EXCLUSIVE: Australian acting legend, Barry Crocker, says he is grieving the loss of Diane Cilento, who passed away last week in Cairns, aged 78, after a battle with illness.

Mr Crocker spoke to The Newsport on Monday evening to express his sorrow at the loss of Ms Cilento, and said he valued his time with her at Karnak Theatre late last year, in which he brought his show, Banjo, to Far North Queensland, as “such a wonderful experience”.

Mr Crocker said Ms Cilento had recently visited Sydney, a mutual friend taking Ms Cilento to see a doctor, where she learned the seriousness of her condition.

“I’m still not quite getting over her passing,” he said from Albury, Victoria, where he continues his Banjo tour.

“She was such a vibrant person, full of beans and chirpy right until the end, and she never once brought the situation down with her problems.”

Mr Crocker said he held fond memories of Ms Cilento, both for her contribution to the arts and for last year’s visit to Karnak.

“I was one of many blokes who fell in love with her when she starred in the movie Tom Jones back in the 1960s, and when I told her that, she thought it was funny,” he said.

“I heard about Karnak many years ago and was so pleased to have finally met her last year, we had a great time.

“She impacted a lot of people and brought such joy to Mossman people – she was very brave to do what she did for arts in the area.

“We are going to miss her and her contribution, I couldn’t think of someone with as much guts to take on Karnak the way she did, never giving up.

“I remember her stories about her carrying logs, painting walls and hanging art in the theatre.

“If anyone else in this day and age was going to take on such a project, people would say, “You’re crazy”.

“It would be hard to find someone with the same passion who would stick their necks out as far as Diane did.”

At the close of last year’s Banjo performance – a one-man show on the life of Andrew Barton Paterson which he performs in Albury and hometown Geelong this week – there had been talk about his return to Karnak.

“We had talked of bringing my cabaret show up to Karnak next year, but of course I doubt that will happen now,” he said.

A service for Diane Cilento was held in Sydney and there are plans for a celebration of her life in Port Douglas with details still to be finalised. 

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