Diane Keaton to get the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award for movies, not hats

By Esther Zuckerman | October 7, 2016 | 12:00pm

Aux Features Film

Diane Keaton deserves awards for many things: Her commitment to hats, for one. Her brand of red wine that should be served over ice, to name another. (Yes, that is a real product.) But the American Film Institute is giving her a much more traditional honor: She’s getting the 45th AFI Life Achievement Award, the organization revealed today. Jokes aside, Keaton’s career in the movies is vast and influential, spanning both comedy and drama. She was Annie Hall and The Godfather’s Kay, for goodness sakes, not to mention The First Wives Club and Reds. Keaton has also directed, helming the Ephron sisters’ Hanging Up.

“Diane Keaton is one of the most beloved leading ladies of American film,”AFI Board of Trustees chair Howard Stringer said in a statement. “Peerless in her mastery of both comedy and drama, she has won the world’s heart time and again by creating characters of both great strength and vulnerability. Her career as a director and producer is even further evidence of her passion for the art form and her seemingly boundless talents.”