Diana Hyland

• Name — Diana Hyland • Birth Name — Diane Gentner • Born — 25 January 1936 • Birthplace — Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S. • Died — 27 March 1977 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1955–1977 • Partner — John Travolta (1976–1977; her death) • Children — 1 • Awards — Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special 1977 The Boy in the Plastic Bubble; awarded posthumously

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

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 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 Smoky, 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. She had a continuing role as Susan Winter in the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place 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. The following year, she co-starred with Dick Van Patten in the series Eight Is Enough. She appeared in only four episodes before her death, and her character, Joan Bradford, was subsequently killed off.

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. 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.

Hyland was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975, and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. 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. She died with Travolta, Eight Is Enough co-star Dick Van Patten, and his wife Patty by her side.

• 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"

Diana Hyland is recorded as having received Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.