R.I.P. Diane Keaton

The Godfather and Annie Hall star was 79.

By William Hughes | October 11, 2025 | 4:10pm

Diane Keaton, Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Film News Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton has died. One of the most celebrated actors of her generation, Keaton broke out in the 1970s with performances in the Godfather films and for her long-time friend, occasional lover, and frequent collaborator, Woody Allen. (Including a career-defining starring role in 1977’s Annie Hall, which won her her only Academy Award.) A mainstay of American film and theater for more than 60 years, Keaton frequently defied stereotypes to create characters far more complex than their simple descriptors—and the adoration and pursuit of their male counterparts—might suggest. Per People, her death was confirmed on Saturday by a family spokesperson. Keaton was 79.

Born in California in the 1940s, Keaton took to the stage early and often, catching early interest as an understudy in the original Broadway run of Hair. Her collaborations with Allen also began in the theater, where she was cast opposite him in his 1969 Broadway hit Play It Again, Sam. (She would reprise the role for the play’s 1972 film adaptation, one of eight films she and Allen would make together.) ’72 also saw Keaton tapped for a role that would put her at the heart of one of the most celebrated film franchises in American history, playing love interest/frequently isolated outsider Kay in The Godfather. Keaton would perform the role in all three of Francis Ford Coppola’s films, most notably 1974’s The Godfather Part II, which allowed her to tear into the bitterness of Kay Adams-Corleone’s crime-adjacent life.

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In 1977, Allen wrote Keaton—who, by that point, had already starred for him in broader comedies like Sleeper and Love And Death—a part that would become synonymous with her career: The title role in Annie Hall. Although Allen has quibbled, in later years, about whether the film was intended to be autobiographical (it’s worth noting that Hall was Keaton’s original last name), Keaton herself noted in her memoir in 2011 that she considered the film to be based on the pair’s relationship. Regardless, the role was an ideal showcase for Keaton’s talents: A mix of self-assured glamour, razor-sharp comic timing, and deep vulnerability that wound up winning her both an Oscar and a BAFTA. (It also made her a fashion icon, albeit one uniquely hard to imitate; nobody on Earth could wear a distractingly big hat quite like Diane Keaton.)

Now firmly established, Keaton spent the 1980s riding high, starring with Warren Beatty in Reds, with Albert Finney in Shoot The Moon, and in many other high-profile films. After a few career missteps (notably action-thriller The Little Drummer Girl in 1984), Keaton mostly stuck to the comedies and dramas that made her famous, including starting a long-running partnership with Nancy Meyers with 1987’s Baby Boom. The 1990s saw her stick similarly close to home, with roles like the matriarch in Father Of The Bride, and as one-third of The First Wives Club, one of the biggest hits of the second half of her career. She also began pursuing interests as a director, crafting a 1987 documentary about beliefs in the afterlife, Heaven, and directing music videos for Belinda Carlisle.

Keaton continued to work regularly into the 2000s and beyond, often taking on romantic comedy roles that defied the idea that romantic foolishness or thrills begin and end in a character’s 20s or 30s. Although these films didn’t always live up to their legendary pedigree—notably, movies like her 2014 Rob Reiner and Michael Douglas collaboration And So It Goes, which bombed with critics—Keaton was noted to always bring some spark of life to the proceedings. She continued to work regularly up through last year, giving memorable parts in TV productions like Jude Law’s The Young Pope, and lending her voice to Pixar’s Finding Dory. Her final film was last year’s Summer Camp, which saw her teamed up with Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates.

Keaton pursued many passions in life, including photography, singing, architecture, and more. But her impact on the world of acting from the 1970s forward is very hard to over-emphasize. Working best within certain genre lines, without ever allowing herself to be pigeonholed, she created comic heroines who could break the audience’s heart, and dramatic characters with a soul of wit. Her best characters could only have been Diane Keaton characters; she defined them as thoroughly as they defined her.

Keaton’s family has asked for privacy in the wake of her death. No cause of death has been released.