Allen and Keaton met for the first time during the work with the Broadway play "Play it again, Sam" 1969. Both were shy, but eventually shared a lunch together during the rehearsals.
"She was so charming, so beautiful, so magical that I questioned my sanity. I thought: Is it possible to fall in love so quickly?"
The two became a couple and Diane Keaton a permanent feature in Allen's increasingly large film successes such as "Annie Hall", "Radio days", "Manhattan" and "Manhattan murder mystery". For the role in "Annie Hall" – which Allen wrote with her in mind – Keaton won an Oscar for best female lead role 1978.
She was also one of Woody Allen's closest confidants and he valued her opinion on his work highly.
"I never read a single review of my work and only cared about what Keaton had to say about it", he writes.
According to Allen, it is "only God and Freud" who can figure out why the two did not remain a couple. However, they continued to be close friends for the rest of their lives and Keaton also defended Allen when he was accused of assaulting his daughter in the 90s.
"Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe in him", she tweeted in 2018.
It was on Saturday that the news came that Diane Keaton had passed away at the age of 79 in California.
"A few days ago, the world was a place that included Diane Keaton. Now it is a world that does not. Therefore, it is a darker world. Yet, her films remain. And her great laughter still echoes in my head", the director writes.
