Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning actor whose wit, warmth and individuality made her one of Hollywood’s most beloved figures, died Saturday in California.
The Annie Hall star was 79.
“There are no further details available at this time, and her family has asked for privacy in this moment of great sadness,” a spokesperson told People magazine.
The Independent has contacted Keaton’s representatives for comment.
While Keaton had not made any public appearances for some time, her death was still highly unexpected, as there had been no prior reports of her being sick.
Keaton was known for her prolific film and television career that spanned more than five decades. She rose to fame in Francis Ford Coppola’s mafia epic The Godfather (1972), and returned for the director’s second and third sequels.
Her other major acting credits included leading roles in comedies like Father of the Bride (1991), The First Wives Club (1996), Something’s Gotta Give (2003) and Book Club (2018).
Born January 5, 1946, as Diane Hall, the Hollywood legend got her first break in the original 1968 Broadway production of Hair.
She returned to Broadway the following year in Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam. Her performance alongside Allen in his comedic show landed her a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
The stage production kicked off a decades-long collaboration between the two, as well as a brief relationship. Allen later adapted his play into a film, with Keaton reprising her role. They worked together on an additional seven films, including Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977), Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979), Radio Days (1987), and Wild Man Blues (1997).
Her performance as the titular nightclub singer in Allen’s romcom Annie Hall landed her an Academy Award. She went on to receive several other Best Actress nominations for Reds (1981), Marvin’s Room (1996) and Something’s Gotta Give (2003).
Keaton’s on-screen debut was in the 1970 romcom Lovers and Other Strangers. That same year, she made her first TV appearance in an episode of the three-season romance Love, American Style.
In addition to her numerous Oscar accolades, she also earned an Emmy nod for her leading role in the 1995 TV movie Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight.
She made her directorial debut in 1987 with her affecting documentary Heaven, which illustrated numerous beliefs about the afterlife. She made her way back to the director’s chair in 1995 with Unstrung Heroes, a family comedy featuring Andie MacDowell and John Turturro, and again in 2000 with the comedy-drama Hanging Up, in which she also starred.
Her latest acting credit is Castille Landon’s 2024 comedy Summer Camp, starring alongside Nickelodeon’s Josh Peck, Kathy Bates, Eugene Levy and Alfre Woodard.
Aside from acting, Keaton was a dedicated animal welfare activist and a big promoter of pet adoption. Her love for animals even inspired her to make changes to her diet.
“I don’t eat meat, I’m a vegetarian and I’ve been a vegetarian for 25 years and I’ve stopped even eating fish,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2020. “I stopped five years ago. I don’t want to eat something that was an animal.”
Numerous Hollywood heavyweights have paid tribute to Keaton, with Ben Stiller calling her “one of the greatest film actors ever.”
Her First Wives Club co-star Bette Midler hailed her as “brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary,” saying she was “unbearably sad” by Keaton’s passing.
“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star. What you saw was who she was…oh, la, lala!” Midler wrote on Instagram.
Mary Steenbergurgen, who starred with Keaton in 2018’s Book Club, reacted to the news, telling People in a statement: “Diane was magic. There was no one, nor will there ever be, anyone like her. I loved her and felt blessed to be her friend. My love to her family. What a wonder she was!!!”
“I am very sad to hear of Diane’s passing. I was very fond of her and the news of her leaving us has taken me totally by surprise. I was not expecting her to leave us. She will be missed. May she rest in peace,” Robert de Niro said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
Comedy icon Steve Martin, who played her on-screen husband in the Father of the Bride film series, shared a snippet from an old 2021 Interview magazine interview in which Martin Short asks Keaton, “Who’s sexier, me or Steve Martin?” who replies, “I mean, you’re both idiots.” Martin said that the interaction “sums up our delightful relationship with Diane.”
“Diane Keaton was one of a kind. Brilliant, funny, and unapologetically herself,” Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred with her in Marvin’s Room. wrote in an Instagram Story, alongside an old photo of himself and Keaton. “A legend, an icon, and a truly kind human being. I had the honor of working with her at 18. She will be deeply missed.”
Keaton is survived by her two children, daughter Dexter, 29, and son Duke, 25.
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