Al Pacino has paid tribute to the his co-star and ex-romantic partner Diane Keaton who died last week.
The 85-year-old actor had been filming in Paris and reportedly needed some time to put together his thoughts and feelings on Keaton, who died of pneumonia on Saturday at the age of 79.
“When I first heard the news, I was shaken,” Pacino said to Deadline. “Diane was my partner, my friend, someone who brought me happiness and, on more than one occasion influenced the direction of my life. Though over thirty years has past since we were together, the memories remain vivid, and with her passing, they have returned with a force that is both painful and moving.”
Pacino and Keaton starred together in The Godfather in 1972 and the pair had an on-and-off romantic relationship into the 1980s. Keaton once called him “the most entertaining man” who had “the most beautiful face”.
“She lived without limits, and everything she touched carried her unmistakable energy,” Pacino said. “She opened doors for others, inspired generations, and embodied a once-in-a-lifetime gift that radiated through her work and her life. On screen, she was magnetic – lightning and charm, hurricanes and tenderness. She was a wonder. Acting was her art, but it was only one of the many ways she expressed her imagination and creativity.”
He added that she was “unstoppable, resilient, and above all, deeply human”.
Keaton told People in 2017 that she had a crush on Pacino when they started working together. “I was mad for him,” she said. “Charming, hilarious, a nonstop talker. There was an aspect of him that was like a lost orphan, like this kind of crazy idiot savant. And oh, gorgeous!”
She said she “worked hard” on the relationship but when he wouldn’t commit to marriage, she gave him an ultimatum and it ended. “I went about it in not a perfect way,” she added.
Pacino is one of many Hollywood names to have paid tribute to Keaton. Michael Douglas called her “one of the greatest icons in our industry” while Francis Ford Coppola called her “creativity personified”.
Nancy Meyers, who directed Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give, also remembered a “giant” in an Instagram post. “A brilliant actress who time and again laid herself bare to tell our stories,” she wrote. “As a woman, I lost a friend of almost 40 years – at times over those years, she felt like a sister because we shared so many truly memorable experiences. As a film-maker, I’ve lost a connection with an actress that one can only dream of.”
