There Will Never Be Another Diane Keaton: An Icon of Comedy, Fashion, and Being Yourself

A tribute to Academy Award-winning actress, Diane Keaton.

When I saw the headline that Diane Keaton had passed away, the first person I called was my mother.

I asked her to sit down, as if I were revealing news about a dear friend.

Not only was she a fan of the actress, but my mother had introduced me to her entire filmography, from Play It Again, Sam to Baby Boom to The First Wives Club. Diane was family, and I think that’s how a lot of people feel about her. There was something warm and inviting about her presence — both as an actress and as a person.

I have been obsessed with Diane Keaton for more than half my life. One of my college projects was developing a website, and I created one dedicated to her and Woody’s films together (okay, so I wasn’t Zuckerberg). I loved their chemistry, and the way she *got* his movies like no other actress.

Diane Keaton, Comedy Icon

First off, Diane Keaton doesn’t get enough credit for her comedy and what a genius she was with timing and her physicality. (It’s hard not to talk about her career without mentioning Woody Allen, so trigger warning.)

While she won her Academy Award for Annie Hall, I like to pretend it was for the 1975 comedy Love and Death, Woody Allen’s parody on Russian literature. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone funnier, or more charming, on screen than Keaton as Sonja. I can’t imagine any other actress doing this rata-tat dialogue with such character and nuance.

Again, everyone points to Annie Hall as her quintessential Woody Allen film, but she was also fantastic in Manhattan Murder Mystery, another film that was ahead of its time (Only Murders in the Building, anyone?). There’s this gem of a scene where she’s piecing together what happened in their building, part manic/part mastermind.

Diane Keaton, Fashion Icon

Keaton was also an icon for her fashion sense. In every generation since, there’s always a young woman who discovers you can make ties and baggy pants look fashionable, and I feel like Keaton should get credit for that. When the coastal grandmother chic became popular a few years ago, she had been perfecting that for years. She was always ahead of her time.

Diane Keaton, An Icon for Single Women

Part of her charisma was that she was so fiercely herself. She never married, adopted two children in her 50s, and continued to find young fans on Instagram with her dog Reggie. While she dated the likes of Warren Beatty and Al Pacino, she never settled for what she didn’t want and loved her independence.

Even the comedy Baby Boom, a radical concept for 1987 — that a businesswoman would raise a baby on her own in the country — became her life in a sense.

There will never be someone else like Diane Keaton, but there are millions of men and women out there inspired by her spirit, wit, and hats. I know I am forever one of them.