Diane Keaton, the Academy Award-winning Annie Hall actress who had Hollywood in her hands with that first “la-di-da,” has died at 79, according to People. Per a family spokesperson, her loved ones have stated no further details will be shared at this time. She is survived by her two children.
In 1978, The New Yorker wrote that Keaton was “one of the most comedically pure and brainy actresses in our midst”. It was the same year she scooped an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for her performance as the anxious title lead in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Time magazine had called her “the funniest woman now working in films” the previous year, and Rolling Stone defined Diane Keaton as “The Next Hepburn” on its cover.
Known for a film repertoire that roamed from The Godfather (1972) and Manhattan (1979) to Baby Boom (1987), Keaton also cut a sartorial dash in fashion, with her penchant for bowler hats, bow ties and berets. In belts and brogues, peplums and pearls, and heels and heavy white socks, California-born Keaton trailblazed an androgynous aesthetic into the mainstream. “Annie’s style was Diane’s style—very eclectic,” designer Ralph Lauren told Vogue in 1978. Her costumes were peppered with patterned ties and waistcoats, oversized jackets and vests, floppy men’s hats and cowboy boots. “We shared a sensibility, but she had a style that was all her own. Annie Hall was pure Diane Keaton.” The film’s costume designer Ruth Morley told Vogue at the time: “Now people tell me that all the girls in London and Paris are turned out like Annie Hall… It’s crazy, it’s practically become a household word!”
Keaton accepted her Academy Award in signature style—a taupe blazer pinned with a pink carnation, a swaggeringly long skirt and clumpy ankle boots. She earned three more Best Actress Oscar nominations for Reds (1981), Marvin’s Room (1996) and Something’s Gotta Give (2003), for which she scooped a Golden Globe. Her performance as feminist Louise Bryant in Reds was feted as “nothing less than splendid” by The New York Times.
A face of L’Oréal since 2006, Keaton was a family favourite in Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride Part II (1995) and The First Wives Club (1996). She later starred in The Family Stone (2005), Hampstead (2017), Book Club (2018) and voiced Dory’s goldfish mother in Finding Dory (2016). She directed Unstrung Heroes (1995), Hanging Up (2000), starring Lisa Kudrow and Meg Ryan, an episode of Twin Peaks (1991) and music videos including Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 hit Heaven Is a Place on Earth.