“Hollywood icon Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning actress known for Annie Hall and The Godfather films, has passed away at 79. Entertainment journalist Johanna Schneller remembers her as feisty, funny, and relatable — a true everywoman. #DianeKeaton #HollywoodNews #BreakingNews”
00:00Now we have sad news from the world of entertainment.
00:02American media is reporting that legendary actress, director and producer Diane Keaton has died at the age of 79.
00:10Hi. Hi. Oh, hi. Hi.
00:16Keaton's career spanned some 100 film and television roles, including iconic performances in The Godfather and Annie Hall.
00:24She won an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of the irrepressible title character Annie in the 1977 movie.
00:32She would go on to be nominated three more times for her roles in Something's Gotta Give, Marvin's Room and Red's.
00:38Keaton also played the mother of the bride in the much loved remake of Father of the Bride and Steve Martin.
00:44Keaton, actually born Diane Hall, that's the last name of Annie Hall, began acting in high school and later trained in New York,
00:51where she launched her career in the original Broadway cast of Hair.
00:55She was never married and has adopted two children.
00:59For more on Diane Keaton's legacy, we've reached Johanna Schneller in Toronto.
01:03She's a columnist and entertainment journalist.
01:06Johanna, thank you so much for making time for us.
01:09Hi. Glad to be here.
01:09Look, when we learned the news of this, the American media reporting that Diane Keaton has died,
01:17I have to admit the first people that responded in the same way, we were all women.
01:22She really seemed to have a significance for female viewers and movie watchers.
01:28Tell me about what went through your mind when you first heard the news.
01:32Well, I knew Diane a little bit.
01:33I'd interviewed her three or four times for magazine stories and onstage interviews.
01:37I'd spent time at her house.
01:40And so I, long before I met her in real life, I felt like I knew her.
01:46I grew up watching her movies.
01:47She meant a lot.
01:49She meant a lot to me because her women were so singular.
01:52You know, they were like itchy, restless.
01:55They made mistakes.
01:56But they always spoke their minds.
01:58And then when I got to meet her in person, she just lived up to every single thing that I hoped she would be.
02:05I just love this.
02:06Anything more that you could share with us?
02:08I mean, I know that you occupy a very singular place in the Toronto world of entertainment columnists.
02:14You've interviewed people like her and Meryl Streep, who frankly don't give a lot of interviews.
02:19I mean, is she as people imagine she would be?
02:23Yeah, I mean, she was she was full of life.
02:26She was like champagne in human form.
02:29You know, she talked a mile a minute.
02:31You were her best friend the minute that you met her.
02:34Whenever I did a magazine story about her, everybody would call me back to tell me how much they loved her.
02:39That never happened.
02:41And she just was like such she was so effervescent.
02:45She was so delightful to spend time with.
02:47She asked as many questions as you asked of her.
02:51And she just was never a sort of she was always kind of unvarnished.
02:56She just looked like herself.
02:58She acted like herself.
02:59Her her homes were warm and full of life.
03:03She used to string a clothesline across her kitchens and she would clip up the art of her two children.
03:08And she had, you know, hilarious stories about her co-stars.
03:13She once told me a great story about when she was dating Warren Beatty and she was terrified of flying, terrified of flying.
03:20He once drove her to the airport.
03:22She was flying to New York from L.A.
03:24To her surprise, he walked her to the gate.
03:27And he actually got on the plane with her.
03:30He flew her the whole way to New York.
03:31He kissed her goodbye, turned around and flew back to L.A.
03:33And I think it's just it's not just a testament to him.
03:36It's a testament to how lovable she was.
03:40People just loved her.
03:42And I mean, it's interesting.
03:43You're bringing up that high profile relationship, of course, also a high profile relationship and a creative partnership with Woody Allen as well.
03:52But chose to never marry, very much chose to live life on her own terms, which is, of course, something that people see in so many of her characters.
04:00I have to ask you so many iconic roles at a time where we use that word probably too much, but it seems appropriate in this case.
04:08What's your favorite role of hers?
04:12Oh, it's hard to single out just one.
04:14I mean, I loved that her kind of foreplay was arguing with the men in on screen.
04:19So, you know, everything she did in Annie Hall, in Reds, there's a movie called Shoot the Moon that people don't talk about very often, but I think she's just exquisite in it.
04:28Um, she made you fall in love with her because she was so herself.
04:33She never pretended to be anybody else.
04:35And even when she was a great actress, there was always some kind of part of the essential Diane in there.
04:43And, and I think that was the most lovable part.
04:46She just, she was just scrappy and feisty and funny and, and in a strange way, you know, she was, she, she had an oddness to her, but she also managed to be a sort of every woman, uh, because she did make those mistakes.
05:01And she did, um, have so many visible, funny flaws.
05:05And I think that's what, what people really fell in love with her about, especially as you said, especially women.
05:11Yeah.
05:12And I was just a few weeks ago, I was rewatching Something's Gotta Give and thought that it was so delightful and was then shocked to find out that it came out almost 20 years ago.
05:20So, and how, as you said, you know, uh, that kind of arguing is foreplay, the banter between her and Jack Nicholson, so delightful to see people in their sixties in a way that's romantic and sexual, that's still very rare in, in rom-coms or in any kind of movies.
05:35Talk to me a little bit about her legacy.
05:37I mean, how do you think she's, it's really difficult, even for me, as I'm saying this, to, I'm using is instead of was, to, to believe that she's gone because she was so full of life.
05:46How do you think she's going to be remembered?
05:47You know, I don't think she set out to do this, but she managed to embody women at every generation and she brought her cohort along with her.
05:56So in, in the, in the 1970s, when she was in her thirties, she made a lot of movies about sort of single women struggling, the Annie Hall, Manhattan era.
06:06Um, later she portrayed sort of married women, uh, and women who were becoming parents in movies like Baby Boom.
06:13Um, um, in First Wives Club, she was in her fifties when her husband dumped her for a younger model.
06:18And then at 57, she falls in love again and something's got to give, uh, toward the end of her career, she played women who you could not keep down in the Father of the Bride movies, in the book club movies.
06:29Um, so I think what was so, so interesting about her was that she was kind of living out the concerns of her generation as that generation grew and aged and she brought people along with her.
06:40And I think that is how she's going to be remembered.
06:44I think she was very much a woman of her time, um, and also a woman really ahead of her time.
06:49And, um, I, I, there was just nobody else like her.
06:53And as we're watching these photos of her, of course, wearing some of her iconic style as well, the pantsuits, the ties, I have a feeling a lot of my colleagues are going to be paying homage to her in the days to come.
07:07Johanna, thank you so much for sharing your memories of her as both a journalist and someone who has met her.
07:13Thank you very much.
07:16Really nice to talk to you.
07:17That was columnist and entertainment journalist Johanna Schneller.
Be the first to comment