Diane Keaton, one of the most beloved movie stars of the last 50 years, has died at the age of 79 in California.
The news was confirmed by People magazine. According to a family spokesperson, further details are not available at this time and her loved ones have asked for privacy.
Keaton's death came as a shock to Hollywood and the rest of the world. The actor did not appear in public for several months, but no illness was reported.
People quotes A source close to the actor said Keaton's health had “deteriorated very suddenly” in recent months, adding that even many of her longtime friends “weren't fully aware of what was going on.”
Her frequent co-star De Niro told the Hollywood Reporter: “I'm very sad to hear of Diane's passing. I loved her very much and the news of her leaving us took me by surprise. I didn't expect her to leave us. She will be missed. May she rest in peace.”
In a statement given to the Guardian, Meryl Streep, who co-starred in Marvin's Room, called Keaton: “Our American treasure: an indelibly exceptional girl and a brilliant artist. It's devastating to hear that she's gone, but her smile, her style and her antique spirit will live on in the film and in our hearts forever.”
Leonardo DiCaprio, who co-starred with both women in the film, called Keaton “brilliant, funny and unapologetically herself” on Instagram Stories. “A legend, an icon and a truly kind person.”
Bette Midler, Keaton's co-star in The First Wives Club, said on Instagram: “The brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary Diane Keaton has died. I can't tell you how incredibly sad this makes me. She was funny and completely devoid of guile or any kind of competition that you would expect from such a star. What you saw was who she was… oh, la, lala!”
Mary Steenburgen said Deadline that her Book Club co-star was “magical. There was and never will be anyone like her. I loved her and felt lucky to be her friend.”
Book Club star Jane Fonda, meanwhile, wrote that she “finds it hard to believe… or accept… that Diana is gone. She was always a spark of life and light, constantly giggling at her foibles, showing boundless creativity… in her acting, her wardrobe, her books, her friends, her homes, her library, her worldview.”
“She was unique. And even though she didn't know it or admit it, man, she was a great actress!”
Keaton directed two music videos for singer Belinda Carlisle, who wrote on X that she was “kind and eccentric and I'm lucky to know her.”
Actor Ben Stiller also writes on X. called Keaton “One of the greatest film actors of all time. An icon of style, humor and comedy. A genius. What a man.” Director Paul Feig published that he was “honored to call Diane Keaton a friend. She was an amazingly kind and creative person and a Hollywood legend. She was taken from us too soon.”
Nancy Sinatra said on X: “Diane Keaton left us, and I can't tell you how deeply it saddens me. I adored her, idolized her. She was a very special person and an incredibly gifted actress who made every role she played unforgettable.”
An enduring and unique film icon since her Oscar-winning role in the 1977 film Annie Hall, in which her director, writer, co-star and ex-boyfriend Woody Allen Loosely based on her own life, Keaton has starred in some of the key films of the last half century.
Her keen self-deprecation, gift for comedy and idiosyncratic sense of style – rarely seen without a hat, turtleneck or men's tie and wide trousers – made her both highly distinctive and impossible to imitate.
Her first leading film role was opposite Al Pacino in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather – she reprized her role as Michael Corleone's wife in two sequels. Other Oscar nominations came for her performances in Reds (1981), Marvin's Room (1996) and Something's Gotta Give (2003).
Meanwhile, dramas such as Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Shoot the Moon and The Good Mother established her as an actress unafraid to play difficult and unpleasant women.
Keaton and Allen first collaborated on the stage version of Play It Again, Sam, for which she received a Tony nomination in 1971, and then went on to work together on eight films, including Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975) and Manhattan (1979).
In 1993, Keaton took over the role written for Mia Farrow in Manhattan Murder Mystery and remained a staunch supporter of Allen following Farrow's accusation that he abused their adopted daughter Dylan.
Taking to Instagram following Keaton's death, both of Allen's adopted daughters and his wife Soon-Yi Allen posted their tributes to the actor, with Manzie saying she was “absolutely heartbroken.”
Keaton starred in many other popular and iconic comedies, as well as comedies with Allen, including Baby Boom, Father of the Bride (and its sequels), The First Wives Club, and The Book Club.
That film's sequel, Book Club: The Next Chapter, released in 2023, looks set to be one of Keaton's last projects. Talking to the Guardian to promote thisshe revealed why she decided to remain so prolific, making seven films since the start of the pandemic.
“It gives me the opportunity to get to know more people in a different field,” she said. “I like it. It's all interesting. Life is never boring.”
She also explained her love of photographing doors and abandoned shops, which she said she found poignant, “because life haunts you! You have an idea in your head of what it is, or what it should be, or what it could be. But it's not like that at all! It's just things going up and down!”
In 1996, Keaton adopted a daughter, Dexter (named after Cary Grant's character in The Philadelphia Story), and four years later, a son, Duke. “Motherhood has completely changed me,” she said. “It's almost the most humiliating experience I've ever had.” Despite her highly publicized relationships with some of her co-stars, including Pacino and Warren Beattyshe remained unmarried.
Keaton cared for her mother from her diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease in 1993 until her death in 2008 and devoted much of her life to autobiographies talk about your mother's life and publish her diaries.
“She was everything to me,” she said of her mother. “She was wonderful. She was my example of what you can do in life. She was the heart of all the best things.”
Keaton was also her brother's primary caregiver. Randywho died in 2021 after years of mental health problems.
In addition to her work primarily on the big screen, Keaton has also worked in television, including as a treacherous nun in the Jude Law series The Young Pope. She also had minor real estate in the US and used her name and creativity to produce home goods, clothing, eyewear and wine.
In 2017 she was given lifetime achievement award American Film Institute, where she thanked her co-stars and sang “Sisems Like Old Times,” the song her character sings in “Annie Hall.”
In 2022, she paid tribute to her parents by placing her hands in cement to be immortalized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, saying she was “still that little Diani” who dreamed of becoming a movie star.
“As a girl growing up in Orange County, the thought of Hollywood Boulevard seemed like a mysterious dream that would never come true,” she said.
In December 2024, in what was likely her last public performance, Keaton released her first single, a holiday song called First Christmasby posting a video on Instagram. She is an enthusiastic user of social media. last message was in April to celebrate National Pet Day and featured a photo of the actress with her beloved golden retriever, Reggie.
She is survived by two younger sisters, Dorrie and Robin, as well as Dexter, 29, and Duke, 25.
