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Diane Keaton, star of Annie Hall and The Godfather, dies at 79
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Diane Keaton, star of Annie Hall and The Godfather, dies at 79

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Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall, The Godfather films and Father of the Bride, whose idiosyncratic, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most extraordinary actors of a generation, has died. She was 79.
People Magazine reported Sunday AEDT that she died with loved ones in California, citing a family spokesperson. No other details were immediately available and representatives for Keaton did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.
The unexpected news was received with shock around the world.
“She was hilarious, completely original and completely without guile, or the competitiveness you would expect from such a star. What you saw was who she was… oh, la, lala!” Bette Midler said in a post on Instagram. She and Keaton starred together in The First Wives Club.

Keaton was the kind of actor who made movies iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, clad in that tie, bowler hat, vest and khaki pants, to her heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams, the woman unlucky enough to join the Corleone family.

Goldie Hawn (left), Diane Keaton (center) and Bette Midler starred together in the revenge comedy The First Wives Club. Source: AP / Frank Wiese

Her star performances in the 1970s, many of which were in Woody Allen films, were no flash in the pan either, and she would continue to charm new generations for decades.

She played a businessman who unexpectedly inherits a child in Baby Boom, the mother of the bride in the beloved remake of Father of the Bride, a newly single woman in The First Wives Club, and a divorced playwright who becomes involved with Jack Nicholson’s music manager in Something’s Gotta Give.

Keaton won an Oscar for Annie Hall in 1978 and would be nominated three more times, for Reds, Marvin’s Room and Something’s Gotta Give.

Amanda Peet, from left, Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton appear at a photocall for their film "Something has to give"

Diane Keaton worked with Jack Nicholson (center) in Something’s Gotta Give – her favorite movie. Source: AP / Jan Bauer

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles in January 1946, Keaton was drawn to theater and singing during his school years.

She dropped out of college after a year to try it out in Manhattan. Actors’ Equity already had a Diane Hall in their ranks, and she took Keaton, her mother’s maiden name, as her own.
She started on stage as an understudy in the Broadway production of Hair and in Allen’s Play It Again, Sam in 1968, for which she would receive a Tony nomination.

Keaton made her film debut in the 1970 romantic comedy Lovers and Other Strangers, but her big break would come a few years later when she was cast in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, which won Best Picture and became one of the most beloved films of all time.

45th AFI Life Achievement Award - Arrivals

She won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Woody Allen comedy Annie Hall. Source: AP / Chris Pizzallo

The 1970s were an incredibly fruitful time for Keaton, thanks in part to her continued collaborations with Allen in both comedic and dramatic roles. She appeared in Sleeper, Love and Death, Interiors, Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery and the film version of Play it Again, Sam.

Allen gave Keaton one of her most iconic roles in Annie Hall, the infectious woman from Chippewa Falls that Allen’s Alvy Singer can’t get over. The film is considered one of the great romantic comedies of all time, with Keaton’s eccentric, self-deprecating Annie at its center.
In the New York Times, critic Vincent Canby wrote: “As Annie Hall, Miss Keaton emerges as Woody Allen’s Liv Ullman. His camera finds beauty and emotional sources that somehow escape the attention of other directors. Her Annie Hall is a great note”.

Keaton and Allen also had a romantic relationship, from about 1968, when she met him while auditioning for his play, until about 1974. After that, they remained collaborators and friends.

“He was so hip, with his thick glasses and cool suits,” Keaton wrote in her memoir.
“But it was his demeanor that struck me, his way of gesticulating, his hands, his coughing and self-deprecating look as he told jokes.”
She was also romantically linked to Al Pacino, who played her husband in The Godfather, and Warren Beatty who directed her and with whom she co-starred in Reds. She never married, but adopted two children in her 50s: a daughter, Dexter, and a son, Duke.
“I thought the only way to fulfill my greatest dream of becoming a real musical comedy star on Broadway was to remain an adoring daughter. Loving a man, a man, and becoming a woman would have to be put aside,” she wrote in the memoir.
“The names changed, from Dave to Woody, then Warren and finally Al. Could I have made a lasting commitment to them? Hard to say. Subconsciously I must have known it could never work, and therefore they would never stand in the way of making my dreams come true.”
In the remake of Father of the Bride, Keaton and Steve Martin played the bride’s nervous parents, which would become a huge hit and spawn a sequel.
In 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give, she begins a relationship with a playboy womanizer, played by Jack Nicholson, while also being pursued by a younger doctor, played by Keanu Reeves.
Her character Erica Barry, with her beautiful Hamptons home and ivory outfits, was a major inspiration for the coastal grandmother’s recent fashion trend. It earned her what would be her last Oscar nomination and she would later call it her favorite film.
Keaton continued to work steadily throughout the 2000s, with notable roles in The Family Stone, as a dying matriarch reluctant to give her ring to her son, in Morning Glory, as a morning news anchor, and the Book Club films.

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