Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall, The Godfather films and Father of the Bride, has died. She was 79. Reportedly, she passed away surrounded by her loved ones. The family of the star is yet to share details on the cause of demise.
The unexpected news was met with shock around the world. 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.
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.
Hollywood pays tribute
Soon after the news was out, Hollywood celebrities who looked up to Keaton poured in their condolences and tribute.
Some actors play emotions. Diane Keaton lived inside them.
Diane Keaton embodied the contradictions of being human: funny and fragile, bright and bruised, always achingly honest. For decades, she filled every frame with warmth, wit, and wonder. A Best Actress Oscar winner and… pic.twitter.com/BqjewFW4MO
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) October 11, 2025
Diane Keaton. One of the greatest film actors ever. An icon of style, humor and comedy. Brilliant. What a person.
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) October 11, 2025
Keaton`s early life
Keaton was born Diane Hall in January 1946 in Los Angeles. Though her family was not part of the film industry, she would find herself in. Her mother was a homemaker and photographer, and her father was in real estate and civil engineering. Keaton was drawn to theatre 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 behaviour within the safety of his guidance. It made playing with fire fun.`
“More than anything, Sanford Meisner helped me learn to appreciate the darker side of behaviour,” she wrote in her 2012 memoir, Then Again. “I always had a knack for sensing it but not yet the courage to delve into such dangerous, illuminating territory.”
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 became one of the most beloved films of all time. And yet even she hesitated to return for the sequel, though after reading the script she decided otherwise.
Woody 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.
