For Diane Keaton, the concept of slowing down for anything or anyone was unthinkable, as she exemplified by pushing on relentlessly with her remarkable career well into her final years.
“I never understood the idea that you’re supposed to mellow as you get older,” Keaton told AARP in 2012. “Slowing down isn’t something I relate to at all. The goal is to continue in good and bad, all of it. To continue to express myself, particularly.”
The actor’s fierce independence and individuality was as evident in all aspects of her life, from her onscreen performances to her iconic androgynous wardrobe and eclectic habit of drinking red wine with ice. She remained grounded despite her immense fame, telling The Independent in 2015 that she took her fashion inspiration from “people off the street.”
Keaton, who has died at the age of 79, enjoyed a sparkling career spanning five decades, during which time she won a Bafta, two Golden Globes and the coveted Academy Award for best actress.
That prize was given to her for her role in Woody Allen’s 1977 film Annie Hall, in which she played the starring role. Keaton continued to work with the controversial director for years after and appeared in eight more of his movies, including Interiors and Manhattan Murder Mystery. He presented her with an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2017.
“She could be funny and incredibly effective dramatically. She was brilliant,” Allen told The Independent previously. “Anything Keaton turned her talent to, whatever it was, she was great at. There was nothing she couldn’t do.”
Away from Allen, her role in Francis Ford Coppola’s epic mafia trilogy The Godfather, in which she starred opposite Al Pacino as Kay Adams-Corleone, earned her critical acclaim. She would reprise the role in all three instalments.
Keaton’s performance as the independent mob boss wife was reflected in her personal life as, despite a string of high-profile celebrity partners, including Allen, Pacino, and fellow actor Warren Beatty, she never married.
“I’m really glad I didn’t get married. I’m an oddball,” she said, in an interview with People Magazine in 2019. “I remember in high school, this guy came up to me and said, ‘One day you’re going to make a good wife.’ And I thought, ‘I don't want to be a wife. No.’”
Following her death, Keaton was described as “one of the greatest film actors ever”, as well as “an icon of style, humor and comedy.”
Born January 5 1946, the Hollywood legend grew up as the oldest of four in a neighborhood surrounded by orange groves in Santa Ana, California. From a young age, Keaton’s dreams were encouraged by her mother who nurtured her children’s creativity.
Keaton previously revealed how she wanted to be a movie star from a young age and uprooted her life at just 19 to move across the U.S. to New York City, where she studied under world-renowned acting coach Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater.
She made her Broadway debut in the original 1968 production of Hair, before transitioning to the silver screen in 1970 in the romantic comedy Lovers and Other Strangers, directed by Cy Howard.
Keaton became well known for her portrayal of strong, matriarchal figures and reluctant wives, with performances in movies including The First Wives Club, The Other Sister, and Town & Country, and later Something’s Gotta Give, with fellow acting titan Jack Nicholson.
However, she always felt more comfortable with comedy, telling Interview in 2015: “At the beginning of my career, I was so panicked – it was too overwhelming. It was really frightening, but I got through it. When I started doing the films with Woody [Allen], I got much more relaxed. It was fun because it was looser, and comedy played a part.”
“I feel more comfortable with comedy. I love being awkward or falling in love and laughing, or touching someone’s face and enjoying it. I love the fun that you have when you’re in a comic movie,” she added.
Indeed, her final onscreen role was in American comedy Summer Camp, which came out in 2024. Prior to that, Keaton had shown no signs of slowing down, with multiple roles throughout the 2020s, including Love, Weddings & Other Disasters, Maybe I Do and Book Club: The Final Chapter.
Outside of acting she became recognizable (and sometimes even parodied) for her somewhat androgynous dress sense, with her looks often inspired by menswear. In 2023, she was the main feature of a J. Crew campaign marking the brand’s fortieth anniversary, celebrating “timeless style.”
Keaton also launched her own affordable wine brand – The Keaton – in 2015. Despite being a red, the blend was intended to be served over ice, with Keaton explaining: “It’s not fancy… But neither am I.”
She told The Independent her one regret was over her directing career. She made her directing debut with Unstrung Heroes in 1995, and returned behind the camera for Hanging Up in 2000, which was a self-confessed “failure.”
“I didn’t pull it off,” she said in 2015. “I would like to try again, though. I would like to try, but I think I’d have to find the right smaller movie for me… when you have a failure, which Hanging Up was, people aren’t going, ‘Gee, can you please direct my movie?’”
Further details of Keaton’s death were not immediately shared Saturday, though her family confirmed she had died in California. She is survived by her two adopted children, Dexter, 29, and Duke, 25.
A friend told People, who first reported her death, that her health “declined very suddenly” in recent months.
Speaking to The Independent about her decision to adopt later in life, Keaton said it had “changed my life and made it so much more meaningful…. It's given me a purpose other than myself, which is really nice.”
