Sometimes the death of a prominent person, be it an athlete, show biz personality, or politician, makes you just feel really bad, even though you never actually knew the person yourself. Such is the case with how I've felt ever since I heard the news of the death of Diane Keaton yesterday at the age of 79.
In looking at her filmography on IMDB, I can deduce that my first memory of seeing Diane Keaton would have been in the 1970 comedy movie "Lovers and Other Strangers". She also became better known for appearing in the Woody Allen comedies "Play It Again, Sam" (1972) and "Sleeper" (1973). What I didn't realize until I read her obituaries today was that Keaton got her first big break in 1968 when she played Allen's female lead in the Broadway stage production of "Play It Again, Sam". She won a Tony Award for her performance in that play.
At about the same time as when she was making those two comedies, Keaton landed the role of a lifetime when she was tapped to play Kay Adams, Michael Corleone's girlfriend and wife in "The Godfather" in 1972. This put her over the top as an actress able to play anything and not just comedy roles. It assured her of screen immortality. She went on to play the same role in the two Godfather sequels.
There followed six more movies with Allen, including the role for which she will probably be most remembered, Kay Adams Corleone notwithstanding, that of Annie Hall in Allen's 1977 masterpiece of the same name. "Annie Hall" won the Oscar for Best Picture, Allen for director and screenwriter, and, of course, the Best Actress Oscar for Keaton.
By the time she made her final movie with Allen, "Manhattan Murder Mystery" in 1993, and the "Godfather Part III" in 1990, Keaton was in her forties, a time when Hollywood usually spits out actresses who have attained such an "advanced" age, but Diane Keaton's career took another turn.
It started with such movies as "Baby Boom" (1987) and continued with roles in such movies as the "Father of the Bride" movies with Steve Martin, "Something's Gotta Give" (2003) with Jack Nicholson, and two really terrific holiday movies, "The Family Stone" (2005) and "Love The Coopers" (2015). There were plenty of other movies, of course. She has 74 acting credits in IMDB. She was nominated for Oscars four times, and she has won two Golden Globe Awards. In the late 1960's, before Broadway and the movies came rolling, she also made TV appearances in Mannix, The F.B.I., Night Gallery, and Love, American Style. (I also had a memory of her doing a TV commercial for some product in which she wore a track suit, I was able to find in HERE. It's from 1970.)
It was in this latter period of her career that I really became a fan of Diane Keaton. She was playing leading roles, age appropriate roles, and I found her to be every bit as charming, attractive, and a terrific actress as she got older as she was in her "Annie Hall" days.
The tributes that have flooded social media in the last twenty-four hours have been incredible. It seems that she was a genuinely good person, as charming and lovable in real life as she was on screen.
I will miss Diane Keaton, but people like her will always be with us with the legacies that they leave behind. I probably own at least ten DVD's of movies in which she starred. Think I'll start with "Play It Again, Sam" and "Annie Hall" and then move on to "The Godfather".
Some photos to make you remember Diane Keaton.
I mentioned tributes from her contemporaries. This one was posted on Facebook by frequent co-star, Steve Martin.