From ‘Annie Hall’ to ‘Something’s Gotta Give,’ 6 great Diane Keaton films and where to watch them

Diane Keaton never really played the part of glamorous movie star. She was in iconic films and she dated some of the biggest stars of her generation, and yet she somehow remained other and defiantly herself despite so many years working in the Hollywood system. Eccentric and approachable, with a sort of effervescent charm, it’s no surprise that she played muse to so many, from Woody Allen to Nancy Meyers.

People often describe her as self-deprecating, as if it was a choice and not a product of deep-seated insecurity. Keaton was someone who thought herself ugly, who battled eating disorders and who never seemed to give herself enough credit for her successes. But she was also able to channel that into her performances spanning five decades unlike none other.

There are so many Keaton films worth noting, including her full run with Allen. There are the Instagram favorites like “The First Wives Club” (available to rent), nostalgic classics like “Father of the Bride” (streaming on Hulu) and dramatic turns in “Marvin’s Room” (streaming on Kanopy) and “Shoot the Moon” (available to rent).

Here are six essential roles to get you started.

Kay Adams, the future Mrs. Corleone, could have been a wallpaper role. But Keaton, in her breakout role, held the screen next to her flashier counterparts. She was the wife who had something going on behind her eyes, who could hold the screen in the chilling final shot of the first film. Social media doesn’t often produce anything worthwhile but in 2023 Francis Ford Coppola and Keaton had an exchange on an Instagram story “ask me anything” session. She wondered why he’d picked her.

“I chose you, because although you were to play the more straight/vanilla wife, there was something more about you, deeper, funnier, and very interesting. (I was right),” Coppola wrote.

WHERE TO WATCH: Available to rent on various platforms including Prime Video.

“La-dee-da, la-dee-da” where to even begin with “Annie Hall?” It is the quintessential Keaton role, a love-letter to her quirks, eccentricities, insecurities and charm all wrapped up in this fictional tie-wearing WASP from Chippewa Falls.

Allen encouraged her to wear what she wanted to wear, and so she assembled her iconic outfit — khaki pants, vest, tie — from “cool-looking women on the streets of New York.” The hat was lifted from actor Aurore Clement.

“No one had any serious expectations. We were just having a good time moving through New York’s landmark locations,” she wrote in her memoir. “As always, Woody concerned himself with worries about the script. Was it too much like an episode of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’? I told him he was nuts. Relax.”

WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Fubo TV.

Keaton’s OTHER great film from 1977 drifted into cult classic status as it wasn’t released on home video or DVD and has only recently been made available on digital platforms. The part of Theresa Dunn makes Annie Hall look like a nun. With her Catholic upbringing and “good girl” job teaching deaf children by day, at night Theresa cruises bars looking for men to hook up with — the more dangerous (like Richard Gere’s character) the better.

WHERE TO WATCH: Available to rent on various platforms.

Warren Beatty directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in this historical epic about the journalists documenting the Bolshevik Revolution alongside Keaton, playing journalist and activist Louise Bryant. They were dating by the time they started making the film and their relationship curdled during production.

“Everyone knew I didn’t take well to Warren’s direction,” she wrote in her memoir. “It was impossible to work with a perfectionist who shot 40 takes per setup. Sometimes it felt like I was being stun-gunned. Even now I can’t say my performance is my own. It was more like a reaction to Warren — that’s what it was: a response to the effect of Warren Beatty.”

WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Kanopy.

In this comedy from Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, Keaton plays a Manhattan yuppie who unexpectedly inherits a 14-month-old and begins to reassess her life, eventually moving to Vermont where she meets a veterinarian played by peak handsome Sam Shepard. An ahead-of-its-time commentary on the have-it-all discourse of the next 30 years, Roger Ebert wrote at the time that “’Baby Boom’ makes no effort to show us real life. It is a fantasy about mothers and babies and sweetness and love, with just enough wicked comedy to give it an edge.”

WHERE TO WATCH: Available to rent on various platforms.

Oh Erica Barry and her fabulous Hamptons home and ivory turtleneck sweaters. This was purely the brainchild of Meyers, the writer-director who had the glorious idea to make a 50-something woman the object of desire in a mainstream romantic comedy. Keaton plays this brilliant playwright who catches the eye of both an older playboy (Jack Nicholson) with a proclivity for much younger women and a young, handsome doctor (Keanu Reeves). Keaton has called it her favorite movie, in part because she got to kiss Nicholson (who she had acted alongside before, in “Reds”) “because it was so unexpected at age 57.”

WHERE TO WATCH: Available to rent on various platforms.

FILE - Goldie Hawn, from left, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler appear at the premiere of their film "The First Wives Club" in Los Angeles on Sept.16, 1996. (AP Photo/ Frank Wiese, File)

FILE - Diane Keaton attends the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2024 collection during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 8, 2023. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Amanda Peet, from left, Jack Nicholson, and Diane Keaton appear during a photocall for their film "Something's Gotta Give" at the 54th Berlinale International film festival in Berlin on Feb. 6, 2004. (AP Photo/ Jan Bauer, File)

FILE - Oscar winners Charles H. Joffe, winner of best picture for "Annie Hall," left, and Diane Keaton, winner of best actress for "Annie Hall," poses with presenter Jack Nicholson, and producer Jack Rollins at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on April 3, 1978. (AP Photo, File)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Hundreds in the NASCAR community gathered for a memorial service at Charlotte's Bojangles Coliseum on Friday for former driver Greg Biffle, his family and others who were killed in a plane crash last month.

Biffle was among seven killed along with his wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, when the plane crashed as it returned to the airport in Statesville, North Carolina, according to authorities. Others on the plane were identified as Dennis Dutton, his son Jack, and Craig Wadsworth.

Driver/influencer Garrett Mitchell, known as “Cleetus McFarland” in his YouTube videos and a close friend of Biffle's, was among those who spoke at the service.

“We have all been saying, ‘Be like Biff,’ since we lost our hero,” said Mitchell, who befriended Biffle later in his life. “What does that mean? That means to take opportunities when you see them. Whether you are taking opportunity to pass somebody on the track or getting off your couch to chase a dream you have only been talking about for the past five years.

“It means showing up for your friends and family. It means using your heart to make the world a better place. It means being generous whenever you can and helping other humans when they're down. That is what it means to be like Biff,” Mitchell added.

Biffle, who was 55, was selected by NASCAR as one of its top 75 drivers in history, was a Hall of Fame nominee for the stock car series and drove for 18 years at the top of the sport.

He drew headlines last year for his tireless humanitarian efforts as a helicopter pilot supplying aid in the devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene.

Biffle's niece, Jordyn Biffle, told stories about Ryder's hero being his father, Emma's laughter and Cristina's loving nature.

She said the Biffle family “lived fully, loved deeply and gave freely.”

“Their lives remind us that what matters isn't how long we are here, but how we use the time we are given and how fiercely we love while we are here,” Biffle added. "And while this loss is devastating beyond words, their impact remains etched into all of us that were lucky enough to have known them, loved them and be changed by them."

In the parking lot outside of the coliseum, fans paused to peer inside three racecars Biffle drove during his career.

Inside, the pictures of the seven who lost their lives where shown on a videoboard above the makeshift platform in the center of the covered hockey rink. There were seven wreaths on the stage where Mitchell, Biffle and former drivers Jeff Burton and Phil Parsons addressed the crowd.

Dylan Zirkle, 28, of Archdale, North Carolina, worked one year for Biffle at Roush Racing as a pit support employee while he was in high school.

He said Biffle made a lasting impact on him, and felt he needed to attend.

“Greg was always a really good guy and I enjoyed being around him,” Zirkle said. "You could always talk to him at anytime and he was just a real person. You could talk to him about anything.”

Back home, Zirkle still has model racing trucks in his gameroom autographed by Biffle that he cherishes.

Zirkle said he didn't believe the news of the crash when he heard it.

“It still doesn't feel real,” Zircle said. “I was watching some of his YouTube videos the other night and it just doesn't seem real at all.”

Tanner Roberts and Jassamin Green made the four-hour trek from Wilmington, North Carolina, with their 7-year-old son Bentley after hearing about the memorial.

“He was a good racecar driver and I enjoyed him,” Roberts said. “And he was a good person. I grew up watching him and Dale Earnhardt. Them two were my favorites. They were good people and they loved to race.”

The Cessna C550 carrying the Biffle family and the others erupted in flames when it hit the ground shortly after it had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about an hour's drive north of Charlotte.

The plane crashed while trying to return and land, authorities said.

The crash a week before Christmas left the NASCAR community shaken and was another blow in a long offseason. Ten days later, on the 52nd wedding anniversary of Denny Hamlin’s parents, the house the future Hall of Famer built to repay them for their years of sacrifice burned down. His father, Dennis, was killed, and Mary Lou Hamlin was rushed to a hospital burn unit.

Sheriff's deputies are also investigating an alleged break-in and theft last week at Biffle's home in Mooresville that netted $30,000 in cash, some guns and memorabilia.

As part of the public tribute, Mitchell planned to do a burnout later Friday near Biffle’s marker along the North Carolina Auto Racing Walk of Fame in Mooresville.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Race cars used by the late Greg Biffle are displayed outside BoJangles Coliseum for a NASCAR Plane Crash Memorial memorial for Biffle, his family and others who died in a plane crash, in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Garrett Mitchell speaks at the memorial service for former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Jordyn Biffle, sister of Greg Biffle, speaks at the memorial service for Biffle and his family in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

ESPN's Marty Smith, right, hugs a person at the NASCAR Plane Crash Memorial memorial in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Chaplain Billy Mauldin speaks during the NASCAR Plane Crash Memorial memorial in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)