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Actress Diane Keaton Dies Aged 79

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  October 11, 2025 4:06 PM

Actress Diane Keaton, best known for her roles in "The Godfather" and "Annie Hall," has died. She was 79 years old.

Diane Keaton was born Diane Hall in Los Angeles, California, in 1946. Her parents were Dorothy and Jack. She had three siblings: Randy, Robin, and Dorrie.

She went to Santa Ana High School, where she was involved with singing and drama, even playing the role of Blanche DuBois in a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire." After graduating in 1963, Keaton went to Santa Ana College and later Orange Coast College. She dropped out of the latter after a year to move to New York City and pursue acting.

In New York, Keaton studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She changed her name to Diane Keaton (her mother's maiden name) when she joined the Actors' Equity Association because another actress was already registered under the name Diane Hall.

Keaton worked as a nightclub singer and was cast in as the understudy of Sheila in the original Broadway production of "Hair." She auditioned for a part in Woody Allen's production of "Play It Again, Sam" and almost lost the part because she was two inches taller than Allen. She would later be nominated for a Tony Award for that role.

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Her breakout came in 1972 when she was cast as Kay Adams, the wife of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone, in "The Godfather." She would reprise that role in "The Godfather Part II" and "The Godfather Part III."

Throughout the 1970s, Keaton collaborated with Woody Allen on many films including "Love and Death," "Sleepers," and “Interiors.” In 1977, Keaton was cast as the titular character in Allen’s “Annie Hall” and she would win the Academy Award for her role.

Keaton’s career continued steadily throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She starred opposite Steve Martin in a remake of “The Father of the Bride” and again in “The Father of the Bride Part Two.” She made her directorial debut in 1995 with “Unstrung Heroes,” a film adapted the Franz Lidz memoir. Her big hit of the decade was in the 1996 film “The First Wives Club,” about middle-aged women coping with divorce after their husbands left them for younger women.

Her work continued into the 2000s, including a rom-com with Jack Nicholson called “Something’s Gotta Give” and the drama “The Family Stone.”

While Keaton never married, she adopted two children, Dexter and Duke, when she was in her 50s. She said of motherhood, it “has completely changed me. It's just about like the most completely humbling experience that I've ever had.”

Keaton is survived by her children and her siblings, as well as her dog Reggie.