Celebrity
Diane Keaton’s Co-Stars Pay Tribute After Her Death At 79
The late actor is being remembered as a singular performer and friend.
Diane Keaton — beloved for her critically acclaimed performances and one-of-a-kind style — died on Oct. 11. The multihyphenate performer, creator, and mom of two was 79 years old. And following the news of her passing, friends and former collaborators are remembering the screen legend.
Nancy Meyers Says Keaton Was “Like A Sister”
In a touching Instagram post, Nancy Meyers — the filmmaker who worked with Keaton on Baby Boom, Father of the Bride, and Something’s Gotta Give — said her friend of nearly 40 years was “like a sister” to her. She praised the way Keaton could be both vulnerable and hilarious, “not only with dialogue (which she said word for word as written but managed to always make it sound improvised) but she could be funny sitting at a dinner table or just walking into a room.”
She specifically referenced Keaton’s cathartic sobs in Something’s Gotta Give. “She went at it hard and then somehow made it funny,” Meyers wrote. “And I remember she would sometimes spin in a kind of goofy circle before a take to purposely get herself off balance or whatever she needed to shed so she could be in the moment.”
Meyers remembered her friend as a “fearless” woman — one who “was like nobody ever,” and who changed her life. “Thank you Di,” she concluded. “I’ll miss you forever.”
Her Father Of The Bride Brood Shared Sweet Memories
Keaton’s Father of the Bride family paid tribute to their late castmate, too. Kimberly Williams-Paisley — who played Annie Banks, daughter to Keaton’s Nina Banks, in the 1991 film and its sequel — told People about meeting her co-star for the first time. Walking into a dark theater for her screen test with Keaton and Steve Martin, Williams-Paisley heard Keaton’s laughter before she actually laid eyes on her.
“To hear her laughter before anything, before even meeting her, was just such a great omen. It was an auspicious beginning to a great relationship,” she said, describing her time with Keaton as one of her life’s “best memories.”
And Martin, for his part, has shared several funny reminders of Keaton — from a playbill that displayed Keaton as the lead and him as a stagehand when they were in college together, to a screenshot of Keaton’s 2021 Interview chat with Martin Short where she was asked, “Who’s sexier, me or Steve Martin?”
“I mean, you’re both idiots,” Keaton replied — which, Martin wrote, “sums up our delightful relationship.”
The First Wives Club Ladies Sent Their Love
Nearly three decades after starring together in the empowering 1996 comedy The First Wives Club, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler honored Keaton with heartfelt messages. “We agreed to grow old together, and one day, maybe live together with all our girlfriends,” Hawn wrote in her Instagram post. “Well, we never got to live together, but we did grow older together. Who knows… maybe in the next life. Shine your fairy dust up there, girlfriend. I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”
Midler, in her own post, said she was “unbearably sad” about Keaton’s passing. “She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star,” she said.
Sarah Jessica Parker — who also appeared in the film, and would work more closely with Keaton in 2005’s The Family Stone — remembered the “glorious” star in a sweet post. “I will cherish those memories on set as well her touching, delightful and perfectly own cinematic career. Which is a gorgeous legacy of an exquisite person,” she said.
Keaton’s Book Club Crew Spoke Out, Too
More recently, Keaton had starred alongside Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen in the Book Club films — and naturally, each of the women honored their late co-star and friend in their own way.
“She was always a spark of life and light, constantly giggling at her own foibles, being limitlessly creative…in her acting, her wardrobe, her books, her friends, her homes, her library, her world view,” Fonda wrote in her Instagram post.
In a statement (via People), Bergen recalled Keaton as a “true artist” who was “tremendously gifted and uniquely talented in so many disciplines, yet also modest and wonderfully eccentric.”
And Steenburgen wrote, “I loved her and felt blessed to be her friend. My love to her family. What a wonder she was!!!”
