Diane Keaton, Oscar-winning star of ‘Annie Corridor’ and ‘The Godfather,’ dies at 79

Individuals Journal reported Saturday that she died in California with family members, citing a household spokesperson. No different particulars had been instantly obtainable, and representatives for Keaton didn’t instantly reply to inquiries from The Related Press.

The sudden information was met with shock world wide. Keaton was the type of actor who helped make movies iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Corridor, bedecked in that necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis, to her heartbreaking flip as Kay Adams, the girl unlucky sufficient to hitch the Corleone household.

Her star-making performances within the Nineteen Seventies, lots of which had been in Woody Allen movies, weren’t a flash within the pan both, and she or he would proceed to attraction new generations for many years thanks partially to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers.

She performed a businessperson who unexpectedly inherits an toddler in “Child Increase,” the mom of the bride within the beloved remake of “Father of the Bride,” a newly single girl in “First Wives Membership,” and a divorced playwright who will get concerned with Jack Nicholson’s music government in “One thing’s Gotta Give.”

Keaton gained her first Oscar for “Annie Corridor” and would go on to be nominated three extra instances, for “Reds,” “Marvin’s Room” and “One thing’s Gotta Give.”

In her very Keaton approach, upon accepting her Oscar in 1978 she laughed and stated, “That is one thing.”

Keaton was born Diane Corridor in January 1946 in Los Angeles, although her household was not a part of the movie trade she would discover herself in. Her mom was a homemaker and photographer, and her father was in actual property and civil engineering.

Keaton was drawn to theater and singing whereas in class in Santa Ana, Calif., and she or he dropped out of school after a yr to make a go of IT in Manhattan. Actors’ Fairness already had a Diane Corridor of their ranks, and she or he took Keaton, her mom’s maiden title, as her personal.

She studied below Sanford Meisner in New York and has credited him with giving her the liberty to “chart the advanced terrain of human habits inside the security of his steering. IT made enjoying with fireplace enjoyable.”

“Greater than something, Sanford Meisner helped me study to understand the darker aspect of habits,” she wrote in her 2012 memoir, “Then Once more.” “I at all times had a knack for sensing IT however not but the braveness to delve into such harmful, illuminating territory.”

She began on the stage as an understudy within the Broadway manufacturing for “Hair,” and in Allen’ s “Play IT Once more, Sam” in 1968, for which she would obtain a Tony nomination.

Keaton made her movie debut within the 1970 romantic comedy “Lovers and Different Strangers,” however her massive breakthrough would come just a few years later when she was solid in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” which gained finest image and change into one of the vital beloved movies of all time. And but even she hesitated to return for the sequel, although after studying the script she determined in any other case.

The Nineteen Seventies had been an extremely fruitful time for Keaton thanks partially to her ongoing collaboration with Allen in each comedic and dramatic roles. She appeared in “Sleeper,” “Love and Demise,” “Interiors,” Manhattan,” “Manhattan Homicide Thriller” and the movie model of “Play IT Once more, Sam.”

Allen and the late Marshall Brickman gave Keaton one in all her most iconic roles in “Annie Corridor,” the infectious girl from Chippewa Falls whom Allen’s Alvy Singer can not recover from. The movie is taken into account one of many nice romantic comedies of all time, with Keaton’s eccentric, self-deprecating Annie at its coronary heart.

Fortune World Discussion board returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and world leaders will collect for a dynamic, invitation-only occasion shaping the way forward for enterprise. Apply for an invite.