Originally appeared on E! Online
Al Pacino is honoring the memory of Diane Keaton.
Days after the Oscar-winning actress died following a battle with pneumonia at the age of 79, her “Godfather” costar — with whom she also had an on-again-off-again relationship with from 1974 to 1990 — penned a heartbreaking homage to her.
“When I first heard the news, I was shaken,” Pacino wrote in his tribute shared by Deadline Oct. 16. “Diane was my partner, my friend, someone who brought me happiness and on more than one occasion influenced the direction of my life.”
The 85-year-old noted that although they hadn’t been together in over thirty years, “the memories remain vivid, and with her passing, they have returned with a force that is both painful and moving.”
Pacino went on to praise Keaton, and how she “lived without limits, and everything she touched carried her unmistakable energy.”
He also made mention of her on screen work, gushing that she was “magnetic — lightning and charm, hurricanes and tenderness. She was a wonder.”
READ What Diane Keaton Has Said About Never Getting Married
“Acting was her art,” the “Dog Day Afternoon” alum continued, “but it was only one of the many ways she expressed her imagination and creativity.”
He wrote that while “people will miss her,” more importantly “they will remember her,” as she “left a mark that cannot fade.”
“She was unstoppable, resilient and above all, deeply human,” he shared. “I will always remember her. She could fly — and in my heart, she always will.”
In the years after their relationship ended, Keaton fondly looked back at their time together, which began after shooting completed on “The Godfather Part II”, in which Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone as did she as his wife Kay Adams. (The pair went on to costar in all three of the Francis Ford Coppola movies.)
“I was mad for him,” Keaton confessed to People in 2017. “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!”
However, the “Annie Hall” actress shared that their romance ran its course after she gave Pacino an ultimatum when he wouldn’t commit to marriage.
“I worked hard on that one,” she recalled. “I went about it in not a perfect way.”
PHOTOSDiane Keaton, Luke Evans at Wimbledon
Hollywood is mourning the loss of a true legend. Following the heartbreaking news that Diane Keaton has passed away at the age of 79, her former co-stars and celebrity friends took to social media to share touching tributes.
