Diane Keaton, Oscar-winning actress for “Annie Hall.” The person whose quirky, vibrant demeanor and depth in the films “The Godfather” and “Father of the Bride” made her one of the most singular actors of a generation has died. She was 79 years old.
People magazine reported on Saturday that she died in California with loved ones by her side, citing a family spokesperson. No other details were immediately available, and a representative for Keaton did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.
The unexpected news shocked the world.
Bette Midler said in an Instagram post, “She was hilarious, completely original, and had none of the malice or competitiveness you would expect from a star like this. What you saw was who she was…oh, la, la!” She and Keaton co-starred in “The First Wives Club.”
Keaton was the actor who helped make her films iconic and timeless, from Annie Hall’s line, “La dee da, la dee da,” decked out in a tie, bowler hat, vest, and khakis. A heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams, A woman who unfortunately ended up joining the Corleone family.
Many of her star-making performances in the 1970s were in Woody Allen films, but that was no flash in the pan, and thanks to her long-standing collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers, she would continue to enchant new generations for decades to come.
She played a businessman who unexpectedly inherits an infant in Baby Boom, the mother of the bride in the popular 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 executive in Something’s Gotta Give.
Oscar winners pose with statuettes at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on April 3, 1978. From left: Richard Dreyfuss, Best Actor winner for “The Goodbye Girl.” Charles H. Joffe, Best Picture for “Annie Hall.” Diane Keaton won Best Actress for “Annie Hall.” Presenter Jack Nicholson and producer Jack Rollins of United Artists. (AP photo, file)
Keaton won her first Oscar for Annie Hall and would go on to receive three more nominations for her roles in Reds, Marvin’s Room and Something’s Gotta Give.
In her true Keaton style, Winner of Oscar Award in 1978 she said laughing. “This is something.”
Hollywood star breaks out in New York
Keaton was born Diane Hall in Los Angeles in January 1946, but her family was not part of the film industry she would find herself in. Her mother was a housewife and photographer, and her father worked in real estate and civil engineering.
Keaton was drawn to theater and singing as a student in Santa Ana, California, and dropped out of college after a year to pursue a career in Manhattan. Actor’s Equity already had Diane Hall, who adopted her mother’s maiden name, Keaton, as her own.
She studied with Sanford Meisner in New York, and credits him with giving her “the freedom to depict the complex areas of human behavior in a safe and guided manner. It made playing with fire fun.”
“More than anything, Sanford Meisner helped me understand the dark side of my actions,” she wrote in her 2012 memoir, “Then Again.” “I have always had a talent for sensing it, but I have not yet had the courage to step into such dangerous and bright territory.”
FILE – Substitute teacher Sanford Meisner (right) greets former student Diane Keaton at his honor party held by students at Neighborhood Playhouse School in New York City on Tuesday evening, October 8, 1980. (AP photo, file)
She began appearing on stage as an understudy in Broadway’s Hair, and in 1968 was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in Allen’s Play Again, Sam.
Become a star with “The Godfather” and Woody Allen
Keaton made his film debut in the 1970 romantic comedy “The Godfather,” but his breakthrough came a few years later when he starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” which won Best Picture and became one of the most beloved films of all time. Still, even she was hesitant to return for the sequel, but made a different decision after reading the script.
The 1970s were an incredibly fruitful time for Keaton, in part due to his continued collaboration with Allen in both comedy and drama roles. She appeared in “Sleeper,” “Love and Death,” “Interior,” “Manhattan,” “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” and the film version of “Play Again, Sam.”
Allen and the late Marshall Brickman gave Keaton one of her most iconic roles, “Annie Hall.” A contagious woman from Chippewa Falls that Allen played by Alvy Singer can’t get over. The film is considered one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, centering around Keaton’s eccentric and self-deprecating Annie.
New York Times critic Vincent Canby wrote, “As Annie Hall, Miss Keaton emerges as Woody Allen’s Liv Ullmann. His camera somehow finds sources of beauty and emotion that elude other directors. Her Annie Hall is a wonderful madman.”
Keaton and Allen were romantically involved from around 1968, when she met Keaton while auditioning for one of Keaton’s plays, until around 1974. The two remained collaborators and friends ever since.
“He was very hip, with his thick glasses and cool suits,” Keaton wrote in his memoirs. “But what bothered me was his demeanor, body language, hands, coughing, and the self-deprecating way he told jokes.”
She also had romantic relationships with Al Pacino, who played her husband in The Godfather, and Warren Beatty, who directed her and co-starred with her in Reds. She never married, but adopted two children, a daughter, Dexter, and a son, Duke, when she was in her fifties.
“I decided that the only way to realize my wildest dream of becoming a real Broadway musical comedy star was to continue to be a sweet girl, putting loving a man and being a wife aside,” she wrote in her memoir.
“The names changed from Dave to Woody to Warren and finally Al. Could I have made a lasting commitment to them? It’s hard to say. Subconsciously, I must have known it wasn’t going to work out, so they would never stand in the way of realizing my dreams.”
When Keaton met Nancy Meyers
Not all of Keaton’s roles were home runs, such as his action role in George Roy Hill’s John le Carre’s The Little Drummer Girl. But in 1987, she resumed her long-standing collaboration with Nancy Meyers, resulting in four beloved films. Director Charles Scheyer’s first film, Baby Boom, may have received mixed reviews at the time, but Pauline Kael went so far as to call Keaton’s work “a brilliant comedic performance that overcomes many voids.”
Their next team-up will be a remake of Father of the Bride, directed by Scheyer and co-written with Meyers. She and Steve Martin played the bride’s panicked parents, and it was a huge hit, prompting a sequel.
In 2003, Meyers directed her in the romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give, in which she begins a relationship with a playboy womanizer played by Jack Nicholson, but is also pursued by a young doctor played by Keanu Reeves. Her character, Erica Barry, with her beautiful Hamptons home and ivory outfits, was a key inspiration for recent coastal grandma fashion trends. This was her last Oscar nomination, and she would later call it her favorite film.
She was also an occasional director, and her credits include episodes of Twin Peaks, music videos for Belinda Carlyle, and the sister drama Hanging Up, which she co-wrote with Delia Ephron and co-starred with Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow.
Keaton continued to work steadily throughout the 2000s, playing a dying matriarch who doesn’t want to give her son a ring in The Family Stone, a morning newscaster in Morning Glory, and a notable role in Morning Glory. “Book Club” movie.
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Associated Press national writer Hillel Italy in New York contributed.
