Diane Baker

Diane Baker’s distinguished career as an actress and producer of film and television spans over 50 years. First cast in director George Stevens Sr.’s film The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), her career quickly took off at 20th Century-Fox where her credits include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), The Best of Everything (1959), Tess of the Storm Country (1960), Nine Hours to Rama (1963) and Stolen Hours (1963). Baker has worked across all the major studios and with Hollywood’s biggest names, starring in The Prize (1963) with Paul Newman, Strait-Jacket (1964) with Joan Crawford, Marnie (1964) for Alfred Hitchcock with Sean Connery, Mirage (1965) with Gregory Peck, Krakatoa East of Java (1968) with Maximillian Schell, and The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968) with Dean Jones.

In the early 1970s, Ms. Baker decided to produce a documentary, Ashiana, about the end of feudalism and the beginning of democracy in India and Pakistan. Baker continued producing award-winning documentaries (HBO, PBS, KTLA) and TV films including ABC’s Portrait of Grandpa Doc (1977), starring Melvyn Douglas, Barbara Rush, and Anne Seymour, and directed by Randal Kleiser; “One of a Kind,” an ABC Afterschool Special; and the CBS special Malcolm Takes a Shot directed by Mario Van Peebles. She then raised funds to produce a feature in London, Never Never Land, starring Petula Clark and Cathleen Nesbitt. Baker continued working in the UK with her six-hour miniseries A Woman of Substance (1985) starring Deborah Kerr, Liam Neeson, and Jenny Seagrove, which garnered Emmy nominations for Best Miniseries and Best Actress.  She then returned to the screen in the 1990s with contemporary classics like THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991), The Joy Luck Club (1993), The Net (1995) starring Sandra Bullock, and The Cable Guy (1996) starring Jim Carrey. Diane is currently co-producing a six-part series with Dennis Powers on the history of illustration for American television. Dennis and Diane are working on several film projects together. 

The recipient of numerous lifetime honors and awards, including Doctorate Degrees from UC Irvine, and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Baker pivoted to education when she was invited to become Executive Director of Schools of Motion Pictures and Acting at the Academy of Art University.  She loves working with a younger generation of talent and supporting their efforts to one day get work in the film/television industry. Ms. Baker is creating a post-graduate film program, The Robert Osborne Center for Film Studies, in Hollywood for graduates who have the talent and passion to continue the learning process. Students will be able to apply by sending their film portfolios and acting reels. If chosen, they will take classes over two years, get support and instruction from industry professionals, and ultimately participate in a low-budget production during their second year. Diane’s mission is to inspire these students to make meaningful films and to continue the legacy of TCM’s Robert Osborne, with whom she enjoyed a lifelong friendship.