PORT TOWNSEND — Dyan Cannon will be the special guest at the 11th annual Port Townsend Film Festival scheduled Sept. 24-26.
Cannon, 73, who was born Samile Diane Friesen in Tacoma — a film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor and producer — will arrive in a hot rod to celebrate the opening of the three-day festival, said Janette Force, film festival executive director.
Each year, the film festival features a Hollywood star as a special guest — past guests have included Tony Curtis, Cloris Leachman, Jane Powell, Peter Fonda and Elliot Gould — and each year, it offers a contest to guess the name of the special guest.
Terrence and Jessica Dillon of Olympia guessed the special’s guest’s identity this year and will win a photograph taken with Cannon.
Cannon will be interviewed at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Broughton Uptown Theatre in Port Townsend by Seattle film critic Robert Horton following a screening of the 1969 “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” in which she received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for best actress for her portrayal of Alice Henderson.
A public interview with her is planned earlier that day at 2 p.m. as a part of the festival’s Interviews on Taylor Street.
She also will speak with students at Port Townsend High School and Jefferson Community School on the morning of Sept. 24.
Cannon has worked for nearly 50 years in the entertainment industry.
After “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” she appeared opposite Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and James Mason in “Heaven Can Wait” in 1979.
This performance earned her a Golden Globe Award and a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and she continues her work on stage, screen and television.
She had a reoccurring role as Judge Jennifer “Whipper” Cone on the television show “Ally McBeal” in 1997-1998.
More recently, she has performed in “Out to Sea” (1997) with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, “8 Heads in a Duffel Bag” (1997), “That Darn Cat” (1997) and “Kangaroo Jack” (2003).
Other awards include the New York Film Critics Circle award for best supporting actress, the National Association of Theatre Owners award for actress of the year, a Golden Globe Award nomination for best motion picture actress in a drama in 1971 for “Such Good Friends” and an Academy Award nomination, with Vince Cannon, for the best live-action short film in 1976 for “Number One,” which she produced, directed, wrote and edited.
Cannon, Force said, uses her celebrity to benefit such charitable organizations as animal rights groups, Special Olympics and protecting young women through Children of the Night, www.childrenofthenight.org.
Explanations of clues
Janette Force, Port Townsend Film Festival executive director, gives this explanation of the six clues offered to the identify of the special guest during the Guess the Guest contest.
• In the first clue, “Two American kids, doin’ the best they can” is a line from the John Mellencamp song, “Jack and Diane,” her first name.
• The second clue is a reference to her brother, David Freisen, a jazz saxaphone player, “whose early efforts she did not appreciate, but later changed her opinion,” Force said.
Adolphe Sax invented the instrument.
• The third clue refers to the future actress having been Miss West Seattle in 1955, when she rode in a Chevy with fins.
“That year Chevy was the first of the ‘fin car’ era,” Force said.
The third clue also describes her as pointing out the alkies with glee.
“Alki Point is in West Seattle,” Force said.
• In the fourth clue, “bean town” refers to Boston, the home of the Celtics, rivals of the Los Angeles Lakers.
“She has often been televised sitting next to Magic Johnson at the L.A. Lakers games,” Force said.
That explains the part of the clue that says: “She thought her team was No. 1, now even magic has no fun. . .”
• The fifth clue, which mentions a “blood-sucking leech” is a reference to Cannon’s short marriage to Cary Grant, who real name is Archibald Leach, from 1965 to 1968.
• The sixth clue evokes Rudyard Kipling’s “Charge of the Light Brigade,” referring to a “40-pounder,” a canon, as in Dyan Cannon.
Membership and event admission passes to the film festival start at $35. Other passes vary in cost.
For more information, phone 360-379-1333 or going to the festival website at www.ptfilmfest.com.
