The Port Townsend Film Festival has announced that Dyan Cannon will serve at the 11th annual event’s special guest. The approaching festival is Friday through Sunday, Sept. 24-26.

“It’s the next person in bed with 'Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,' said Janette Force, festival director, referring to Elliot Gould, the festival’s ninth special guest, who played Ted in that film.

“It took a while to get her, but I persevered,” said Force.

Cannon appears at the festival on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the Broughton Uptown Theatre where film critic Robert Horton interviews her following a screening of “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.” Admission is for pass holders only.

The festival also offers a public interview with Cannon at 2 p.m. that Saturday as a part of the festival’s “Interviews on Taylor Street.” She is scheduled to speak with students at Port Townsend High School and Jefferson Community School on Friday morning. For more information about the festival and purchasing passes and tickets, visit

ptfilmfest.org.

Washington native

Cannon is a Washington native born in Tacoma who has enjoyed nearly 50 years in the entertainment industry. In 1969, Cannon starred with an ensemble cast in “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” a film about the sexual revolution in which she played Alice. She received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress for her performance in the film, as well as two Golden Globe nominations.

After “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” she went on to appear opposite Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and James Mason in “Heaven Can Wait.” 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.

Cannon also wrote, produced and directed “Number One,” a short film about four kids who go to the bathroom together. That film also received an Academy nomination, making her the first Oscar-nominated actress to be nominated in the best short film, live action category.

Love interest

Speaking from her home in West Hollywood, Cannon expressed her delight at being chosen to appear at the festival and its special showing of “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” which she said is one of her favorite movies.

These days, most of her projects revolve around affairs of the heart.

“I’m very interested in love,” she said. Currently, she’s at work on a book that tells the story of her marriage to Cary Grant from 1965 to 1968 and how it affected her. She wants her story to help others learn to love again.

“I see so many people walking around unable to love again because it hurts," she said. "I don’t know anybody that hasn’t had a broken heart; it doesn’t matter whether they are Cary Grant or Joe Smith.

“This book is about how to not hurt anymore.”

Another project in the works is a documentary on teens and Hollywood.

“People will be stunned to know what’s going on with our teens,” said Cannon, who recently finished a courtroom trial experience of a man convicted for murdering a 15-year-old girl. Cannon is active in a project called Children of the Night (childrenofthenight.org) that assists children ages
11-17 who are forced into prostitution on the streets for food to eat and a place to sleep.

Cannon, a graduate of West Seattle High School, still keeps in touch with her best friend from those times. That friend might possibly come to the film festival too, she said.

Cannon was crowned Miss West Seattle in 1954.

But friendship – another form of love – is not about the matter of time, she said, but “the sincerity and fidelity and the connection.”

What is her definition of love?

“It’s harmony, peace, joy,” she said.

“It’s about enjoying life [no matter what] you’re doing and not making excuses for why you’re not. It’s finding something to celebrate every day even if it’s the way your dog looks at you when you say ‘good morning’ to him.”

The winners of the annual Guess the Guest contest who were first to identify Cannon are Terrence and Jessica Dillon.

“Which makes them incredibly smart based on how difficult these clues were,” said Force.