SHE played a beleaguered mob girlfriend in The Godfather, but Diane Keaton could not bear to watch the film that made her a Hollywood icon.
“Right from the beginning I thought I wasn’t right for the part,” she said.
Diane Keaton, suited and booted, at Paris Fashion Week in 2023
The Oscar-winning actress died aged 79 at her home in California on Saturday
“I haven’t seen the film.
“I just decided I would save myself the pain.
“I had to see a few scenes and couldn’t stand looking at myself.
“I thought I looked terrible, just like a stick in those 40s clothes.”
It was a typically candid admission from at her home in on Saturday.
She was never afraid to speak her mind, including in support of controversial director , who she dated in the early Seventies and who continued to be an enduring love of her life.
After he was accused by his adopted daughter of sexual assault, Keaton insisted she believed his claims of innocence, adding of their friendship: “What am I supposed to do? I still love him.”
In 2018, when the allegations resurfaced, Keaton tweeted: “Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him.”
‘Borderline repulsed’
And in her 2012 memoir, Then Again, she told how they enjoyed a fun relationship and loved jibing each other.
She wrote: “We shared a love of torturing each other with our failures.
“He could sling out the insults and so could I.
“His insights into my character were dead-on and — duh! — hilarious.
“I had him pegged as a cockroach you couldn’t kill.
“I miss Woody.
“He’d cringe if he knew how much I care about him, but I’m smart enough not to broach the subject.
“He’s borderline repulsed by the grotesque nature of my affection.”
The eldest of four children, was born Diane Hall in in 1946 to civil engineer Jack and amateur photographer Dorothy, a former beauty queen.
She grew up in Santa Ana, California, and then Orange Coast where she attended college.
But she dropped out to move to and study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
After appearing in musical Hair on Broadway, Keaton met Allen when they both starred in his 1972 film Play It Again, Sam.
Though their romance was brief and she went on to date and , it would be one that defined her life in many ways.
The pair remained close friends, even after claimed in 1992 the director molested her — something he was cleared of in two investigations.
Allen claimed was coaxed into making the allegations by her mum , who Allen was in a relationship with from 1980.
I miss Woody. He’d cringe if he knew how much I care about him, but I’m smart enough not to broach the subject
Diane Keaton
He says actress Mia was left devastated when he had an affair with another of Mia’s adopted daughters, , who he went on to marry.
, who joined the family when she was ten, started her relationship with Allen when she was 21 and he was 35 years her senior.
Keaton went on to star in eight in total, right up until 1993.
And she was said to have been the inspiration for his 1977 movie, Annie Hall — the title character she won a Best Actress Oscar for.
When the quirky star, who was almost as famous for her style as her acting ability, picked up the award in 1978, she became the first to wear to the .
Off the back of this success, she became known for slightly ditzy roles but, behind the scenes, she was a sharp businesswoman whose fortune is estimated to be in excess of £75million.
Diane with life long love Woody Allen in 1970
Diane with Al Pacino in The Godfather
It is expected to be left to her adopted children, daughter Dexter, 29, and son Duke, 25.
Part of her money came from flipping properties in Laguna Beach in California, where she bought a house for £5.6million in 2004 and sold two years later for £9.5million, and in Tucson, Arizona, where she profited by more than £1million in 2020 after owning it for 12 years.
also dated , who she instantly took a liking to on the set of in 1971, when she played his girlfriend.
She later told how she was “mad” for Pacino during filming, adding he was “charming, hilarious, a nonstop talker. There was an aspect of him that was like a lost orphanage . . . and oh, gorgeous.”
They got together when making 1974’s The Godfather Part II and were on and off for years, but finally split in 1990.
She also had a brief fling with actor Warren Beatty, who she starred with in 1981 movie Reds.
I thought I wasn’t right for the part. I haven’t seen the film. I decided I would save myself the pain. I thought I looked terrible in those 40s clothes
Diane Keaton
Aged 50, she adopted daughter Dexter before taking on Duke five years later.
‘I’m an addict’
Keaton, who also starred in 1977’s Looking For Mr Goodbar and 1987’s Baby Boom, said: “I think I’m the only one in my generation and maybe before who has been a single woman all her life.
“I don’t think it would have been a good idea for me to have married, and I’m really glad I didn’t.
“I’m an oddball.”
She may have been an oddball, but she had a will to succeed, which she credited to her mum
In her 2012 memoir, she wrote: “I was an ordinary girl who became an ordinary woman, except with one exception: Mother gave me extraordinary will.
Diane out on a date night with Al Pacino in 1989
Diane stepping out with Warren Beatty
“It didn’t come free. But, then, life wasn’t a free ride for Mother either.”
Keaton was last seen in public at while shopping in Los Angeles.
Her last post was with her dog Reggie in April.
Sources said her health took a sharp turn in recent months, with one telling a US magazine that her family “chose to keep things very private” and some of her long-term friends “weren’t fully aware of what was happening.”
In March, she unexpectedly put her £21million “dream home” in Los Angeles up for sale, leaving those close to her surprised because she talked about living there permanently.
Keaton previously shared how she twice battled , a condition which ran in her family.
In 2015, she said: “I remember my auntie Martha had skin cancer so bad they removed her nose.
“My father had basal skin cancer and my brother had it.
All I did was feed my hunger, so I am an addict. It’s true. I’m an addict in recovery. I’ll always be an addict. I have an addictive nature to me
Diane Keaton
“It’s tricky with this skin cancer.
“That’s why you’ve got to put the sunblock on.
“Back in my 20s I didn’t pay attention much.
“I didn’t research and I didn’t really care and that was stupid because it’s dogged me my entire adult life, even recently.
“I didn’t even start sun care until my 40s.”
Keaton also suffered from throughout her life, brought on when she was offered the lead role in Hair in 1968 if she could lose 10lbs.
At the height of her battle, she says she ate 20,000 calories a day.
She was so body conscious that she refused to strip naked in Hair, turning down the pay bump worth around £1,000 now that the actors got if they disrobed.
Talking to American TV presenter Dr Oz in 2014, she said: “Typical dinner was a bucket of chicken, several orders of fries with blue cheese and ketchup, a couple of TV dinners, a quart of soda, pounds of candy, a whole cake and three banana cream pies.
There was, and will be, no one like you, I’m going to miss the hell out of you
Goldie Hawn
“All I did was feed my hunger, so I am an addict.
“It’s true.
“I’m an addict in recovery.
“I’ll always be an addict.
“I have an addictive nature to me.”
Despite her reclusive last few months, the actress had two projects on the go — a romantic comedy, The Making Of, which she was producing with , and a survival thriller named Constance, directed by Mark Pellington.
Following her death, tributes have poured in from Tinseltown’s elite.
, who starred alongside her in 1996 film Marvin’s Room, said: “Diane Keaton was one of a kind.
“Brilliant, funny, unapologetically herself.
“A legend, an icon and a truly kind human being.”
wrote: “I was very fond of her, and the news of her leaving us has taken me totally by surprise.
“She will be missed.
“May she rest in peace.”
Keaton proved that star power never faded when she stole comedic scenes in 1996 movie First Wives Club with and .
described Keaton as “brilliant, beautiful and extraordinary” on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Hawn wrote, “Diane, we aren’t ready to lose you” before adding that Keaton “never liked praise, so humble, but now you can’t tell me to ‘shut up’ honey”.
And she summed up the emotions of a generation of fans, stating: “There was, and will be, no one like you, I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”
Breathtaking range
By , Sun film critic
IN a time when the main roles for women were that of a wife, lover or mother of the actual lead (played by a man), Diane Keaton kicked through the walls built by Hollywood’s patriarchy… while wearing an androgynous power suit.
From comedy to tragedy, Keaton’s range was breathtaking. One of the first times I saw her on the big screen was as the long-suffering Kay Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy.
The way she grew and matured through those three films was like watching a doe-eyed girl turn into a woman-who-has-seen-too-much.
It was a beautiful, understated performance.
But it wasn’t just drama she shone in – her comic timing was exquisite.
Even playing the straight (wo)man to Steve Martin’s breakdown in Father of the Bride, she brought a cheeky glint and shone in a role that could well have just been bland and instantly forgettable.
Intriguingly beautiful, going from an indie-kid crush in Annie Hall to a glossy touch of Hollywood in First Wives Club, Keaton had the ability to switch from joyful laughter to contagious tears in seconds.
Her energy was unbeatable.
The big screen has lost a star that quite simply lit it up.
