Diane Keaton (1946-2025): ‘She Was Funny Right Until the End’

THE OSCAR WINNER STOOD OUT IN HOLLYWOOD WITH HER UNFILTERED WIT AND QUIRKY CHARM—AND HAD ZERO INTEREST IN BEING ANYTHING BUT HERSELF

- JULIE JORDAN,GILLIAN TELLING,BREANNE L. HELDMAN,SARAH JONES,ELIZABETH ROSNER

A True Original "I don't know what playing a character means," said Keaton (in 1975 and, opposite, in 2010). "What I really do is the best I can do with me."

Always a nervous flier, Diane Keaton was a big fan of road trips. The actress and architecture aficionado (she flipped houses for years) would regularly drive round-trip from Los Angeles to Tucson in a day and stop to take photos of different styles of homes. She’d also chat up anyone she met. “[If] I don’t have my hat on, which seems to identify me, people treat me like a regular person,” she told People in 2017. Describing herself as a “greeter,” Keaton was unfailingly kind to fans. “Life is difficult as it is. Let’s just be friendly,” she added. “We’re lucky we’re here.”

It was an edict Keaton always lived by. Quirky, candid and delightfully unpredictable, the Oscar winner, bestselling author and unexpected style icon embodied a star power built on authenticity rather than perfection. Onscreen she was a kooky muse: to ’70s sophisticates in Annie Hall, moms in the Father of the Bride movies, vibrant women of a certain age in The First Wives Club and Something’s Gotta Give. Offscreen she had a passion for home renovation, gloves, wide-brimmed hats and golden retrievers. Never married (despite dating “unattainable greats,” as she called her high-profile beaus), the actress found the true loves of her life when she became a mom in her 50s, adopting daughter Dexter, now 29, and son Duke, 25. Asked shortly after she turned 60 how she felt about the milestone, Keaton was clearly grateful. “You’re very definitely reaching a new phase in your life,” she said. “I love being alive and moderately healthy. You just go, ‘Okay. All right. Moving on.’”