Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Larry King Live
Dyan Cannon Discusses Her Faith
Aired April 23, 2001 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DYAN CANNON, ACTRESS: Praise him, praise him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, what is Dyan Cannon doing? This Hollywood star says God reaches through her and heals people. Dyan is here to tell us all about it, and we'll take your calls. It's next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Last Saturday night, my producer, her husband, the wife and I went out to Studio City here at CBS Lot in California to see an amazing thing: Dyan Cannon perform a kind of service. Here's a little more what we're talking about.
(MUSIC)
KING: A lot of people watching this. In fact, standing room only, people outside. And here is the star of movies like "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," "Heaven Can Wait," "Out to Sea," "Deathtrap," "Revenge of the Pink Panther," "The Anderson Tapes." She's an amazing lady. She's at every Laker game. What -- what is with the God thing? What happened to you? You're a Jewish person.
(LAUGHTER)
What happened to you? OK, we'll never get through. What happened?
(LAUGHTER)
CANNON: Don't tell me. An angel visited you. We'll never get into.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: We'll never get into it. What happened?
CANNON: What happened? You know, just nobody is more surprised by this than I am.
KING: How long ago did this happen?
CANNON: How long ago did what happen?
KING: This kind of new you.
(LAUGHTER)
What a better way to describe it, a new you.
CANNON: New you? Well, it's been happening. It's kind of been unfolding. I just...
KING: Evolutionary.
CANNON: Yes, it's a thing of unfold. But you know, you come to point in your life and you say, I want to be happy and I'm not happy, and I really want to know what real love is. That's how it started with me, my search for love.
KING: Were you a disbeliever?
CANNON: In God? For a time I was, uh-huh.
KING: Agnostic, atheistic...
CANNON: When I left home, after I left home and kind of saw that, you know -- God, I thought caused a lot of trouble in homes and families and the world, and I thought I just -- I want to leave this. I just don't want anything to do with God for a while. I just want to park it and get on with my life. And...
KING: And then you got on with a very successful career, married one of the great actors of all time, Cary Grant. Were you happy then?
CANNON: Yes, I was happy. But you know, it's hard to say, were you happy then, were you happy -- I mean, even through unhappiness there are times when we are not happy and even when there are times that we're not happy, happiness will creep in. But, I wanted a love that didn't come and go. I wanted a love that stayed, that I could rely on and you know...
KING: In a person?
CANNON: Well, if that's what it was, but I felt like love was more than a human emotion. I felt like it was -- it had to be more than what I was experiencing in life because...
KING: So along the trail, what happened? Did you get a conversion one day? Did something occur?
CANNON: Well, it started when I was very young, Larry. My -- I was born into a Jewish home. My mother was Jewish, and she married a man who wasn't Jewish, and she said to him, it's very important that the children be raised Jewish. And he said that's absolutely fine.
And after they got married, and after they had me, daddy came from a family of 10 brothers and sisters, and they found Christ, and mom was very passionate about her Judaism. She really loved God. I don't think any of this would have happened to me -- I have to start with my roots because none of this would have happened had I not been placed in the situation I was placed in at home.
Mom loved God with all her heart, mind and very passionate about God and her Judaism. She came from Russia. Her name was Claire Portnoy (ph), escaped from the Cossacks there with her grandmother's body on one side of the road and her head on the other. So she was dedicated and committed to God and my father, when he found Christ, was just as passionate about Christ.
KING: He became religious, Christian.
CANNON: He became very Christian.
KING: So, what happened to you?
CANNON: Well, they -- he has promised mom that I would be raised Jewish, and he kept his promise as best he could. He's one of the greatest men that's ever lived, but on way to synagogue we'd sing "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know."
KING: You told that story on...
CANNON: On Friday -- on Saturday night. We're going to the synagogue and find out that that was not the guy that was popular to sing about there.
KING: So, you were a confused kid.
CANNON: Very, and torn because I loved my mother so much and I loved my father so much and I wanted to please them both.
KING: So then you turned to a period where you don't believe either one of them, right?
CANNON: Yes, but this very important, Larry. I wanted them to love me. It wasn't just enough for me to love my mom and dad. I wanted them to love me, and I felt that if I was Jewish for mom, then she would love me. And if I was Christian for dad, then he would love me and so I was both and that's very confusing.
KING: And so you drift away from both after a while, right?
CANNON: After a while, I just said, I don't know why this has gone on...
KING: When I say new Dyan, this Dyan Cannon who's now helping people and treating people with illness and you say it goes -- when did that come about? When did you start doing these, do you call them services? What do you call these things?
CANNON: We have an outreach. It's an outreach called GPDC, God's Party With Dyan Cannon and...
KING: And why on the lot at CBS.
CANNON: Isn't that amazing?
KING: How did that happen?
CANNON: Well, I used to have it in my house and we just outgrew my house.
KING: So, you lease the place there?
CANNON: So, I called Michael Klausman and made arrangements -- the president of CBS and made arrangements with him and we are able to use the place a couple times a month.
KING: Every other Saturday.
CANNON: Every other Saturday night we've been doing this, for three years now.
KING: And would we call it a service?
CANNON: Well, I call it a party. I call it a party.
KING: You sing, you have a group singing behind you.
CANNON: We have great singers. We have a band. We have and -- listen, this thing with the healing is...
KING: When did that start? When did it first start in your house?
CANNON: Well, about 10 years ago, a friend of mine walked in, who was getting chemotherapy, and she was the color of -- she wasn't -- she was the color that camera, pale gray, and scared me. And I thought she was going to die. And a group of us just tried to pray for and we saw the color come back into her fingers, and I thought, isn't that weird. I didn't think anything more about it.
Another girl came in one night for the prayer meetings and we prayed for her, and she had tumors and the tumors disappeared. And I really didn't think much about it. I just was very grateful because the God I've come to know can do anything. He made us. He can heal whatever is wrong with us.
KING: More in a minute with Dyan Cannon, the moving force behind Dyan Cannon outreaches. She's, by the way, also starring in the hit NBC series "Three Sisters." Dyan Cannon is the guest. She's our guest for the full hour.
Suzanne Somers returns tomorrow night. She made that startling announcement about having breast cancer on this program. Since then, she's gotten great deal of attention, front page of "People" magazine this week, and a discussion about her different form of treatment.
Dyan Cannon is our guest. Back with more after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CANNON: And he doesn't love Christians any more than Jews, like I was saying before. He doesn't love -- there is no requirement to fulfill. Now, listen to me, get this: God is love. It's not God should be or God could be or God might be or God once in a while is or God is today but not tomorrow, because this book says he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: What's in here represents: I'll love you if. I'll love you because -- which leads to depression and heartache and our hearts being shattered and disappointments. And the world just pours that into us from the time we're born. And that kind of love eventually, like this is, gets all dark and murky and murky-jerky and yucky, and confusing, and unlivable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Dyan Cannon. And that -- you see her -- this is the first time she's seen herself do this, right? This has not been shown.
(LAUGHTER)
CANNON: Never
(LAUGHTER)
KING: And you're laughing, why?
CANNON: Oh, why not?
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Because you laugh at anything, right?
(LAUGHTER)
CANNON: No, I just think that it's like the first time you see yourself on screen. You go, "Oh, my gosh," you know? And you see it and you go, "Oh, my gosh."
KING: So what do you make of this healing thing? I mean, were you one of those doubters? Did you ever go see Benny Hinn or Orel Roberts?
CANNON: I did. I went to Benny Hinn.
KING: And when you saw him do it, what...
CANNON: What happened, Larry, was I went on a Friday night, on a good Friday... KING: How long ago?
CANNON: Maybe eight or nine years ago. And I was sitting on the top of the building. And he called me down, and I thought, how did even know I was here? And he called me onstage, and I thought, "Oh, dear God, if this a view, let me make the stage and not trip me or something. I don't want to go up there."
And he had empty wheelchairs and stretchers. He said, "What do you think of all this?"
I said, "Of all what?"
He said, "Of all this healing."
I said, "I don't believe it."
He said, "You don't believe it?"
I said, "No." I said, "I want to, but I don't. I don't believe it. I mean, I'm seeing people who have cancer who are getting healed. And I see people who are carried in on stretchers getting up and walking out, and it's hard for me to believe." I said, "I just don't believe it."
And I said, "But I remember reading something in the Bible that said, 'Lord, I believe, but help me with my unbelief.'" And I said, "So I'm going to pray that prayer, and if I'm supposed to believe it, I will."
But I was honest with him, and I didn't. But I've changed my mind.
KING: So the question asked of him and asked of you, with this kind of thing, whether it's your power or god through you...
CANNON: It's not my power. Larry, I will tell you that right now. I couldn't heal a fly.
KING: And Benny Hinn says the same thing.
CANNON: But it's true.
KING: And all healers say it. Orel Roberts says it. So the question obviously to ask, Dyan, is why don't you just go to all the children's hospitals and help everybody all day long? Just do nothing but go to hospitals.
CANNON: Well, that's a really good idea. And I'm sure that some of the time I will.
KING: But they don't. Benny Hinn doesn't do it. If I had that power, I'd go berserk. I'd cure everybody.
CANNON: Well...
KING: If I felt it came through me.
CANNON: Yes. You know something? Right now, this is what I've been directed to do. I haven't been told to stop acting, and I'm still earning a living, and I'm still doing it because I don't -- I...
KING: Do you believe there is someone speaking to you?
CANNON: Oh, sure.
KING: Who? God...
CANNON: We listen to voices all the day. We just have to decide which voice it is we're listening to. You hear voices. I hear voices. What voice are we listening to? Absolutely, and now I've got this thing where people come -- anybody can come that wants to come.
KING: Suzanne Somers could come.
CANNON: Sure. I'd love to have Suzanne come.
KING: Now, how can you possibly think -- I mean, let's take it. Cancer is bad cells overtaking good cells. What do you think can happen at a Dyan Cannon get-together, or anyone who has this power, or through them, the power that can change that phenomena.
CANNON: You know, Larry, it's an extraordinary thing, because I didn't ask for this. Honest to God, this is not my agenda. I didn't plan this. As I have said before, I'd like to star in a western opposite Robert Redford. That was my plan for my life.
But because I was seeking a real love, a real deal, and I have been seeking it for a lot of years. And in that seeking, I found that God's love is real. And I -- I saw how God accomplished things that man couldn't accomplish. And it took a lot of faith and it took a lot of trust, and I saw how his love, his love in anyone can do anything.
KING: Was this as opposed to romantic love? Was it romantic love that began the search -- that you wanted someone to bond with?
CANNON: Yes. It was -- it was disappointment in love. It was two failed marriages that resulted in divorce, and...
KING: That produced a wonderful daughter.
CANNON: Oh, an amazing daughter, who is the love of my life. But the point is that I wanted -- I wanted to understand what it was that I wasn't doing in relationships, so that it wasn't -- because I was hurting, and I was hungry. And I saw that a man couldn't satisfy that, and that was unfair to expect a man to make me happy. I couldn't make a man happy. I tried. And it wasn't working.
And I saw that there were a lot of people in the world who were hurting, and a lot of people who had had their hearts hammered, and who wanted to feel better about themselves, and others, and -- I mean, look at the divorce statistics, Larry.
KING: OK, that's the search. But what, in your opinion, can turn cancer around? What...
CANNON: God's love. God's love can. Not my love. Not my love, because my love is still rocky. It goes up and down and up and down. You know, and I change my mind, and -- but not God's love. I've seen -- once you've experienced -- you saw that little lady the other night. The little lady that couldn't walk, and walked, I can't do that.
KING: So we didn't have her medical records. We didn't know what her condition was...
CANNON: Well, we can get those for you. But whatever. I just believe if somebody limps up there, you know, and can't walk, and dances out, that the love of God has touched them. I've seen it. I've experienced it. Before I didn't believe, now I understand it. I see it.
KING: Back with more. Dyan Cannon, we'll ask her why wouldn't let us film when people came up to be helped, and we'll ask her why. And we'll be taking your calls in a little while, too.
Dyan Cannon's our special guest tonight. We're all learning something for the first time, aren't we? Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GROUP (singing): Let your power flow,
Let your voice be heard...
CANNON: Yeah, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. That's beautiful! Whoa! That is beautiful! Whoo! That is beautiful!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: The fullness of Him, God, who makes everything complete, and fills -- and who fills everything, everywhere, with Himself, His love, His goodness, His passion, His integrity, His might, His power, His strength.
What do you do to get it? How do you receive it? What do you do? All you have to do is say yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Our guest is Dyan Cannon.
Now, when the people came forward and one of them is with you here tonight, who was cured of something -- and they line up and you meet them and some fall down -- why wouldn't you let us film that?
CANNON: People's privacy. People -- sometimes people are even afraid to come up there. Some people push the microphone away. They don't want to speak.
KING: So can you describe what you do? You stand next to the person.
CANNON: I stand next to the person.
KING: And they tell you what's wrong with them?
CANNON: And they tell me what's wrong with them, and we reach out together in faith, believing that God can accomplish the miracle. It has nothing to do with me at all.
KING: Well, you're a conduit, obviously, if it's working.
CANNON: Yes, but what I do is I get myself out of the way. I stay home and I fast and I pray all day Saturday, and I get myself out of the way. And I just know that God can do anything. It is as simple as that. I just watch God's love work. I just watch it work.
KING: Do you know why they fall down?
CANNON: I think part of it, Larry, is that they are just letting go. They are saying, OK, -- because, you know, all our lives, we're taught, stand on your own two feet, get out there and accomplish, and it is like the antithesis of everything we've been taught. That's why it's so confusing.
KING: Do you think this has any effect on you, career wise, that some people, especially in Hollywood, feel, might think this strange?
CANNON: (LAUGHTER) It is strange.
KING: The suits. The suits.
CANNON: Yeah, but I have never worked more.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: You are in more in demand now.
CANNON: Yes.
KING: God's booking you, right?
CANNON: Yes, I got the big guy who's my agent now.
KING: You got a hit TV show, right?
CANNON: Yeah, I just came back from Australia, from Sydney where I did a Jerry Bruckheimer film, and, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I have been doing this for three years now.
KING: What has it done for you? Have you found a love?
CANNON: God is my love right now.
KING: You are not with anyone.
CANNON: I'm not with anyone for about seven years.
KING: Really?
CANNON: That's really a record for me.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Are you looking?
CANNON: No, but I'm open. I have never felt before now that I was ready. The reason I say that, Larry, is because I really always expected to somebody to make me happy and I don't think you can really enter into a relationship until you are happy. And until you can bring that to the relationship.
KING: Are you born again?
CANNON: What do you mean by that?
KING: I don't know.
CANNON: (LAUGHTER)
KING: I hear. I don't know, people say, I was born, I disbelieved, I now believe I'm born again.
CANNON: Yes, I do believe and I have a new concept. I think what being born again means, is -- Larry, you are so adorable.
KING: I'm adorable.
CANNON: You are adorable. Being born again means you have a new concept of yourself. And that you realize that, you know, our whole outreach is based on the first chapter in Genesis. Which says, in the beginning, God and then it says in the beginning God created. In the beginning God created male and female in his image in lightness, that is what I base our outreach on, "in the beginning God."
And I think simplifying it, being born again means, that you just accept God as your father, you know he is the cause, he made the world, he did it, he is operating it, he is running it.
KING: Did he therefore also cause the cancer.
CANNON: Oh, no.
KING: So he gets credit for the good and no blame for the bad.
CANNON: Do you know that in 20 different dialects, the word "God" means Good? Just good. Just good. Yeah. He, at the end of his first chapter Genesis, says -- he talks in the whole first chapter, says, I made everything, I created the sky, the earth the, I ma -- and I saw everything that I made and I called it good, and very good. There is nothing in there about bad. That is all I know. You know, I'm not a preacher, I'm not a minister. There are those schooled in it, who have been doing it all their lives, who have gone to Bible college. But I was so desperate in my search for real love, for something that wouldn't come and go, and I watched with this love does.
KING: Back with more Dyan Cannon and then your phone calls. This is LARRY KING LIVE, don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: All you have to do is say yes. Yes, Christ, I will receive this love that you have taught me about. I'll receive it in my heart say yes just as I am right now, I don't have to lose weight or gain weight, get a job or lose a job, or do anything. I can, just right this minute, say "come in to my heart." I have been so hungry for love, I have been so thirsty I have been so needy, I have been at point of death I have been, father, just come into my heart.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Dyan Cannon has a Web site: www.dyan cannon.com. You can check with that, get more information on -- are you planning to make this a national thing? Are you going to go along the road with this?
CANNON: No, I'm going to stay here, but we are going to start God parties in other cities. Because people don't usually equate God with a party. It is usually very solemn.
KING: You think other people can do what do you? Be conduits for people?
CANNON: There are. Of course. God uses whoever he wants.
KING: How do you know it isn't a crutch?
CANNON: Pardon me?
KING: How do you know it isn't a crutch?
CANNON: Oh, because I never experienced such strength. You know, I think that I used crutches before I came to God's love. Like dope, and men, and drugs and whatever it would I thought would give me a piece and strength. But, since His love came into my life, I let go of all the crutches.
KING: Do you know if many of the illnesses may be psychosomatic? People have had blocks, so they do this suddenly?
CANNON: Well, you know, I mean...
KING: Of course, you could say, so what, if...
CANNON: Shakespeare said, as a man, nothing is either good nor bad but thinking makes it so. Einstein said, if everything exists as a substance of qualities, and qualities exist only in mind, then all is mind. And the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So thinking has something to do with it.
KING: We will take a break with Dyan Cannon. When we come back, we will go to your phone calls. If you would like to, you can test your knowledge, by clicking into our Web site: cnn.com/larry king, with questions about Dyan Cannon or anything. We'll be back with more right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: Can anybody tell me what a shackle is?
Yeah. Depression. What -- when Peter and those guys were in jail and they were shackled by their feet to the walls, and what they did at that time was they praised God and the shackles broke. That is one of the reasons we praise, right in the middle of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), we praise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: Praise him, praise him. Listen, we want to teach you the theme song. It's real easy to learn. You see, nothing can stand in the presence of joy. Have you ever noticed when you start getting happy, you say, uh-uh, I'd better watch out. I feel too good. Something's going to happen. Have you ever had that happened to you? The adversary will come in, trying to take your joy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're going to go to your calls momentarily for Dyan Cannon. Do you know exactly how it works? What's happening? The lady stands there on the crutch and suddenly, she doesn't need the crutch. Do you know what's happening?
CANNON: Yes, God's love is out there.
KING: But I mean what forces is (sic) going into the body that's curing the leg? What did you think?
CANNON: What I think is happening is that -- because I've even seen people who didn't believe get healed, you know, because they were in such pain. I think when you get desperate enough and you've tried everything and nothing has worked, you turn to the big guy...
KING: Do you follow-up?
CANNON: ...and say help. Yes, we do.
KING: By...
CANNON: We get their names and their telephone numbers and we call to see how they're doing.
KING: What about those who return, who are OK for a while and then go back?
CANNON: I don't know. I don't know the answer to that, Larry. So far we -- oh, yes, we did, with one guy.
KING: Do you know your success rate?
CANNON: Have I ever taken a poll on it?
KING: Yes.
CANNON: I haven't, no?
KING: Las Vegas, Nevada, as we go to calls for Dyan Cannon. Hello.
Hello?
CALLER: Hello, Larry.
KING: Yes, go ahead.
CALLER: My question is for Dyan and was wondering is Christ involved in what she -- the healing that she is doing, is it just God's love or is there just a blanket God up there or is Christ involved in what she is doing?
KING: What do you believe?
CANNON: Oh, absolutely, Christ is involved in it, absolutely. Christ came and taught us how to love, showed us what love was an absolutely. Absolutely Christ is involved.
KING: So what about Jews and Muslims and -- is he the only route?
CANNON: Well, God's love doesn't leave out Jews or Muslims or anyone.
KING: You have to believe in Christ to be helped?
CANNON: Well, Christ is -- do you know what the name Jesus means? It means Emanuel, God with us. That's what it means. That's what the name means, and God with us, made us and loves everyone. I don't care what you call yourself. Nobody can get outside that love. Nobody. He heals atheists. He heals Buddhists. The love power heals everyone and anyone. I've seen it happen with people who don't believe.
KING: And does he cause disease and affliction?
CANNON: No, absolutely not.
KING: He doesn't.
CANNON: No.
KING: So he just does good, doesn't do...
CANNON: Just good.
KING: To Sherman oaks, California. Hello.
CALLER: Hello?
KING: Go ahead. Go ahead.
CALLER: Hello, Dyan.
CANNON: Hi, sweetie.
CALLER: I would like to say how much I appreciate your courage to be so outspoken on a subject that so many people are skeptical about, and I would like to know how do you plan to expand your movement beyond California?
CANNON: Some people have already come to me, actually, in the Midwest and back East saying they wanted to start God parties and they have, and we have the franchise for it. It'll cost you a $1 a year to use the name "God's party," and they've started God's party in different cities where a lot of youth are coming and celebrating God's love.
KING: Has it affected, in any way, your talent?
CANNON: Well, I think it has freed me, Larry. I think I'm more open.
KING: You're a better actress.
CANNON: I think I'm a better everything, yes. I think I'm better everything since God's love, yes.
KING: No downside to this?
KING: Not with me.
KING: Norman, Oklahoma. Hello. I don't know why people aren't hearing us.
CANNON: Hello, Oklahoma.
KING: Hello.
CALLER: Hello?
KING: Yes, what's going on? Go ahead.
CALLER: Can you hear me?
KING: Yes. Every call we say hello, and no one is there. Go ahead.
CALLER: OK, hi, Dyan. CANNON: Hi.
CALLER: I have been praying for Robert Downey Jr. for five years so my question is, does your ministry reach -- go and reach out to people like him and other celebrities with drug problems that need healing or do they have to come to your services?
CANNON: Yes, they have to come to our outreach, to our party on Saturday night. We do get some celebrities. We get some studio executives, we get gang kids. We get the whole pot, the whole mixture.
KING: Have you helped addiction?
CANNON: Yes, yes.
KING: The hardest thing to deal with?
CANNON: Addiction?
KING: Don't you think so?
CANNON: I think it's really tough.
KING: Were you ever addicted to anything?
CANNON: Yes, I sure have been. I was addicted to marijuana.
KING: Addicted to marijuana.
CANNON: Yes, addicted to it. I would have to have a puff off a joint before every take. I'd run out to the bathroom and come back...
KING: And How did you defeat that?
CANNON: Well, I just said I need help and I have to do this and I knew I had to do it. I'll tell you what happened. I was going to go make a film in Greece and in Greece, if they caught you with this much marijuana, they threw you in jail, no questions asked, and I was trying to stuff it in my deodorant bottles, you know, in the bottom of my deodorant because I thought they'll never look in there. And I thought, what I am doing? Is this thing bigger than me? Yes, well, I need help with it.
KING: Now, you were married to an icon, an American -- a world- wide icon. What do you think Cary would think of this Dyan?
CANNON: I think he'd think it was great. You know what Cary and I used to do? When we first got together, there was a thing called "The Daily Word" and -- it was a thing...
KING: I remember that.
CANNON: Do you remember that? Yes, and they had a radio program in the morning. So he would call me when he first started pursuing me, he would call me in the morning on the phone -- it was on from, I think 7:45 until 8:00, and he'd call me and we'd listen to that radio program together and discuss it. So, that was how it started.
KING: So, he would not be surprised?
CANNON: No, I think he'd smile and say, that's good work, girl.
KING: And what does Jennifer think?
CANNON: She says, mom, it's great. Do your thing.
KING: Has she come and seen the...
CANNON: Yes, she has and she says go for it, mom.
KING: Have you had any of you show business friends saying, Dyan has gone a little...
(LAUGHTER)
CANNON: I'm sure if they didn't before this show, now they will.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: But those who do know about it, have any of them said to you, Dyan, are you OK?
(LAUGHTER)
CANNON: Yes. You're so funny.
KING: It's a normal question.
CANNON: You are so precious. Yes, I know, Larry, and I'm sure -- you know, they haven't done it to my face. I'm sure they have behind the thing, is she losing it. But you know, I don't preach. I don't go and preach at people. I just live the life that God has given me, and I'm happy.
KING: You run a heck of a service.
CANNON: Did you enjoy it?
KING: Yes. You can't -- you've got to pay attention.
CANNON: Yes, good.
KING: We'll be right back with more of Dyan Cannon and more of your phone calls. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: And on this night, father, I ask you to just come into our hearts anew, fresh. There are some hurting people in here, there are some people with heartaches, people that have been disappointed, people that have had their hearts hammered, people who feel like they don't have hope to go on. Father, in the name of God, the father; God, the son; and God, the Holy Spirit, come into their hearts now. (END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: God sees as he made us. He accepts us as we are or loves us, no matter what, but he sees us as his own image and lightness, because that's the way he made us. I'm not giving any opinions here. I'm just giving you the word of God. He made us in his image and lightness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: By the way, we haven't shown you, I don't know why, but there is a lot of terrific singing here. Who is the group behind you?
CANNON: Aren't they great? I'm so glad.
KING: Are they your regulars?
CANNON: Every week.
KING: They're terrific. Who was that guy who sang "Amazing Grace"?
CANNON: Billy Valentine.
KING: Philadelphia, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Larry. Dyan, I would like to ask you, would you eventually like to do this full-time, because it seems like you spoke with Benny Hinn, and it he's made a very lucrative living out of this. He has many cars, houses, is there any money in it for you? I would like to know that. Do people give money?
KING: You do have a collection.
CANNON: Yes. We pay the singers and the musicians and a few of the staff, but a pittance, you know? They get very little, but we have expenses. I don't take a cent. We have been doing this for three years. I don't get paid. I do it because it feels good.
KING: Obviously, in the woman's question, was the implication that some people do this for profit. Do you have opinions on that?
CANNON: I think that we should all get paid. I would love to get paid for what I do.
KING: So, there is nothing wrong with Benny Hinn.
CANNON: Getting paid for it? Absolutely not. I think God's work is the most important work in the world. Why not get paid for it? Sure. To height people. Remember what I said, when I was taking the collection? You mentioned that I took a collection, and I said, hey, if you don't have anything to give, God will love you just as much if you don't give a cent. Didn't I say that? So, you know, it's not about, we have expenses. And we need to pay them, so...
KING: Do you ever have doubts?
CANNON: About God? You know, sure. They try to come in, Larry, and I will see things happen, and I will have moments that happen. I have had many of those in my life.
KING: I mean recently.
CANNON: How about a couple hours ago?
(LAUGHTER)
Fear tries to come in on me, but I don't doubt.
KING: Fear of?
CANNON: A lot of things. You know, fear. You know, there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Remember that? So I narrowed it down to, there is nothing to fear, period. Sure, I get doubts and I get fears. I'm human. I get -- mucked about a lot, but now I know where to go when that happens.
KING: Have you been victimized in tabloids too?
CANNON: Yes.
KING: How do you handle that? Has this helped handle that?
CANNON: I think so, Larry. My faith?
KING: Your faith.
CANNON: Yes, it has and I think also, that the show helped, because I'm being able to state what it is.
KING: You were going to write a biography...
CANNON: Yes. I had a book deal to do it.
KING: And shelved it, why?
CANNON: I wanted to show people how to get from A to B in your life. How to change your stinking thinking, right? And I got the go ahead and -- a green light in my head, and I just wanted to tell the complete truth, but I worked on a book with a brilliant writer for a year and a half. A very lucrative book deal, but if you tell the truth about yourself, you have to tell the truth about everyone else, too. And it would have shattered some lives and I couldn't do it.
KING: Orillia, Ontario, hello.
CALLER: I'm wondering what you do through the week, between the God parties. Do you encourage your people to pray or read the Bible? What sort of things do you encourage? CANNON: Everything you've just said, love. To pray, to read the Bible, to -- the presence of God is a powerful thing and I spend, you know, before I leave my room in the morning, I spend at least a couple hours in his words, helps get me through the day, you know? When stuff comes my way, I know how to battle it. It says in the Bible, put on the whole armor of God, I have lots of holes in my armor. So, I try filling it up by reading what will help me.
KING: Do you pray a lot?
CANNON: Yeah.
KING: Have you left your Jewishness?
CANNON: No! I'm so proud of being Jewish. Are you kidding? My precious mom was Jewish. That's how I was raised. I was raised in the synagogue. I sang in the synagogue.
KING: But you believe the savior has already come, which the Jews do not believe.
CANNON: Well, that's a long story. Yes, I do. But what did he say, Larry? You know, it's so hard in a few minutes to explain what I have taken 35, 40 years to read and study. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. The truth. The life. We narrowed it into a person. He came and he taught us really how to love. He was the most practical guy that ever walked on the face of the Earth. If someone was hungry, he fed them. If they needed money, he got it. If they needed healing, he showed them how. So I have learned about love from him.
KING: We will be back with more from Dyan Cannon. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: (SINGING) I've been dealing with my sinking thinking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANNON: I am warning you. This is the first time in my life I've ever had a floor seat. If Kobe's sweaty body goes bounding into my seat, and I'm not in it, I will never forgive you.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should wait for George.
CANNON: What was that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was what?
CANNON: What was what? I heard something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He probably left the TV on. Let's wait for George.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the delay? The car pool goes public at 7.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No delay. We are all here now, go in, go ahead.
ALL: Surprise!
CANNON: Ahh. Does this mean we don't get to go to the Lakers game?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: By the way, if you want to check in with more information, it's www.dyancannon.com. Why are you doing a sitcom? You did "Ally McBeal" too, right?
CANNON: Uh-huh. I love it.
KING: Why? You're a movie actress. Is that a step down for you?
CANNON: No. No, it's just all in (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I love it because I get to work every week. Movies you don't get to work every week. But I still want to do movies.
KING: And you incorporate well the working and the beliefs, right? In other words, you don't leave belief behind to go to work, or leave work behind to go do beliefs, you are...
CANNON: I struggled with that for a long time, Larry, because I couldn't understand what God had placed in my life. It was very confusing to me. Very -- if it's confusing to watch, believe me, inside of me it was like a blender going: "What's going on here? Am I supposed to leave this? Am I just supposed to have my outreach? Am I just supposed to be an actress?
But, no, God is everywhere all the time. And so I'm doing my acting and my outreach and I'm having a blast.
KING: You've never talked a lot about Cary Grant, Why?
CANNON: Well...
KING: I mean, everyone's so interested in him and no one knew him better than you.
CANNON: Oh, I've talked about him a lot. He was a great man, and he was my husband, and he gave me the best thing in my life, which is my daughter. And after some years, we divorced, and you know. But I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from him. He was a great man. KING: Because I have never seen you discuss him publicly.
CANNON: No, they came to me and they asked me to write books. They offered me millions and millions and millions of dollars to write books about Cary.
KING: Why not?
CANNON: Well, why? That was between us. That was private.
KING: You love him even after you divorced him?
CANNON: Oh, yes, I love him -- I'll always love him.
KING: Back with our remaining moments with Dyan Cannon right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: By the way, for the answer to King's quiz on Dyan Cannon, you can now log on to my Web site at cnn.com/larryking. I hate to say those words because I feel like I'm stabbing myself.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: cnn.com/larryking.
Olive Hill, Kentucky, with Dyan Cannon. Hello.
Olive Hill, Kentucky, hello.
CALLER: Hello, I can barely hear you.
KING: I hear you. Go ahead.
CALLER: Larry, it's good to see your show. I love you. I love your show...
KING: Thank you.
CALLER: And I can't hear a word you're saying right now...
KING: Obviously, the problem is the caller is not hearing us. Ask your question.
CALLER: OK, my question is...
KING: Go ahead.
Caller: For Dyan, my question is: Do you get very discouraged along this way? I'm just so happy to see that there are actresses like you. I love you as an actress. I love you even more as sister in the Lord. And I'm just so happy that you're doing this. And do you get very discouraged along this way? Do people down you a lot?
KING: Good question. CANNON: Not so far. And I've heard from so many. There were some celebrities who said, "If Larry King wants to know who else is in this path, don't mention my name."
And I thought, "Isn't that interesting?"
KING: Really?
CANNON: Yes.
KING: Whereas, they believe, they help, but they don't want people to know.
CANNON: They don't want to talk about it. And I have to tell you something. Nobody has been more supportive to me that the people in Hollywood. People in Hollywood are a great group of people. They're all individuals. They all have different ideas. And, yes, I have become down-hearted, I have become discouraged, I have become depressed. I'm just like you. I'm just like Larry. I'm a human being and I have my problems.
When the kaka hits the fan, I duck and I come up and I know where to go for my problems. That's all I can say about it.
KING: Do you think God cares if the Lakers win?
(LAUGHTER)
CANNON: I pray at the Laker games, too!
(LAUGHTER)
KING: You don't think he cares about a sports game, do you?
CANNON: You know something, Larry, I just think God cares about everything. I just do. About everything and everyone.
KING: Do you think you're going to find that love of your life?
CANNON: You know, I'm ready for that, Larry. I'm really ready. I'd would like to have a mate now.
KING: Don't you meet a lot of people? I mean, you're beautiful, and you're in the limelight, and you go out in crowds...
CANNON: I've just met the nots
(LAUGHTER)
KING: You met the no-nos, right?
CANNON: I met the no-nos. I haven't met the one yet that goes, yeah, this is it now.
KING: Have you ever been bothered by people following you around and stuff? CANNON: Not badly, no.
KING: No? You never had a great problem with that.
CANNON: No. The media has been good to me. The fans have been good to me. I'm just treated really well.
KING: Anything you most regret?
CANNON: Yeah, that I didn't know more about the love that's real earlier. Yeah.
KING: You could have known this sooner than you knew it.
CANNON: Long time ago. Yeah, because then you can feel it more and help more.
KING: You don't take credit, but you must get a great feeling when someone who says they're sick is not sick anymore.
CANNON: Oh, it's awesome. It's worth everything. It's awesome.
KING: You can't top that.
CANNON: No.
KING: Thank you, Dee.
CANNON: Thank you.
KING: Dyan Cannon, the moving force behind Dyan Cannon Outreaches, the God's party theme. And her Web site is www.dyancannon.com.
Suzanne Somers returns to LARRY KING LIVE tomorrow night. She was here a couple weeks ago, revealed for the first time ever that she had breast cancer, was treating it differently than is conventional. There's been a lot of reaction to it since then, statements by doctors, people all around the world discussing it. She's come back -- she will come back here tomorrow night to discuss it again herself. It's Suzanne Somers tomorrow night,
We thank Dyan Cannon for being with us tonight. I'm Larry King in Los Angeles. We invite you to stay tuned now for "CNN TONIGHT." That's next. And for all of us here in L.A., have a great night. Good night.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
