Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning Actress, Dead at 79
Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning Actress, Dead at 79
Diane Keaton has died.
The Oscar-winning actress, whose memorable roles include Annie Hall and The First Wives Club, passed away Oct. 11 in California, a family spokesperson confirmed to People. She was 79.
Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles in 1946, Diane’s career began on the stage with the 1968 Broadway production of Hair, where she served as the understudy for the role of Sheila. She followed that with a role in Woody Allen’s production of Play It Again, Sam, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
From there, Diane broke through in Hollywood in the 1970s with roles in Lovers and Other Strangers and The Godfather series as well as a string of screen collaborations with Woody including Sleeper, Manhattan and Annie Hall, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1977.
Diane’s career continued to thrive over the years, earning acclaim into the 1980s with acting roles in Shoot the Moon and Baby Boom. She went on to expand her skillset with her 1987 directorial debut Heaven, which she also edited.
Over the years, Diane’s love life also garnered attention as she struck up notable relationships with Al Pacino and Warren Beatty, as well as a romance with Woody early in their professional careers. And while she never married, she was happily single in her final years, telling AARP magazine in 2023, “I don’t date.”
Nonetheless, Diane had plenty of love in her life as she embraced motherhood in her 50s, welcoming daughter Dexter, 29, and son Duke, 25, via adoption.
“I didn’t think that I was ever going to be prepared to be a mother,” she said in a 2008 interview with Ladies’ Home Journal. “Motherhood was not an urge I couldn’t resist, it was more like a thought I’d been thinking for a very long time. So I plunged in.”
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In addition to her status as a cinema legend, Diane was instantly recognizable as a fashion icon thanks to her signature style of androgynous attire—and she never got tired of her trademark aesthetic.
“I still love a turtleneck, a hat and a jacket,” she told Women’s Wear Daily in August 2024. “I think I focus more on wearing suits daily than ever before.”
But at the root of Diane’s success was her incomparable onscreen talent. Later in her career, she earned further critical praise for her performances in big-screen favorites like Father of the Bride, Something’s Gotta Give and The Family Stone.
In her final years, Diane continued to work steadily, having last appeared in the 2024 comedy Summer Camp alongside Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard and Eugene Levy. In fact, she insisted on keeping active, both personally and professionally.
“I never understood the idea that you’re supposed to mellow as you get older,” she told AARP in 2012. “Slowing down isn’t something I relate to at all. The goal is to continue in good and bad, all of it.”
To take a look back at Diane’s incredible life in pictures, read on.
This is a developing news story. More to come…
