She had a crush on Al Pacino from the day they started shooting the film 'Godfather'.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on November 13, 2020. It has since been updated.
Known for her peculiar personality and style, Oscar-winning actress, Diane Keaton, has made her mark in the industry with her talent and impressive works with Woody Allen in films like Sleeper (1973), Manhattan (1979), and Annie Hall (1977). She earned the Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie as well. Her relationship with Allen was so clouded by her battle with bulimia, that they soon split up. After another relationship with Warren Betty that faded away eventually, she met Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino on the sets of Godfather. Both celebrities, relatively unknown back then, blew up overnight after the release of the film in 1972.
Pacino and Keaton were cast opposite each other in Francis Ford Coppola’s trilogy and one could not help but observe their amazing chemistry. In an interview with The Telegraph in 2013, the 77-year-old actress said, “I was really very taken with Al from the very beginning.” Echoing herself later in 2017, she told People that on the day they started shooting Godfather, Keaton "had a crush" on him. It was not until the shooting of Godfather Part II that their relationship blossomed from just co-stars to partners. Elaborating her attraction for Pacino, the Marvin’s Room actress said, “I was mad for him. Charming, hilarious, and 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!”
However, their relationship died after the shooting of the second part came to an end. In her memoir, Then Again, she wrote, “For me, the Godfathers, all three of them, were about one thing — Al. It was as simple as that." Fifteen years later, she bumped into the 83-year-old actor again, in 1987, with the crush still simmering inside her, but this time she wanted things to be serious since she was tired of all the superficial relationships she had in the past. As days went by, Keaton realized that the pair were not on the same plain.
"I wanted more, lots more,' she admitted, as reported by PEOPLE. "I wanted him to want me as much as I wanted him. I wanted him to love me." As they flew to Rome for the filming of Godfather III, she gave the Irish Men actor an ultimatum saying, "Marry me, or at least commit to the possibility." The actor's response was a breakup but they got together again later, only to lead to a row of breakups. "Poor Al. Poor me — I never stopped insisting,' she said.
Once they were back in the US, she was hit with the news of her father being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Five months later, after the passing of her father, a distraught Keaton was sitting in a therapist's office when Pacino said that he wanted to end things because he never had the intention of marrying her. He walked off without a backward glance. “I worked hard on that one. I went about it in not a perfect way," she told People.
The romantic relationship between the Godfather co-stars might not have worked out but their friendship aged really well. When Keaton received an AFI Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, Pacino paid an emotional tribute to the Reds actress, recalling the time she gave him advice while he was going for an interview. “I remember leaving the house once, and I had an interview," he said, and continued, "And she was very encouraging, helping me along, and as I was leaving, she called out to me, and said, ‘Al, you’re going to be o.k. Just remember, whatever you do, don’t say you’re an artist.'" He concluded the speech by saying, “I love you forever.” Keaton once said, "the best relationships develop out of friendships." Even though she didn't find a lover in Pacino, she did find a friend she can look up to.
The actress finally found the love she was looking for in her 50s, when she adopted a newborn baby girl, Dexter, now 27. Five years later, she adopted another baby, Duke, now 22.
The Daily Mail reported the Something’s Gotta Give actress reflecting on her life as she said, "My old boyfriend, Warren Beatty, used to say I was a late developer. He was right. It took me 50 years to find motherhood and unconditional love."
References:
https://people.com/movies/diane-keaton-hollywood-romances/
Source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Matt Winkelmeyer, (R) Dave Hogan
