Diane Keaton grew up in Los Angeles, where she first started acting and singing in high school. She even landed the lead role in her school’s production of the famous play A Streetcar Named Desire.
From Stage to Screen
After high school, Keaton moved to New York City to study acting. In 1968, she got a role in the original Broadway musical Hair as an understudy, which is a backup actor who learns a part in case the main actor can’t perform. The next year, she starred in a funny play by Woody Allen called Play it Again, Sam. Her performance was so great that she was nominated for a Tony Award, which is one of the highest honors in theater. 🎭
The Role that Changed Everything
Keaton’s first movie was Lovers and Other Strangers. The famous director Francis Ford Coppola saw her in it and decided to cast her in his 1972 masterpiece, The Godfather. She played Kay Adams, the girlfriend who eventually marries the main character, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino).
Years later, Coppola explained to Keaton why he chose her. He said that even though the character was supposed to be a simple, traditional wife, he saw something special in her. “There was something more about you, deeper, funnier, and very interesting,” he told her. “I was right.”
