Diane Keaton never really played the part of glamorous movie star. She was in iconic films and she dated some of the biggest stars of her generation, and yet she somehow remained other and defiantly herself despite so many years working in the Hollywood system. Eccentric and approachable, with a sort of effervescent charm, it’s no surprise that she played muse to so many, from Woody Allen to Nancy Meyers.
People often describe her as self-deprecating, as if it was a choice and not a product of deep-seated insecurity. Keaton was someone who thought herself ugly, who battled eating disorders and who never seemed to give herself enough credit for her successes. But she was also able to channel that into her performances spanning five decades unlike none other.
There are so many Keaton films worth noting, including her full run with Allen. There are the Instagram favorites like “The First Wives Club”, nostalgic classics like “Father of the Bride” and dramatic turns in “Marvin’s Room” and “Shoot the Moon”.
Here are six essential roles to get you started.
“The Godfather” (1972) Kay Adams, the future Mrs. Corleone, could have been a wallpaper role. But Keaton, in her breakout role, held the screen next to her flashier counterparts. She was the wife who had something going on behind her eyes, who could hold the screen in the chilling final shot of the first film. Social media doesn’t often produce anything worthwhile, but in 2023 Francis Ford Coppola and Keaton had an exchange on an Instagram story “ask me anything” session. She wondered why he picked her.
“I chose you, because although you were to play the more straight/vanilla wife, there was something more about you, deeper, funnier, and very interesting. (I was right),” Coppola wrote.
“Annie Hall” (1977) “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” where to even begin with “Annie Hall?” It is the quintessential Keaton role, a love-letter to her quirks, eccentricities, insecurities and charm all wrapped up in this fictional tie-wearing WASP from Chippewa Falls.
Allen encouraged her to wear what she wanted to wear, and so she assembled her iconic outfit — khaki pants, vest, tie — from “cool-looking women on the streets of New York.” The hat was lifted from actor Aurore Clement.
“No one had any serious expectations. We were just having a good time moving through New York’s landmark locations,” she wrote in her memoir. “As always, Woody concerned himself with worries about the script. Was it too much like an episode of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’? I told him he was nuts. Relax.”
“Looking for Mr. Goodbar” (1977) Keaton’s OTHER great film from 1977 drifted into cult classic status as it wasn’t released on home video or DVD and has only recently been made available on digital platforms. The part of Theresa Dunn makes Annie Hall look like a nun. With her Catholic upbringing and “good girl” job teaching deaf children by day, at night Theresa cruises bars looking for men to hook up with — the more dangerous (like Richard Gere’s character) the better.
“Reds” (1981) Warren Beatty directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in this historical epic about the journalists documenting the Bolshevik Revolution alongside Keaton, playing journalist and activist Louise Bryant. They were dating by the time they started making the film and their relationship curdled during production.
“Everyone knew I didn’t take well to Warren’s direction,” she wrote in her memoir. “It was impossible to work with a perfectionist who shot 40 takes per setup. Sometimes it felt like I was being stun-gunned. Even now I can’t say my performance is my own. It was more like a reaction to Warren — that’s what it was: a response to the effect of Warren Beatty.”
“Baby Boom” (1987) In this comedy from Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, Keaton plays a Manhattan yuppie who unexpectedly inherits a 14-month-old and begins to reassess her life, eventually moving to Vermont where she meets a veterinarian played by peak handsome Sam Shepard. An ahead-of-its-time commentary on the have-it-all discourse of the next 30 years, Roger Ebert wrote at the time that “’Baby Boom’ makes no effort to show us real life. It is a fantasy about mothers and babies and sweetness and love, with just enough wicked comedy to give it an edge.”
“Something’s Gotta Give” (2003) Oh Erica Barry and her fabulous Hamptons home and ivory turtleneck sweaters. This was purely the brainchild of Meyers, the writer-director who had the glorious idea to make a 50-something woman the object of desire in a mainstream romantic comedy. Keaton plays this brilliant playwright who catches the eye of both an older playboy (Jack Nicholson) with a proclivity for much younger women and a young, handsome doctor (Keanu Reeves). Keaton has called it her favorite movie, in part because she got to kiss Nicholson (who she had acted alongside before, in “Reds”) “because it was so unexpected at age 57.”
