1972 The F.B.I. (1) Marie-Louise Karn
(2) Virginia Lamberth
(3) Joanne Kenster
(4) Pat Laner 		(1) Season 2 Episode 22: "The Hostage" (1967)
(2) Season 3 Episode 8: "Overload" (1967)
(3) Season 6 Episode 16: "The Stalking Horse" (1971)
(4) Season 7 Episode 20: "Arrangement with Terror" (1972)
1968 Judd, for the Defense Jessie Tree Season 1 Episode 17: "Fall of a Skylark: Part 1 - The Trial"
Season 1 Episode 18: "Fall of a Skylark: Part 2 - The Appeal"
1968-1969 Peyton Place Susan Winter 56 episodes
1969 The Name of the Game Lisa Adrian Season 2 Episode 8: "The Perfect Image"
1970 Ritual of Evil Leila Barton TV movie
Bracken's World Mary Draper Season 2 Episode 6: "The Mary Tree"
1971 Ironside Hrûska Pazoureck Season 4 Episode 16: "From Hrûska, with Love"
The Interns Writer Season 1 Episode 19: "Casualty"
Alias Smith and Jones Clara Philips Season 1 Episode 7: "Return to Devil's Hole"
Dan August Phyllis Hendricks Season 1 Episode 24: "Days of Rage"
Medical Center Susan Season 3 Episode 10: "Suspected"
1971-1975 Marcus Welby, M.D. (1) Cynthia Crowley
(2) (3) Janet Trent 		(1) Season 2 Episode 19: "Cynthia" (1971)
(2) Season 6 Episode 15: "Dark Fury: Part 1" (1975)
(3) Season 6 Episode 16: "Dark Fury: Part 2" (1975)
1972 Banyon Julia Egan Season 1 Episode 3: "The Graveyard Vote"
1973 Search Anjeanette Marie Shanahan Season 1 Episode 12: "Let Us Prey"
Gunsmoke Dallas Fair Season 18 Episode 17: "Shadler"
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law Lita Coleman Season 2 Episode 22: "Final Semester"
The ABC Afternoon Playbreak Season 2 Episode 1: "The Things I Never Said"
1974 Hawkins Jennifer Pearson Season 1 Episode 7: "Candidate for Murder"
Medical Center Pat Londean Season 6 Episode 4: "Three-Cornered Cage"
1975 Harry O Sandra Dawes Season 1 Episode 16: "The Confetti People"
Mannix Janice Graham Season 8 Episode 17: "A Ransom for Yesterday"
S.W.A.T. Joanna Bishop Season 2 Episode 3: "Kill S.W.A.T."
Cannon Nedra Cameron Season 5 Episode 10: "The Melted Man"
1976 Kojak Cleo Donatello Season 3 Episode 19: "A Grave Too Soon"
Barnaby Jones Nora Bradford Season 4 Episode 20: "Deadly Reunion"
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble Mickey Lubitch TV movie
1977 Happy Days Adrianna Prescott Season 4 Episode 12: "Fonzie's Old Lady"
Eight Is Enough Joan Bradford (1) Season 1 Episode 1: "Never Try Eating Nectarines Since Juice May Dispense"
(2) Season 1 Episode 2: "Schussboomer"
(3) Season 1 Episode 3: "Pieces of Eight"
(4) Season 1 Episode 5: "Turnabout"

References

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  1. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (third ed.). McFarland. p. 365. ISBN 978-1476625997. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  2. ^ "Mary Gentner in the 1940 Census | Ancestry®". Ancestry.com.
  3. ^ "Hyland dies of cancer". The San Bernardino County Sun. Associated Press. March 29, 1977. p. 2. Retrieved November 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ Diana Hyland. The Broadway League. August 19, 2016. ISBN 9781476625997. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  5. ^ "Diana Hyland, performer". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on November 10, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Rubin, Steven (2017). Twilight Zone Encyclopedia. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1613738917. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  7. ^ Pack, Harvey (March 4, 1964). "Introducing Diana Hyland". Asbury Park Evening Press – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 300–301. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  9. ^ Bellmont, Brian. "When a TV show loses an actor," MSNBC.com, Sunday, September 14, 2003. Retrieved January 1, 2022
  10. ^ a b Smilgis, Martha (June 13, 1977). "Life After Loss". People. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  11. ^ "John Travolta Lost Girlfriend Diana Hyland to Breast Cancer Decades Before Kelly Preston's Death". People. July 13, 2020.
  12. ^ "St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri". Newspapers.com. August 7, 1977. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
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