Diane Keaton’s Book Club costar Ed Begley Jr. exclusively opened up to Us Weekly about her shocking death at age 79.
“I need to control my emotions,” a choked-up Begley, 76, told Us at the Environmental Media Association (EMA) Awards on Saturday, October 11. “I was extremely close to Diane. I loved her a lot.”
The pair first starred together in the 1992 TV movie Running Mates, and more recently appeared in the hit 2018 romantic comedy Book Club, which made more than $100 million at the box office.
Begley held his composure as he remembered Keaton for being “like a sister to me” and “a dear, dear friend” while speaking to Us at the Studio City, California, awards show.
“It hit me hard when I heard of her passing,” he acknowledged. “She’s with us still [in spirit]. She’s not going anywhere.”
Book Club’s three other leading ladies — Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen — all paid tribute to their late friend following the news of her death on Saturday.
“It’s hard to believe…or accept…that Diane has passed,” Fonda, 87, wrote via Instagram. “She was always a spark of life and light, constantly giggling at her own foibles, being limitlessly creative…in her acting, her wardrobe, her books, her friends, her homes, her library, her world view. Unique is what she was. And, though she didn’t know it or wouldn’t admit it, man she was a fine actress!”
Bergen, 79, added in her own statement to People, “This is a huge loss, both personally and for all of us. Diane was a true artist — tremendously gifted and uniquely talented in so many disciplines, yet also modest and wonderfully eccentric. I will miss her terribly.”
“There was no one, nor will there ever be, anyone like her,” Steenburgen said on Saturday. “I loved her and felt blessed to be her friend. My love to her family. What a wonder she was!!!”
The four leading ladies starred in Book Club as close friends trying to spice up their sex lives after reading erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey together. The 2018 comedy also featured Craig T. Nelson, Andy García and Don Johnson in supporting roles.
Little is known about Keaton’s death at this stage, as her spokesperson disclosed no additional details. Her family — which includes two children: daughter Dexter and son Duke — “asked for privacy” as they mourn the late actress.
A friend of Keaton’s told People on Saturday that the Father of the Bride star’s health “declined very suddenly” in the final few months of her life. While she had once been a fixture of her Brentwood, California, neighborhood on walks with her dog Reggie, Keaton reportedly disappeared from public life in recent months to spend time with only her “her closest family.”
Keaton made her final screen appearance in 2024 comedy Summer Camp, in which she starred opposite Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard and Eugene Levy. The role capped off a near-60 year Hollywood career that saw Keaton win a Best Actress Oscar for 1977’s Annie Hall and receive the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award, among many other honors.
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