Diane Keaton dies at 79 from pneumonia, family says

Diane Keaton, the Oscar winning actress whose idiosyncratic performances in films from The Godfather to Annie Hall made her a defining presence in American cinema, died on October 11 in California at age 79, her family said. In a statement the family asked for privacy and confirmed she passed away from pneumonia, and they suggested donations in her memory to local food banks or animal shelters in recognition of her love of animals and advocacy for people experiencing homelessness.

Official records list primary bacterial pneumonia as the immediate cause of death, and show Keaton was cremated on October 14. Emergency responders were called to her Los Angeles home on the morning of October 11 and transported a person to a nearby hospital, authorities said; family members later confirmed that person was Keaton. Friends and those close to her described a sudden decline in health in the months before her death and said she spent her final weeks surrounded by immediate family while keeping her condition private.

Keaton rose to prominence in the early 1970s, breaking out as Kay Adams in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather films and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for Annie...