Author Bio
• Birth—January 5, 1946
• Where—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Education—Santa College and Orange College (no degrees)
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970. Her first major film role was as Kay Adams-Corleone in The Godfather (1972), but the films that shaped her early career were those with director and co-star Woody Allen, beginning with Play It Again, Sam in 1972. Her next two films with Allen, Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975), established her as a comic actor. Her fourth, Annie Hall (1977), won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Keaton subsequently expanded her range to avoid becoming typecast as her Annie Hall persona. She became an accomplished dramatic performer, starring in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and received Academy Award nominations for Reds (1981) and Marvin's Room (1996). Some of her popular later films include Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991), The First Wives Club (1996), Something's Gotta Give (2003), and The Family Stone (2005). Keaton's films have earned a cumulative gross of over US$1.1 billion in North America.[1] In addition to acting, she is also a photographer, real estate developer, author, and occasional singer.
Background
Keaton was born as Diane Hall in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Dorothy Deanne (née Keaton; 1921–2008), was a homemaker and amateur photographer; her father, John Newton Ignatius "Jack" Hall (1921–1990), was a real estate broker and civil engineer. Her father, from Nebraska, came from an Irish-American Catholic background, and her mother, originally from Kansas, came from a Methodist family, and had English, German, and more distant Austrian, ancestry.
Keaton was raised a Free Methodist by her mother. Her mother won the "Mrs. Los Angeles" pageant for homemakers; Keaton has said that the theatricality of the event inspired her first impulse to be an actress, and led to her wanting to work on stage. She has also credited Katharine Hepburn, whom she admires for playing strong and independent women, as one of her inspirations.
Keaton is a 1963 graduate of Santa Ana High School in Santa Ana, California. During her time there, she participated in singing and acting clubs at school, and starred as Blanche DuBois in a school production of A Streetcar Named Desire. After graduation, she attended Santa Ana College, and later Orange Coast College as an acting student, but dropped out after a year to pursue an entertainment career in Manhattan.
Upon joining the Actors' Equity Association, she adopted the surname of Keaton, her mother's maiden name, as there was already a registered Diane Hall. For a brief time, she also moonlighted at nightclubs with a singing act. She would later revisit her nightclub act in Annie Hall (1977) and a cameo in Radio Days (1987).
Early career
Keaton began studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. She initially studied acting under the Meisner technique, an ensemble acting technique first evolved in the 1930s by Sanford Meisner, a New York stage actor/acting coach/director who had been a member of The Group Theater (1931–1940). She has described her acting technique as...
[being] only as good as the person you're acting with.... As opposed to going it on my own and forging my path to create a wonderful performance without the help of anyone. I always need the help of everyone!
According to her Reds co-star Warren Beatty, "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.
In 1968, Keaton became an understudy to Sheila in the original Broadway production of Hair. She gained some notoriety for her refusal to disrobe at the end of Act I when the cast performs nude, even though nudity in the production was optional for actors (Those who performed nude received a $50 bonus). After acting in Hair for nine months, she auditioned for a part in Woody Allen's production of Play It Again, Sam. After nearly being passed over for being too tall (at 5 ft 8 in./1.73 m she is two inches/5 cm taller than Allen), she won the part. The rest is history.
Personal life
Keaton has had several romantic associations with noted entertainment industry personalities starting with her time with the Broadway production of Play It Again, Sam when she auditioned for director Woody Allen. Their association became personal following a dinner after a late night rehearsal. It was her sense of humor that attracted Allen. They briefly lived together during the Broadway production but by the time of the film release of the same name in 1972 their living arrangements became informal. They worked together on eight films between 1971 and 1993, remain friends and was said by Keaton to be one of her closest friends.
She was already dating Warren Beatty from 1979 when they had co-lead roles in the film Reds. Beatty was a regular subject in tabloid magazines and media coverage to which she was included much to her bewilderment. Her avoidance of the spotlight earned her in 1985 from Vanity Fair the attribution as "the most reclusive star since Garbo." This relationship ended, as had with Allen, shortly after Reds wrapped. Troubles with the production are thought to have caused strain on the relationship, including numerous financial and scheduling problems. Keaton remains friends with Beatty.
Keaton also had a relationship with fellow cast member Al Pacino in The Godfather Trilogy. The on-again, off-again relationship ended following the filming of The Godfather Part III. Keaton said of Pacino,
Al was simply the most entertaining man... To me, that's, that is the most beautiful face. I think Warren was gorgeous, very pretty, but Al's face is like whoa. Killer, killer face.
Pacino, who seems to have been the love of Keaton's life, never agreed to her marriage ultimatums, and their lengthy relationship ended during the time her father was dying of brain cancer.
In July 2001, Keaton revealed her thoughts on being older and unmarried, "I don't think that because I'm not married it's made my life any less. That old maid myth is garbage."
Keaton has two adopted children, daughter Dexter (adopted 1996) and son Duke (2001). Her father's death made mortality more prevalent and she decided to become a mother at age 50. She later said of having children, "Motherhood has completely changed me. It's just about the most completely humbling experience that I've ever had." (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/15/2014.)