Woody Allen, who regularly collaborated with Diane Keaton, has paid tribute to the actor, saying that she “unlike anyone the planet has experienced” following her death, aged 79.
Keaton rose to fame in the 1970s, starring in Francis Ford Coppola’s mafia epic The Godfather but also enjoyed a decades-long collaboration with Allen, making eight films overall, including Annie Hall, which earned her an Academy Award in 1978.
“It’s grammatically incorrect to say ‘most unique’, but all rules of grammar, and I guess anything else, are suspended when talking about Diane Keaton,” said Allen in tribute to the star.
“Unlike anyone the planet has experienced or is unlikely to ever see again, her face and laugh illuminated any space she entered,” wrote the controversial director in a piece for The Free Press.
Allen complimented Keaton for having a “huge talent for comedies and drama”, noting that she could also “dance and sing with feeling”. He also said that she “wrote books, did photography, made collages, decorated homes, and directed films,” writing: “Finally, she was a million laughs to be around.”
“Her fashion sense was a sight to behold, of course,” he continued. “Her sartorial concoctions rivalled the contraptions of Rube Goldberg. She put together clothing that defied logic but always worked. In later years, her look became more elegant.”
Keaton and Allen briefly dated in 1969 when she auditioned for his Broadway play, Play It Again, Sam.
Recalling meeting her family, Allen said: “This was Keaton’s world, her people, her background. It was amazing that this beautiful yokel went on to become an award-winning actress and sophisticated fashion icon. We had a few great personal years together and finally we both moved on, and why we parted only God and Freud might be able to figure out.”
Allen added that Keaton’s passing would “redefine” the world.
“The world is constantly being redefined, and with Keaton’s passing it is redefined once again. A few days ago, the world was a place that included Diane Keaton. Now it’s a world that does not. Hence, it’s a drearier world. Still, there are her movies. And her great laugh still echoes in my head.”
Allen’s popularity as a filmmaker has diminished in recent years, amid the #MeToo movement and the renewed interest in allegations of sexual abuse from his adopted stepdaughter Dylan Farrow.
Allen escaped scrutiny for a large period since he was accused, until 2014, when Farrow, as an adult, wrote an essay for New York Times Opinion shortly after Allen received a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes.
Allen denied the accusations, and a 1993 investigation by the child sexual abuse clinic of Yale-New Haven Hospital and the New York Department of Social Services cleared him of charges.
Keaton defended Allen in 2018. “Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him,” she wrote on social media. “It might be of interest to take a look at the 60 Minute interview from 1992 and see what you think.”
Keaton died on 11 October, with a friend telling People that the star had become “very thin” in the weeks prior to her death. “I saw her two or three weeks ago,” singer-songwriter Carole Bayer Sager recalled. “She had lost so much weight.”
