On any given day, Diane Keaton is definitely in my Top 5 Favorite Actresses.
Of course, the titles that immediately follow her name are Annie Hall, and The Godfather Trilogy. Those films certainly encapsulate her ability to seamlessly segue between quirky, even surreal comedy and searing dramatic performances (especially in The Godfather Part 2). Love and Death, Manhattan, Play It Again, Sam, Marvin’s Room. Even her small, nameless cameo in Radio Days (my favorite Woody Allen film) leaves a warm impression.
The “quirkdorkable” girl character has been run into the ground, but Keaton was the original. The warm, almost self-conscious smile, the light, sort of ditzy laugh, and the mismatched, tomboyish fashion blended into a charm that she never quite lost. I liked older Diane Keaton just fine, but young Diane Keaton – oh, she was magic. Pretty, but not inhumanly gorgeous. You couldn’t imagine meeting Charlize Theron on the street, but you could easily imagine meeting a girl like Keaton – and would probably prefer to.
Just watch her 1973 interview with Johnny Carson.
Diane Keaton on Johnny Carson + Sings “You Made Me Love You” (1973)
She always had class. Whatever her personal politics may have been, I never saw her spewing out hate and vitriol like so much of current Hollywood. Her Twitter posts were always surprisingly positive. And she never seemed to care about political correctness, standing by her friend Woody Allen when it was decidedly not the popular thing.
Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him. It might be of interest to take a look at the 60 Minute interview from 1992 and see what you think. https://t.co/QVQIUxImB1
— Diane Keaton (@Diane_Keaton) January 29, 2018
Some people you just like, because you know that, with them, what you see is what you get. Diane Keaton was like that. She will be missed at the movies.
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English (US) · 