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Diane Marie Antonia Varsi (February 23, 1938 – November 19, 1992) was an American film actress best known for her performances in Peyton Place – her film debut, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – and the cult film Wild in the Streets. She left Hollywood in order to pursue personal and artistic aims, notably at Bennington College in Vermont, where she studied poetry with poet and translator Ben Belitt, among others. Varsi was born in San Mateo, California, a small town. There she unsuccessfully tried to become a model and a restaurant hostess. While in high school,... MORE

Diane Marie Antonia Varsi (February 23, 1938 – November 19, 1992) was an American film actress best known for her performances in Peyton Place – her film debut, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – and the cult film Wild in the Streets. She left Hollywood in order to pursue personal and artistic aims, notably at Bennington College in Vermont, where she studied poetry with poet and translator Ben Belitt, among others. Varsi was born in San Mateo, California, a small town. There she unsuccessfully tried to become a model and a restaurant hostess. While in high school, she was called an "oddball" by her classmates. She often played truant from school to visit San Francisco and was therefore labeled a "rebel". She dropped out of school in her junior year at age 15, failing in all studies and saying: "I was bored. I didn't like the social sides - the cliques." Around the same time, she married an 18-year-old man. Their marriage was annulled before her son, Shawn, was born. She joined the San Francisco ballet in the 1950s and initially planned on becoming a folk singer. She later hitchhiked to Los Angeles with a friend. Despite having only experience as an actress in a LESS