Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of “Annie Hall,” “The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride,” whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, has died. She was 79.
People Magazine reported Saturday that she died in California with loved ones, citing a family spokesperson. No other details were immediately available, and representatives for Keaton did not respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.
The unexpected news was met with shock around the world.
“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star,” Bette Midler said in an Instagram post. She and Keaton co-starred in “The First Wives Club.”
Keaton was the kind of actor who helped make films iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, bedecked in that necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis, to her heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams, the woman unfortunate enough to join the Corleone family.
Her star-making performances in the 1970s, many of which were in Woody Allen films, were not a flash in the pan and she would continue to charm new generations for decades thanks in part to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers.
She played a businessperson who unexpectedly inherits an infant 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 gets involved with Jack Nicholson’s womanizing music executive in “Something’s Gotta Give.”
Keaton won her first Oscar for “Annie Hall” and would go on to be nominated three more times, for “Reds,” “Marvin’s Room,” and “Something’s Gotta Give.
In her very Keaton way, upon accepting her Oscar in 1978 she laughed and said, “This is something.”
Keaton was born Diane Hall in January 1946 in Los Angeles. Her mother was a homemaker and photographer, and her father was in real estate and civil engineering, and both would inspire her love in the arts, from fashion to architecture.
Keaton was drawn to theater and singing while in school in Santa Ana, California, and she dropped out of college after a year to make a go of it 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 studied under Sanford Meisner in New York and has credited him with giving her the freedom to “chart the complex terrain of human behavior within the safety of his guidance. It made playing with fire fun.”
She started on the stage as an understudy in the Broadway production for “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 breakthrough would come a few years later when she was cast in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” which won best picture and become one of the most beloved films of all time
The 1970s were an incredibly fruitful time for Keaton thanks in part to her ongoing collaboration with Allen in both comedic and dramatic roles. She appeared in “Sleeper,” “Love and Death,” “Interiors,” Manhattan,” and the film version of “Play it Again, Sam.” The 1977 crime-drama “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” also earned her raves.
Allen and the late Marshall Brickman gave Keaton one of her most iconic roles in “Annie Hall,” the infectious woman from Chippewa Falls whom Allen’s Alvy Singer cannot get over. The film is considered one of the great romantic comedies of all time, with Keaton’s eccentric, self-deprecating Annie at its heart.
Keaton and Allen were also in a romantic relationship, from about 1968, when she met him while auditioning for his play, until about 1974. Afterward 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 manner that got me, his way of gesturing, his hands, his coughing and looking down in a self-deprecating way while he told jokes.”
She was also romantically linked to Pacino, who played her husband in “The Godfather,” and Warren Beatty who directed her and whom she co-starred with in “Reds.” She never married but did adopt two children when she was in her 50s: a daughter, Dexter, and a son, Duke.
In 1987 she began another long-standing collaboration with Nancy Meyers, which would result in four beloved films starting with “Baby Boom,” directed by Charles Shyer.
Their next team-up would be in the remake of “Father of the Bride,” which Shyer directed and co-wrote with Meyers. She and Steve Martin played the flustered parents to the bride which would become a big hit and spawn a sequel.
In 2003, Meyers would direct her in the romantic comedy “Something’s Gotta Give.” Her character Erica Barry, with her beautiful Hamptons home and ivory outfits was a key inspiration for the recent costal grandmother fashion trend. It earned her what would be her last Oscar nomination and, later, she’d call it her favorite film.
Keaton continued working steadily throughout the 2000s, with notable roles in “The Family Stone,” “Morning Glory,” and the “Book Club” films.
Keaton was celebrated with an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2017.
“I feel like it’s the wedding I never had, or the big gathering I never had, or the retirement party I never had, or all these things that I always avoided — the big bash,” she told the AP. “It’s really a big event for me and I’m really, deeply grateful.”
___
AP National Writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed.
The post Oscar-winner Diane Keaton, star of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘The Godfather,’ dies at 79, reports say appeared first on Associated Press.
