Australian Actress Diane Cilento -- Dead at 78

Oscar-nominated actress Diane Cilento -- famous for her 11-year marriage to Sean Connery -- died Thursday in Queensland, Australia ... according to a state official.

Cilento earned a best-supporting actress nomination for her role in the 1963 film "Tom Jones." She also starred in "Hombre" opposite Paul Newman and "The Agony and the Ecstasy" with Rex Harrison and Charlton Heston.

Diane was very involved in theater -- spending most of her later years running an open-air theater in the Queensland rainforest.