Diane Keaton Honored With AFI Life Achievement Award

A star-studded ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. The reason? ceelebrating the prolific, exemplary career of Diane Keaton. The actress was honored by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute with the 45th AFI Life Achievement Award.

It seemed like every actor who had ever met Keaton or even passed her by, was there to pay homage to the 71-year-old actress. Emma Stone, Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow, Rachel McAdams, Morgan Freeman, ex-boyfriends Warren Beatty and Al Pacino. Steve Martin and Martin Short, Jane Fonda, and more attended the ceremony.

AFI president and CEO, Bob Gazzale, opened the night saying that this year’s event marked the 50th anniversary of the Institute’s founding in 1967. So it was a double celebration for the evening.

In a series of tributes for the actress, those who stood out the most where the young women that cited her as a role model. Reese Witherspoon accounted that when she was 15 years old she auditioned for the 1991 TV movie ‘Wildflower,’ directed by Keaton. McAdams mentioned when she appeared alongside Keaton in ‘The Family Stone’ and ‘Morning Glory,’ and shared the advice the acting veteran gave her: “Get an assistant, don’t be too picky with men, and always wear your nicest underwear. I did, I’m working on it, and I’m wearing Spanx, I failed you there.”

Kudrow did an amazing impersonation of Keaton after she talked about that time when Keaton directed her in ‘Hanging Up.’ And Emma Stone thanked Keaton for the example she’s set for them and many other young actresses.

Meryl Streep also honored the actress in the best way she knows: transforming herself into Keaton. Streep – who won the award in 2009 – assembled the ‘Annie Hall’ look, wearing a tie, hat, blazer and high-waisted pant, and of course, she looked amazing.

Woody Allen stole the show with his rare appearance

The gasp of the night was taken by Woody Allen as he did a surprise appearance onstage to present Keaton with the award, being received with a standing ovation. It’s known that Keaton was Allen’s muse for years. They co-starred in several of Allen’s films – he even wrote the stellar role of ‘Annie Hall’ just for her, granting her the Academy Award for Best Actress. But no one was expecting this appearance, as Allen has never set foot at any stage involving the Academy. The only time the director has been seen at the Academy Awards was in 2002, in order to honor New York after 9/11, even though he has been nominated for the Oscars 24 times – and winning four awards.

During his speech, he told many jokes looking at their lifelong friendship. He joked about her looks, her clothes, and even about her former relationships – including the one he had with the actress. He mentioned that as much as they knew each other and talked often, there were things he found about only through her books.

“I didn’t know how much she loved me until I read her book — and that she was bulimic. I took her to all these $400 meals when we were together. I could have saved a lot of money and taken her to Pizza Hut!” Allen told the crowd.

Image Credit: Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP

He also thanked Keaton, by saying, “Much of what I’ve accomplished in my life I owe for sure to her,” before the star went onstage to receive the award.

Keaton ditched her prepared speech and improvised a monolog instead

Traditionally, AFI honorees must close the night with a speech, which Keaton had previously prepared and was rolling on the teleprompter. But she was so overwhelmed that she dismissed it and just started saying whatever went through her mind.

“I just want to cry, that’s all I want to do,” she began saying. She said that the night was simply astonishing and that she didn’t know how to properly thank the American Film Institute for the great honor. But insisted that she was not going to give a speech, and felt no interest towards it.

“I’ve got a song too, and my song is gratitude for the fact that I had all these opportunities that began with Woody and so I thought I could sing a song that Woody gave me to sing in gratitude to everyone, so here we go,” she said to introduce a sweet a capella version of “Seems Like Old Times,” perfectly fitting the evening for Keaton among his friends and family.