Woody Allen Pays Tribute To “Magical” Diane Keaton

Woody Allen has published a tribute to his long-time collaborator Diane Keaton, who died Saturday, in The Free Press. 

Allen begins the piece by describing Keaton as “most unique,” before adding that the late actress was “unlike anyone the planet has experienced or is unlikely to ever see again.” 

“Her face and laugh illuminated any space she entered,” Allen wrote.

Allen recalls meeting Keaton for the first time while auditioning actresses at the old Morosco Theatre for his play Play It Again, alongside the producer David Merrick.

“She came in and read for us and knocked us both for a loop. A small glitch was that she appeared to be taller than me, and we didn’t want that to figure in the jokes,” Allen wrote. “Like two schoolkids, we stood back-to-back on the stage of the Morosco and measured. Fortunately, we were the same height, and Merrick hired her.” 

Allen continued to write that he and Keaton quickly began a close relationship that tied both their personal and professional lives together. 

“As time went on, I made movies for an audience of one, Diane Keaton. I never read a single review of my work and cared only what Keaton had to say about it. If she liked it, I counted the film as an artistic success,” he wrote. “If she was less than enthusiastic, I tried to use her criticism to reedit and come away with something she felt better about.” 

The article reveals several unique insights into the pair’s relationship as well as their early years together as artists on the come-up: “An interesting point: For all her genius and insight into theater and art (she collected paintings and was an early proponent of Cy Twombly),” Allen wrote, “Diane Keaton was a hick, a rube, a hayseed. I should’ve realized it from the start. When I first dated her, I would look into her eyes over candlelight and tell her how beautiful she was. She would stare back and say, ‘Honest Injun?’ Honest Injun? Who speaks like that unless you’re in an Our Gang comedy?”

The Annie Hall filmmaker ended the article on a somber note: “A few days ago, the world was a place that included Diane Keaton. Now it’s a world that does not. Hence, it’s a drearier world. Still, there are her movies. And her great laugh still echoes in my head.” 

Keaton starred in eight Allen movies. She is perhaps best remembered for her dynamic turn in Allen’s 1977 masterwork Annie Hall, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress. Keaton’s family revealed that she died in California on Saturday, but no other details have yet been revealed. 

Born Diane Hall on Jan. 5, 1946, in Los Angeles, Keaton moved to New York to pursue an entertainment career, studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and making her Broadway debut in Hair.

Outside of acting and filmmaking, Keaton was a talented writer, photographer, and singer, publishing the photo books Reservations (1980) and Saved (2022).

She is survived by her two children.