On this date in 1946, actress Diane Keaton, formerly Diane Hall, was born in Los Angeles. She changed her last name to Keaton, her mother’s maiden name, in 1968 when she got her union card and discovered there was already an actress registered under the name Diane Hall. The eldest of four siblings born to Dorothy and John “Jack” Hall, she was raised as a Free Methodist and attended Sunday school classes taught by her mother. Her father was a real estate broker and civil engineer who was born into a Catholic family.
Jack Hall was less interested in religion than he was in self improvement and exposed his children to clergyman Norman Vincent Peale’s “The Power of Positive Thinking” and Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” according to Keaton. “Dad was attracted to imposters, swindlers, and frauds.” (The Guardian, Nov. 20, 2011)
“I was always pretty religious as a kid, but I had trouble with Jesus early on because I couldn’t understand that there was a son of God here on earth. I was primarily interested in religion because I wanted to go to heaven,” Keaton said.
A Vanity Fair interview in 1987 called her “remarkably free of superstition, idolatry, and fear of blasphemy.” Asked if she believed in reincarnation, Keaton replied, “Utter nonsense.” Her own definition of heaven, she said, was “Staying alive as long as I can in good health, and with a good attitude.”
After graduating from Santa Ana High School, she briefly attended college to study acting and then moved to New York City to pursue an entertainment career. She won an understudy role in the original Broadway production of “Hair” in 1968 and after nine months successfully auditioned for a part in Woody Allen’s stage production of “Play It Again, Sam” despite being 2 inches taller at 5 foot 8 than Allen.
She made her film debut in “Lovers and Other Strangers” (1970) with her breakout role two years later as Kay Adams, the wife of Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather.” She reprised the role in “The Godfather Part II” (1974).
Keaton credited Katharine Hepburn, whom she admired for playing strong and independent women, as a major inspiration. She made over 20 films in the 1970s and 1980s and received the first two of her four Oscar nominations, winning Best Actress in 1977 for Allen’s “Annie Hall,” one of her most famous roles. She collaborated eight times with Allen, the last time on “Manhattan Murder Mystery” in 1993.
They were also in a romantic relationship from about 1968 to 1974. She was also romantically linked to Pacino and Warren Beatty, her director and co-star in “Reds” (1981). She never married but adopted two children when she was in her 50s: a daughter, Dexter, and a son, Duke. Dexter was born in 1995 and adopted in 1996. Duke was born in 2000 and adopted in 2001.
Keaton continued to perform well into her 70s in numerous film, television and voice roles. Her last movie was “Summer Camp” in 2024. She died at age 79 of bacterial pneumonia in Santa Monica, Calif., and was cremated three days later. (D. 2025)
PHOTO: Keaton in 2011; photo by Firooz Zahedi under CC 3.0.
