Diane Keaton, the actor beloved for her roles in the “Godfather” films and “Annie Hall,” has died at the age of 79, her daughter confirmed Saturday to NBC News.
Dexter Keaton White said the family is looking for privacy and had no further comment.
Keaton, known for her wit, humor and sparkling charm, was a longtime Hollywood star with a career spanning six decades.
She won the Oscar for her role in Woody Allen’s rom-com “Annie Hall” in 1977 and was nominated three other times for her roles in “Reds,” “Marvin’s Room” and “Something’s Gotta Give.”
Born in Los Angeles, she studied drama at Santa Ana College and dropped out to pursue acting in New York. She was cast in Woody Allen’s Broadway play “Play It Again, Sam” in 1968, setting her on a course for stardom, according to IMDb.
Her first major big-screen roles came in 1972 with the film version of “Play It Again, Sam” and as Kay Adams in the iconic film “The Godfather.”
Keaton was prolific on the big screen, cementing a name for herself by starring in some of Hollywood’s most beloved films.
She played Nina Banks, the wife of George Banks, played by Steve Martin, in the 1991 film “Father of the Bride” as well as the 1995 sequel “Father of the Bride Part II.” She appeared as Annie MacDuggan Paradis in the 1996 comedy “The First Wives Club” alongside Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler, and played Erica Barry in Nancy Meyers’ 2003 rom-com “Something’s Gotta Give” opposite Jack Nicholson.
She was also beloved for the 2018 comedy movie “Book Club,” which followed the antics of four lifelong friends, played by Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen.
Keaton also had the title of director under her belt. She directed the 1991 TV movie “Wildflower,” which starred Reese Witherspoon, then just 15. Witherspoon remembered Keaton as “as one of my first mentors in this business,” while speaking at the Hello Sunshine’s Shine Away event Saturday.
Additionally she directed a 1991 episode of “Twin Peaks,” the 1987 documentary “Heaven,” and the 2000 dramedy “Hanging Up,” which starred Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow and herself.
Keaton never married but was romantically linked to Allen, Warren Beatty and Al Pacino.
Reflecting on her romantic life, she told People magazine in 2019: [“I’m not sad] because I think that I needed more of a maternal aspect. … “I don’t think it would have been a good idea for me to have married, and I’m really glad I didn’t, and I’m sure they’re happy about it, too.”
“I’m an odd ball,” she told the magazine. “I remember one day in high school, this guy came up to me and said, ‘One day you’re going to make a good wife.’ And I thought, ‘I don’t want to be a wife. No.’”
She is survived by her two children, daughter Dexter and son Duke, whom she adopted when she was in her 50s, according to the magazine.
Tributes poured in for the star on Saturday.
Midler remembered her former co-star as “brilliant, beautiful and extraordinary.”
“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!” Midler wrote on Instagram.
Fellow “First Wives Club” star Goldie Hawn wrote on Instagram, “Diane, we aren’t ready to lose you.”
“You stole the hearts of the world and shared your genius with millions, making films that made us laugh and cry in ways only you could. I was blessed to make First Wives Club with you, our days starting with coffee in the makeup trailer, laughing and joking, right through to the very last day of filming. It was a roller coaster of love,” Hawn wrote.
“We agreed to grow old together, and one day, maybe live together with all our girlfriends,” she continued. “Well, we never got to live together, but we did grow older together. Who knows… maybe in the next life.”
“Father of the Bride” co-star Kimberly Williams Paisley wrote on Instagram: “Diane, working with you will always be one of the highlights of my life. You are one of a kind, and it was thrilling to be in your orbit for a time.”
“Book Club” co-star Steenburgen remembered Keaton as “magic.”
“There was no one, nor will there ever be, anyone like her. I loved her and felt blessed to be her friend. My love to her family. What a wonder she was!!!” she said in a statement.
Fellow “Book Club” co-star Fonda said in a statement: “It’s hard to believe … or accept … that Diane has passed. 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. Unique is what she was. And, though she didn’t know it or wouldn’t admit it, man she was a fine actress!”
Bergen, who also starred in “Book Club,” called Keaton’s death “a huge loss.”
“Diane was a true artist — tremendously gifted and uniquely talented in so many disciplines yet also modest and wonderfully eccentric. I will miss her terribly,” Bergen said.
In a statement, Meryl Streep called Keaton “our American treasure — indelible singular girl and brilliant artist.”
“Crushing news that she is gone, but her smile and her style and antic spirit will live on film and in our hearts forever,” said Streep, who co-starred with Keaton in “Manhattan” and “Marvin’s Room.”
Sarah Jessica Parker in a statement recalled Keaton’s “singular skill and talent” while they shared sets on “The First Wives Club” and the “The Family Stone.”
“I will cherish those memories on set as well her touching, delightful and perfectly own cinematic career. Which is a gorgeous legacy of an exquisite person,” Parker said. “She will be terribly missed.”
Ben Stiller on X honored Keaton as “one of the greatest film actors ever.”
Kate Hudson shared a clip from “The First Wives Club” on Instagram with the caption: “We love you so much Diane.”
Actor Viola Davis wrote on Instagram: “No!! No!!! No!! God, not yet, NO!!! Man… you defined womanhood. The pathos, humor, levity, your ever-present youthfulness and vulnerability — you tattooed your SOUL into every role, making it impossible to imagine anyone else inhabiting them. You were undeniably, unapologetically YOU!!! Loved you.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a tribute that Keaton “embodied the contradictions of being human: funny and fragile, bright and bruised, always achingly honest. For decades, she filled every frame with warmth, wit, and wonder.”
“Her spirit will live forever on screen, and in the hearts of all who saw themselves in her,” the tribute said.