Diane Keaton was born as Diane Hall on January 5, 1946 in Los Angeles, California. Her mother won the Mrs. Los Angeles pageant & the theatricality of the event inspired her first desires to become an actress & ultimately the desire to work on stage. Keaton also credited Katherine Hepburn, who played strong & independent women, as one of her inspirations.
Upon joining the Actors' Equity Association, she changed her surname to Keaton, which was her mother's maiden name, as there was already an actress registered as Diane Hall. For a brief time, Keaton also moonlighted at nightclubs with a singing act. Keaton then began studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Jack Nicholson described Keaton's acting as: "She approaches a script sort of like a play, in that she has the entire script memorized before you start doing the movie, which I don't know any other actors doing that."
She appears to have made good on the inspiration, having a career that spanned from 1970 through 2024. Keaton appeared in all three Godfather movies - The Godfather, the Godfather Part II, & the Godfather Part III. She also worked with Woody Allen on multiple projects - Play It Again, Sam; Annie Hall; Manhattan; & Manhattan Murder Mystery. Keaton has been in straight comedy (First Wives Club; The Family Stone; Smother; Morning Glory; Darling Companion; The Big Wedding; And So It Goes; Love the Coopers; & both Book Club and Book Club 2: The Next Chapter), as well as rom-coms (Baby Boom; Father of the Bride & Father of the Bride II; The Other Sister; Something's Gotta Give; Because I Said So; & Love, Weddings, and Other Disasters).
Keaton won an Academy Award & a Golden Globe for Annie Hall. She also received Academy Award nominations for Something's Gotta Give & Marvin's Room. Keaton did win a Primetime Emmy for her performance in Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight.
In addition to her film work, Keaton pursued an interest in photography. She told Vanity Fair in 1987: "I have amassed a huge library of images - kissing scenes from movies, pictures I like. Visual things are really key for me." She was also active in campaigns with the Los Angeles Conservancy to save & restore historic buildings. Among the buildings that she campaigned for is the Ennis House in Hollywood Hills, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Another building that Keaton campaigned for was the Ambassador Hotel, which is where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, but ultimately this campaign was unsuccessful.
Along the way, Keaton also wrote several books: Then Again, Brother & Sister, Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty, Fashion First, & The House That Pinterest Built.
Diane Keaton passed away on October 11, 2025, after a rapid decline in health. Feel free to pick up anything mentioned above from the Quincy Public Library or talk to one of the librarians & we will happily help to put in hold requests.