Diane Keaton exes Woody Allen and Al Pacino pay tribute
Diane Keaton, the beloved star of Annie Hall, The Godfather and The First Wives Club, attracted audiences as much as her many Hollywood friends. A lot seems to still be true for former lovers Woody Allen and Al Pacino, whose high-profile romances with the Los Angeles native are back in the spotlight in the wake of her death over the weekend.
“Her face and her laugh would light up any space she entered,” said Allen, Keaton’s director and co-star in “Annie Hall.” books Sunday.
The acclaimed and controversial director recalled his dating relationship with Keaton to the Free Press, recalling how they first met in Manhattan in the late 1960s for his stage production of “Play It Again, Sam.” He explained that Allen’s first impression of the eventual Oscar winner was as if “Huckleberry Finn” was a stunningly beautiful young woman.
“The result was that she was so charming, so beautiful, so enchanting, that I doubted my sanity. I thought: Could I possibly fall in love so quickly?” He wrote, and later described their evolution from collaborators to romantic partners.
Keaton and Allen collaborated on eight films, also including “Stardust Memories,” “Sleeper” and “Love and Death.” The 89-year-old director wrote that he “made films for an audience of one, Diane Keaton,” and expressed great appreciation for her opinions on his work. While Allen praised Keaton’s radiant personality (“She had a million laughs to be around”), he recalled learning about her struggle with bulimia and spending Thanksgiving with her family in Orange County.
“Why we parted ways only between God and Freud, we may perhaps be able to find out,” Allen wrote.
Pacino, who shared the screen with Keaton in three “Godfather” films and dated Keaton throughout the 1970s and 1980s, also reflects on what could have been. “Looking back, Al admits that the love of his life was Diane whom he always called an ‘amazing woman,’” a source close to the 85-year-old actor said. He told the Daily Mail.
The source added: “I know he will forever regret that he didn’t take this step when he had the chance.” For years after his breakup with Diane, Al used to say, “If this is meant to be, it’s never too late to get things back to normal. But unfortunately, it has happened now.”
After news of Keaton’s death broke on Saturday, stars including Bette Midler, Steve Martin, Viola Davis and Kate Hudson paid tribute on social media. “What I saw was who she was,” Midler said of her “First Wives Club” co-star. Keaton never married, and left behind two adopted children, Duke and Dexter Keaton.
Allen concluded his article emphasizing the significance of Keaton’s death: “A few days ago the world was a Diane Keaton world. Now it’s a world that doesn’t have him. And so it’s a bleaker world.”
“There are still her films,” he wrote. “Her great laugh still echoes in my head.”