Diana Hyland (
January 25,
1936
March 27,
1977) was an
American actress.
Born
Diana Gentner in
Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Hyland made her acting debut in
1955 in an episode of
Robert Montgomery Presents. Over the next decade she played numerous guest and supporting roles in various
television series, including
The Twilight Zone, before being cast in a featured role in
The Chase (1966) with
Marlon Brando,
Jane Fonda, and
Robert Redford. She also played a continuing role in the
soap opera Peyton Place from
1968 until
1969.
In
1976 she began a relationship with the actor
John Travolta, 17 years her junior and beginning to find success as an actor in the television series
Welcome Back, Kotter. The two appeared together in a television movie,
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), and Hyland was then signed to play the wife of
Dick Van Patten in the series
Eight is Enough.
Hyland was diagnosed with
breast cancer and underwent a
mastectomy. Despite this, her health deteriorated and after filming four episodes she left the series, but did not tell the cast her true predicament. She pretended she had suffered damage from a skiing accident, and when cast members would visit she would have her leg in traction to keep up the ruse. However, Hyland's illness overwhelmed her quickly and less than a year later she died, reportedly in Travolta's arms, at the age of 41. When
Eight is Enough resumed for its second season, it was explained in the story that her character had died.
Travolta accepted an
Emmy Award on her behalf, when she won posthumously for her role in
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
Hyland was survived by a four year-old son from a previous relationship and it is unclear in whose custody he was placed after his mother's death.
