Australian film star Diane Cilento dies, aged 78

Film star Diane Cilento has passed away aged 78.

The Australian actress, who received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Tom Jones in 1963, died in the Cairns Base Hospital last night after battling a long illness, reports The ABC.

Cilento and James Bond actor Sean Connery were married in 1962 and had son Jason together. However, the couple divorced in 1973 and had a public falling out in 2008 after Cilento claimed that Connery had cut Jason out of his will.

She was also married to playwright and The Wicker Man screenwriter Anthony Shaffer from 1973 until his death in 2001.

Cilento appeared opposite actors including Charlton Heston and Paul Newman during her Hollywood career, and starred with her son in her last film The Boy Who Had Everything in 1985.

Cilento, who came from a well-known medical family, established north Queensland outdoor theatre the Karnak Playhouse with Shaffer during the 1980s. She released an autobiography titled My Nine Lives in 2006.