Diane Baker’s career stretches back more than 50 years, beginning with her role as Margot Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank. She was present at the Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show in Chicago on October 1, 2011, as part of a mini-reunion with her film-sister Millie Perkins, who had portrayed Anne. Over the years Diane Baker has appeared in a wide variety of roles and films. Among them have been Mission: Impossible, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, The Silence of the Lambs, The Cable Guy, and A Mighty Wind.
But what interested me the most was that she has starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 masterpiece Marnie, portraying Lil Mainwaring, the sister-in-law to Sean Connery’s character. It was naturally a photo from this film that I chose to purchase.
Diane Baker was a real class act, and I saw something happent that I had never seen before. The handler for both Millie and Diane had prepared a price list that indicated $20 for an autograph and $10 for a photo op. Sometimes I bypass by asking the celebrity directly for a photo and thus, ‘miss’ the pricing on the sign. But there was no need in this case. As she sat back down, I heard her tell her handler, “I just can’t do this. I can’t charge for pictures with me.”
I can imagine that the pride and greed of some celebrities is too great to resist the opportunity to charge for pictures. But it is a celebrity like Diane Baker, whose integrity and appreciation for the fans surpasses this, and ensures that her legacy will be someone who treated them right. She may have been a contrary character in Marnie, but in real life she was anything but.
Celebrities of the Fall 2011 Chicago Hollywood Celebrities Show will continue…
Now that is a great shirt!
Aaron
January 31st, 2012