Legendary film icon Diane Keaton — the star of The Godfather and Father of the Bride — died on October 11 at the age of 79, according to a statement from her representatives. Her family has asked for privacy during this time of loss.
Diane Keaton attending a fashion event in 2022. Photo: Amy Sussman
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) reported that they responded to Keaton’s home around 8:00 a.m. local time and transported a 79-year-old woman to a nearby hospital.The cause of death has not been publicly disclosed, though sources say her health had declined quite rapidly in recent months.
The Oscar-winning star was last seen publicly in April, appearing radiant and well in a photo with her dog Reggie to mark National Pet Day. In January, she was actively calling for support for victims in the Los Angeles wildfires.
Diane Keaton was born in 1946 in Los Angeles, as the eldest of four children. Her father was a civil engineer and her mother a homemaker who once dreamed of becoming an artist. Keaton often credited her mother as her greatest supporter: “My mother sang, played piano, and was very beautiful,” she said in a 2004 interview.
From high school onward, Keaton participated in theatrical productions. After graduating in 1964, she studied drama, then left university to move to New York and pursue Broadway. In 1968 she landed her first Broadway role in the musical Hair.
Her career breakthrough came when director Francis Ford Coppola cast her as Kay Adams — the romantic interest of Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) — in The Godfather (1972), even though she had not read the original novel. “I just went to audition; I didn’t even know what the film was about,” she later recalled.
That role propelled Diane Keaton to worldwide fame. She reprised it in The Godfather Part II (1974) and Part III (1990), cementing her status in Hollywood.
In the 1970s, she closely collaborated with Woody Allen on films such as Play It Again, Sam, Sleeper, Love and Death, and the iconic Annie Hall (1977) — the last of which won her the Oscar for Best Actress. Her fashion style in that film, inspired by her own self, made her a style icon.
Her acting career spanned over 50 years, with memorable roles in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Reds, Father of the Bride, Something’s Gotta Give, The First Wives Club, The Family Stone, Because I Said So, Book Club, and more recently Poms. In 2003, her performance in Something’s Gotta Give earned her her fourth Oscar nomination.
Diane Keaton in a post in April.
Keaton also directed: the documentary Heaven (1987), the film Hanging Up (2000), and an episode of the series Twin Peaks. In 2016, she appeared in the HBO series The Young Pope — one of her rare television roles.
In a 2020 interview with Vulture, Keaton said she was particularly fond of Father of the Bride, starring alongside Steve Martin. “Maybe it seems cheesy to you, but to me the film is very moving,” she said.
She never married, but adopted two children: Dexter in 1996 and Duke in 2001, becoming a single mother in her 50s. “Being a mother wasn’t something I was driven by, but it was a thought I’d had for a long time. Then I decided to do it,” she once shared.
Diane Keaton in 'The Godfather'.
Upon hearing the news of her passing, many prominent figures expressed grief and paid tribute. Bette Midler, a co-star in The First Wives Club, posted on Instagram: “Diane Keaton — a wonderful, intelligent, and radiant woman — has gone. No words can express the depth of this sorrow.”
Diane Keaton and Steve Martin in 'Father of the Bride'.
Piers Morgan called her “one of the greatest film actresses in Hollywood and a lovely woman.” Actress Melissa Gilbert described Diane Keaton as her idol: “It’s unimaginable that someone so alive and full of energy could depart this world. I know she will live on through her legendary films, and more importantly, through the children she loved. But to imagine a world without her is unthinkable…”
