Diane Keaton Left An Undeniable Mark on American Cinema

Diane Keaton died on Saturday. She was 79. The Los Angeles native starred in Annie Hall, the Godfather trilogy, Father of the Bride, Something’s Gotta Give and The First Wives Club. In her multi-decade career, she’s been credited on 74 different projects according to IMDb and is attached to three upcoming projects in pre-production. 

I became a fan of Keaton through a reverse chronology of her filmography. As a child of the late ‘90s, I started with Something’s Gotta Give and The Family Stone. I was always charmed and comforted by her, inspired by her eccentricity and vivacity. Growing up in the conservative American South, it was revelatory to see a woman who exuded sophistication also cry and tantrum and let out big, over-the-top exhales of frustration. 

As I got older, Keaton aged in reverse. I discovered The First Wives Club, then Father of the Bride. By the time I reached The Godfather, I was marked by the many rambunctious, playful, expressive versions of Keaton. She was one of the many women who gave me permission to let out those parts of myself. 

In The Godfather trilogy, Keaton was so different from how I grew up knowing her. Kay Adams was quieter, gentler, softer than Erica Barry, Daphne Wilder, Sybil Stone. Francis Ford Coppola gets a lot of flak for how little dialogue Keaton gets in the trilogy, especially the first. But she didn’t need to speak much to deliver a powerhouse performance in one of the most important films in American cinema. Who can forget that final look at the end of The Godfather as the reality of the world she’s now a part of becomes clear?

For a long while, Annie Hall was the main gap in my knowledge of Keaton’s professional life. Unlike the actress, I had no desire to be party to Woody Allen’s whole situation. But then I finally did see it, and damn if Keaton didn’t play a woman that just about anyone could fall in love with.

Aside from her many, many starring roles, Keaton was also a fashion icon. She told People last year that a quintessential Diane Keaton fit included “a turtleneck, suit, large belt and of course a hat and glasses!" From Annie Hall to Because I Said So, to the day-to-day looks captured by the paparazzi, there was always an interesting suit jacket or polka-dotted tie. It added to her undeniable presence, whether she was leading a Nancy Meyers movie or getting into the later-year shenanigans of Book Club and Book Club 2. 

Beyond the body of her work, those who knew her shared testimony of her impact on American cinema. “I am very sad to hear of Diane’s passing,” Robert De Niro told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was very fond of her, and the news of her leaving us has taken me totally by surprise. I was not expecting her to leave us. She will be missed. May she rest in peace.”

Bette Midler, who starred with Keaton in First Wives Club in 1996, wrote on Instagram, “The brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary Diane Keaton has died. I cannot tell you how unbearably sad this makes me. She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star. What you saw was who she was… oh, la, lala!”

Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in Marvin’s Room with Keaton, posted on his Instagram Story: “Diane Keaton was one of a kind. Brilliant, funny, and unapologetically herself. A legend, an icon, and a truly kind human being. I had the honor of working with her at 18. She will be deeply missed.”

“She was always a spark of life and light, constantly giggling at her own foibles, being limitlessly creative… in her acting, her wardrobe, her books, her friends, her homes, her library, her world view,” Jane Fonda added. “Unique is what she was.”