Diane Keaton dead: Godfather and First Wives Club actress dies at the age of 79

Actress Diane Keaton has died at the age of 79, her family have confirmed.

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Diane's loved ones shared that she had died in California, as a spokesperson asked for privacy as the family navigate their grief.

The Oscar-winning actress was best known for her work in films like The Godfather, Annie Hall, The First Wives Club and Something's Got To Give. Keaton also worked with director Nancy Meyers multiple times on projects like the Book Club series.

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She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including an Oscar, a BAFTA, Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.

The late actress was romantically involved with Hollywood stars like Woody Allen, her Godfather co-star Al Pacino and Warren Beatty.

She never married but became a mother at the age of 50 when she adopted two children. She said of becoming a parent after the death of her father: "Motherhood has completely changed me. It's just about like the most completely humbling experience that I've ever had."

Speaking about her decision to never walk down the aisle, Keaton told PEOPLE in 2019: "Today I was thinking, I'm the only one in my generation of actresses who has been a single woman all her life.

"I'm really glad I didn't get married. I'm an oddball. I remember in high school, this guy came up to me and said, 'One day you're going to make a good wife.' And I thought, 'I don't want to be a wife. No'."

The actress shot to fame in the 1970s with her role as Kay Adams in The Godfather trilogy, as well as her collaborations with Woody Allen.

She won an Oscar for Allen’s influential film Annie Hall and became associated with the title character’s menswear-centric wardrobe. She was nominated for Oscars for her roles in Something’s Gotta Give, Marvin’s Room and Reds.

Her film debut was in 1970’s Lovers and Other Strangers but her big break came in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, as the girlfriend of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone, in 1972. She reprised her role in 1974’s The Godfather Part II and also for 1990’s The Godfather Part III.

Much of her career was defined by her many collaborations with Allen, her one-time boyfriend, and Annie Hall was the signature character of her career to many of her fans.

People speculated that the movie was based on Keaton and Allen’s relationship and Keaton told told The New York Times in 1977: “It’s not true, but there are elements of truth in it.”

Other collaborations with Allen included Manhattan, Sleeper, Manhattan Murder Mystery, and Play It Again, Sam. She remained supporter of Allen after the accusation by Mia Farrow that he had abused their adopted daughter, Dylan.

Keaton also frequently worked with Nancy Meyers, starting with 1987’s Baby Boom. Their other films together included 1991’s Father of the Bride and its 1995 sequel, as well as 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give.

In 1996 she starred opposite Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler in The First Wives Club, about three women whose husbands had left them for younger women. More recently she collaborated with Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen on the Book Club films.

Broadcaster Piers Morgan was one of the first to pay tribute to Keaton as news of her death broke on Saturday night. The former Good Morning Britain presenter told his Twitter (X) followers: "RIP Diane Keaton, 79. Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall, brilliant in the Godfather and Father of the Bride movies. One of Hollywood’s greatest actresses, and a delightful lady. Sad news."

Bette Midler, who starred alongside Keaton in the 1996 comedy-drama The First Wives Club, also paid tribute to her late friend. Captioning a collection of snaps of herself and Keaton, Midler told her Instagram followers: "The brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary Diane Keaton has died.

"I cannot tell you how unbearably sad this makes me. She was hilarious, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star. What you saw was who she was…oh, la, lala!"

In 2024, Keaton opened up about battling an eating disorder, recalling how she binged on 20,000 calories a day while suffering with bulimia.

The Father of the Bride star secretly battled with the eating disorder while in her twenties. Opening up on an episode of The Dr Oz Show, she said a typical dinner would consist of "a bucket of fried chicken, several orders of fries with blue cheese and ketchup, a couple of TV dinners, a quart of soda, pounds of candy, a whole cake, and three banana cream pies".

Keaton said: "It was horrible. It was, of course, the lowest point in my life. "I was a fat person, I was an obese person, who had somehow tricked myself and managed to hide it. So when you're living with a lie for four years, think about what that does to you. "All I did was feed my hunger, and I am an addict. It's true. I'm an addict in recovery, I'll always be an addict. I have an addictive nature to me."

The Oscar winner, who has a long list of blockbuster films under her belt including The Godfather, previously said her eating disorder began in 1968 when she was asked to lose weight for Broadway show Hair.

She visited a therapist for a number of years but it was a whole 12 months before she admitted her bulimia. She said: "One day I stopped, and I never ever did it again." The late actress first revealed her battle with bulimia in a memoir released in 2011.

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