THE FIRST wife of Sir Sean Connery, Oscar-nominated actress Diane Cilento, has died in hospital in her native Australia at the age of 78, just one day after her birthday.

Queensland state premier Anna Bligh, who announced Cilento’s death, said: “While she was originally known as a glamorous international film star, her work in later years in the far north showed her commitment to the arts.

“I know that Ms Cilento will be sorely missed by many in the industry.”

Cilento rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s, starring alongside screen legends such as Charlton Heston and Paul Newman and appearing in cult films The Wicker Man and The Agony and the Ecstasy.

However, it was her 1962 marriage to the James Bond star – her second husband – that cemented the actress’s celebrity status.

They had met on the set of BBC drama Anna Christie. Connery reputedly proposed on the set of Dr No and the couple married on Gibraltar in 1962, when Cilento was already pregnant with their son, Jason, who is also an actor. Cilento had a daughter Giovanna to her first husband Andrea Volpe.

They stayed together for 11 years before divorcing in 1973 and both went on to remarry: Connery to Moroccan-French painter Micheline Roquebrune, whom he married in 1975; and Cilento to playwright Anthony Shaffer, who wrote The Wicker Man (they met on set) in 1985.

Cilento’s 2006 autobiography, My Nine Lives, stoked huge controversy when she wrote that the Bond star had been violent towards her.

She claimed in her book Connery had beaten her up on several occasions, including on their wedding night.

Connery vehemently denied the claims and refused to acknowledge them in his own memoir, Being a Scot, published in 2008.

Cilento decided at an early age to follow a career as an actress, moving to England to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, before going on to become a veteran of dozens of films, television shows and stage production.

She was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Helen of Troy in the play Tiger at the Gates in 1956, and in 1963 received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress for her role as Molly in the movie Tom Jones, alongside Albert Finney and Susannah York.

During her marriage to Connery, Cilento’s own career was overshadowed as she became known as Mrs Bond.

While pop culture may remember her as such, she was known for so much more, particularly in Australia where, after her marriage to Shaffer, the pair settled in tropical northern Queensland and Cilento turned her life to the stage, building a popular outdoor theatre, the Karnak Playhouse, in the rainforest.

As well as her autobiography, Cilento also wrote two novels – The Manipulator and Hybrid – and remained a well-known figure among the theatre-going crowd in New York. Of her biography, she said at the time, “They want to know what it’s like being Mrs James Bond, but I’ve had a much more complicated and interesting life than just that.”

The daughter of distinguished medical practitioners Sir Raphael and Lady Cilento, she also worked in the theatre as a writer, director and instructor.

She is regarded as a National Treasure in Australia and was awarded a Queensland Greats Award in 2001, the same year her husband Shaffer died.

Rod Wissler, creative industries executive dean at Queensland University of Technology, said in a statement: “Diane loved her life as an artist. She brought more than just knowledge to students. She brought passion and enthusiasm and guided them to follow their dreams, just as she had.”

Close friend and playwright Michael Gow paid tribute to the star, calling her “a performer to the end”.

“She kept us all hugely entertained until the day before yesterday, when she just couldn’t manage any more and we took her to hospital.”

The actress passed away on Thursday night, reportedly following a long illness, at the Cairns Base Hospital.