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Annie Hall is being honored by Woody Allen. The director wrote a heartfelt ode to the Oscar-winning actress, whom he dated from 1969 to 1972, after Diane Keaton passed away on October 11 at the age of 79.
Allen wrote, "It's grammatically incorrect to say 'most unique,' but all rules of grammar, and I guess anything else, are suspended when talking about Diane Keaton," in an essay that appeared in The Free Press on October 12. "Unlike anyone the planet has experienced or is unlikely to ever see again, her face and laugh illuminated any space she entered."
Before Keaton's 1969 Broadway production of Play It Again, Sam, the Annie Hall director remembered meeting him.
"I first laid eyes on her lanky beauty at an audition," he wrote, "and thought, 'If Huckleberry Finn was a gorgeous young woman, he'd be Keaton.'"
Allen, who played opposite Keaton in both the play and the 1972 movie adaptation, acknowledged that it took more than a week for them to communicate, even though they were close. He stated, "She was shy, I was shy, and with two shy people things can get pretty dull."
But after rehearsal, the two finally went out to dinner, and he was completely enamored.
The 89-year-old wrote, "The end result is that she was so charming, so beautiful, so magical, that I questioned my sanity." "I thought, could I be in love so quickly?"
Keaton, who starred in eight of Allen's 50 films, including Sleeper, Manhattan, and Love and Death, had become his sounding board as their relationship grew.
"Over time, I produced films for a single audience, Diane Keaton," he shared. "I never read a single review of my work and cared only what Keaton had to say about it. If she liked it, I counted the film as an artistic success."
He praised her perspective on art, her daring fashion sense, and her love for life.
"She had huge talent for comedies and drama, but she could also dance and sing with feeling," Allen wrote. "She also wrote books and did photography, made collages, decorated homes, and directed films. Finally, she was a million laughs to be around."
"A few days ago, the world was a place that included Diane Keaton," he concluded. "Now it's a world that does not. Hence, it's a drearier world. Still, there are her movies. And her great laugh still echoes in my head."
Diane remained one of Allen's closest friends, despite the fact that he had become a divisive figure in Hollywood after his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of his ex-wife Mia Farrow.
Keaton defended Allen in 2018 when he was accused of sexually abusing his and Farrow's daughter Dylan Farrow. Allen married Previn in 1997 while still dating Farrow.
In that moment, she posted on Twitter, "Woody Allen is my friend, and I continue to believe him."
