Born January 5, 1946 in Los Angeles, California to an amateur photographer mother and a civil engineer and real estate broker father, Diane Hall was the eldest of four children.
After graduating from Santa Ana High School in 1963, she attended Santa Ana and Orange Coast colleges studying acting before moving to New York where she was unable to join Actors Equity under her real name as there was already an actress with that name, so she used her mother’s maiden name of Keaton.
Keaton made her Broadway debut as an understudy and later replacement for Lynn Kellogg as Sheila in Hair in 1968 in which she sang “Easy to Be Hard”. Her second Broadway role was in 1969’s Play It Again, Sam opposite Woody Allen, for which she was nominated for a Tony. She made her film debut in 1970’s Lovers and Other Strangers as Richard Castellano and Bea Arthur’s daughter-in-law.
After appearing in several TV shows, Keaton was back on the big screen to stay as Al Pacino’s girlfriend who becomes his wife in 1972’s Best Picture Oscar winner, The Godfather. That same year, she starred opposite Woody Allen in the film version of Play It Again, Sam. The following year starred opposite Allen again in Sleeper. In 1974, she reprised her role opposite Pacino in that year’s Oscar winner, The Godfather Part II and in 1975, she was back opposite Allen in Love and Death.
After a couple of forgotten 1976 films, Keaton starred opposite Allen in their best-remembered collaboration, Annie Hall which became her third Best Picture Oscar winner and the first for which she was herself nominated, winning for essentially playing herself. The same year she starred in Looking for Mr. Goodbar for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe- Drama while winning a Golden Globe – Comedy for Annie Hall. In 1978, she was part of Allen’s ensemble cast in hie first dramatic film, Interiors, and in 1979, she was one of three women in Allen’s life in Manhattan.
The others were Meryl Streep and Oscar nominee Mariel Hemingway.
Keaton received a second Oscar nomination for 1981’s Reds opposite Warren Beatty and in 1982 starred opposite Albert Finney in Shoot the Moon. Subsequent 1980s successes included The Little Drummer Girl, Mrs. Soffel opposite Mel Gibson, Crimes of the Heart, Radio Days, Baby Boom, and The Good Mother. Her 1990s successes included The Godfather Part III, Father of the Bride, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The First Wives Club, and Marvin’s Room for which she received her third Oscar nomination.
Keaton made headlines in her personal life when she adopted two children in her 50s, a daughter in 1996, and a son in 2001.
In 2003, Keaton received her fourth and final Oscar nomination for Something’s Gotta Give in which she starred opposite Jack Nicolson. In 2005, she stood out in the ensemble cast of The Family Stone for which she received a Golden Globe nomination but failed to pick up a fifth Oscar nomination.
Keaton’s best late career performance was opposite Morgan Freeman in 2014’s Five Flights Up, but her most successful film at the box office was 2018’s Book Club.
Given an AFI Life Achievement award in 2017, Diane Keaton died unexpectedly on October 11, 2025 at 79.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
ANNIE HALL (1977), directed by Woody Allen
Nominated for 5 Oscars and winner of 4 including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay (Allen), and Actress (Keaton), Allen’s seminal film is basically about himself even though it’s titled for Keaton’s character, a former girlfriend that he loves and leaves. Keaton is basically playing her lovable self here to iconic effect. La di da, la di da. The film’s cast also includes Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Janet Margolin, Christopher Walken, Sigourney Weaver, and Dick Cavett and Mashall McLuhan as themselves. The film famously won its Best Picture Oscar over box-office giant, Star Wars.
LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR (1977), directed by Richard Brooks
Nominated for 2 Oscars for Best Supporting Actress (Tuesday Weld) and Cinematography (William Fraker), Keaton was nominated for a Golden Globe – Drama for her performance but lost to Jane Fonda in Julia while winning Best Actress – Comedy in a tie with Marsha Mason in The Goodbye Girl. Based on a true New York story, Goodbar suffers from being filmed in an unnamed city (part Chicago, part Los Angeles) but soars dramatically thanks to Keaton, Weld as her sister, Richard Kiley as her tyrannical father, and William Atherton, Richard Gere, and Tom Berenger as three of the men in her life.
MARVIN’S ROOM (1982), directed by Jerry Zaks
The Golden Globes nominated Meryl Streep for Best Actress, but the Screen Actos Guild nominated Keaton as her sister instead as well as Gwen Verdon as their aunt in support and cast members Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio (as Streep’s son), Keaton, Robert De Niro, Hume Cronyn as the dying paterfamilias of the title, Verdon, Hal Scardino, and Dan Hedeya for Best Cast. Oscar singled out Keaton for the film’s sole nomination, which she richly deserved. Though the entire cast is fine, it really is Keaton’s film as the middle-aged woman who spent her entire life taking care of other people, notably her father and dotty aunt.
SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE (2003, directed by Nancy Meyers
Although the Golden Globes nominated Jack Nicholson for Best Actor, most awards bodies including Oscar just nominated Keaton who won a number of those awards but lost the Oscar to Charlize Theron in Monster. Writer-Director Meyers’ savvy take on middle-age romance gave Keaton the best comedic role of her career since Annie Hall. As in that film, she is basically playing herself, but a much more mature version of herself in every way. Nicholson is basically playing himself as well, and there is fine support form Keanu Reeves as the younger man, a doctor, that Keaton is dating, and Frances McDormand as Keaton’s sister.
THE FAMILY STONE (2005), directed by Thomas Bezucha
Sarah Jessica Parker had the lead as the fish out of water girlfriend of Dermot Mulroney who accompanies him to his family’s annual Christmas get-together where Keaton shines brightest of all as Mulroney’s mother. Other standouts include Craig T. Nelson as Mulroney’s father, and Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson, and Ty Giordano as his siblings, and Claire Danes as Parker’s sister. The Globes singled out Parker for a nomination for Best Actress while ignoring the rest of the cast, but the Satellites nominated Keaton, McAdams, and Nelson. The New York Film Critics nominated Keaton but gave their award to Maria Bello in A History of Violence.
DIANE KEATON AND OSCAR
Annie Hall (1977) – Oscar – Best Actress
Reds (1981) – nominated – Best Actress
Marvin’s Room (1996) – nominated – Best Actress
Something’s Gotta Give (2003) – nominated – Best Actress
