Annie Hall star turned 79

Diane Keaton, whose long and versatile career as an actress, producer and director was indelibly highlighted by her Oscar-winning performance as Woody Allen’s lead love interest in the actor-writer-director’s 1977 romantic comedy “Annie Hall,” has died in California, according to People. She was 79 years old.

In addition to her win in “Annie Hall,” Hall was nominated for a best actress Oscar for “Reds,” “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Marvin’s Room.” His other notable roles include “The Godfather”, “Father of the Bride” and “Baby Boom”.

Her most recent roles include “Book Club” and its sequel, “Poms” and her latest on-screen role in 2024’s “Summer Camp,” starring Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard.

After establishing herself on Broadway in 1969 as Allen’s co-star in his hit comedy “Play It Again, Sam” (during which the performers were romantically involved), Keaton made an impression in Hollywood as Kay Adams, the tormented girlfriend and then wife of gangster Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), in “The Godfather.” (1972) and “The Godfather II” (1974) by Francis Ford Coppola.

But it was as Allen’s frequent co-star and on-screen comedian – even after their dating life ended – that Keaton made his deepest impression. After reprising her role in “Play It Again, Sam” in Herbert Ross’s 1972 film adaptation, she appeared with the little comic in his science fiction comedy “Sleeper” (1973) and his parody of Russian literature “Love and Death” (1975).

However, it was the role of Annie Hall, the charming and crazy girlfriend of comic Alvy Singer (Allen), in this unconventionally structured feature film that truly propelled her to the highest level of screen actresses, winning Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Keaton, who had served as the model for her character, also became a style icon (for her quirky fashion sense) and an immediate influence on other young actresses.

In a New Yorker profile published at the height of Keaton’s early fame, Penelope Gilliatt noted: “She is not at all like the many actresses who stripped her of some manners and did insultingly bland impersonations relying on ‘Well’ and dithering. Miss Keaton… is not at all like the restless ingénue she was cast to play.

“‘I noticed people saying ‘La-di-da’ like Annie Hall, and I don’t like that, you know?’ she told me. “It’s not a good idea to be identifiable, even if it’s reassuring. It feels safe in many ways, and that’s bad, because it means you’re accepted, and once that happens, that’s where you stay. You have to watch yourself. I would like to have a life like Katharine Hepburn’s in terms of work. She has matured. She made the changes.

While Keaton sometimes relied on the dizzying attributes of Hall’s character in her later work, she soon moved on to other, darker projects. She had a successful turn as a promiscuous schoolteacher in Richard Brooks’ adaptation of the shocking best-seller “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” (1977) with appearances in Allen’s Bergmanian drama “Interiors” (1978) and his dark comedy-drama “Manhattan” (1979).

Keaton earned a second Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of early 20th-century socialite-turned-radical Louise Bryant in “Reds” (1981), a sweeping political-historical drama directed and co-written by her then-lover Warren Beatty, who also starred as left-wing journalist John Reed.

She received good reviews for her work in Gillian Armstrong’s “Mrs. Soffel” (1984) and Bruce Beresford’s “Crimes of the Heart” (1986), and returned to work with Allen in a small role in his period comedy “Radio Days” (1987). That same year, her role as a career woman dealing with her deceased cousin’s infant daughter in “Baby Boom” ushered in a successful series of comedic collaborations with writer (and later director) Nancy Meyers.

In 1990, Keaton — who was intermittently involved with her “Godfather” co-star Pacino beginning in 1971 — reprized her role as Kay Adams Corleone in Coppola’s long-delayed “The Godfather III.” She made a successful return to comedy alongside Steve Martin in Meyers’ hit remake of “Father of the Bride” (1991) and its 1995 sequel; took another turn opposite Allen in “Manhattan Murder Mystery” (1993); and teamed with Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn in the hit “The First Wives Club” (1996).

Keaton went on to earn two more Academy Award nominations as best actress, as a woman with leukemia dealing with family upheaval, opposite Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio, in the Jerry Zaks drama “Marvin’s Room” (1996) and as a playwright who becomes involved with an aging roué (Jack Nicholson) in Meyers’ romantic comedy “Something’s Gotta Give.” (2003).

She was active as a director in the 1980s, including directing the music video for Go-Go lead singer Belinda Carlisle’s solo hit “Heaven is a Place on Earth” in 1987; she then directed episodes of the television series “China Beach” and “Twin Peaks” as well as the feature films “Unstrung Heroes” (1995) and “Hanging Up” (2000), in which she also co-starred with Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow. She produced the Fox series “Pasadena” and Gus Van Sant’s surprising Columbine-inspired feature film “Elephant” (2003).

She published the bestselling memoirs “Then Again” (2011), “Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty” (2015), and “Brother and Sister” (2020). From the 1970s she was a keen photographer whose work was collected in “Reservations” and she also edited several photo collections. She was also active in the preservation of historic homes.

Keaton received a 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Woody Allen, who was the presenter, tweeted the fedora-wearing winner’s timeless style, joking: “She looks like the woman in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ who comes to take Blanche away.”

In accepting the award, the actress avoided giving a speech in favor of a performance of “Seems Like Old Times,” which she memorably sang in “Annie Hall.”

She was born Diane Hall in Los Angeles on January 5, 1946; Allen would later take his nickname and last name for the pseudonym of his most famous character. At high school in Santa Ana, California, she was active in music and theater (and actually played Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”).

After dropping out of college, she moved to New York to become an actress using her mother’s maiden name. In 1968, she landed a role in the Broadway production of “Hair,” the “American tribal love-rock musical,” and attracted attention by refusing to strip for the play’s famous ensemble nude scene. She made her big screen bow in “Lovers and Other Strangers” in 1970.

An open audition landed her the female lead in Allen’s “Play It Again, Sam,” in which a sexually awkward film critic receives romance advice from Humphrey Bogart. The co-stars became a topic, but their work together on screen persisted long after they split in the late ’70s.

The impact of her captivating performance as an aspiring singer in “Annie Hall” (a role she failed to play successfully in real life) extended far beyond her acting talent and into the realm of national style. Her wardrobe in the film – wide-brimmed hats, men’s shirts, ties and vests, pants – became much imitated street attire for young women of the late ’70s.

Keaton, who never married, is survived by her adopted daughter Dexter and her son Duke.