NEED TO KNOW
- Patricia Arquette shares fond memories of the late Diane Keaton exclusively with PEOPLE
- The late actress died at the age of 79 on Oct. 11, and previously directed the Severance star on projects in the early 1990s
- “She was just so effervescent and so alive,” Arquette tells PEOPLE
Patricia Arquette is remembering Diane Keaton.
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the Murdaugh: Death in the Family premiere in New York City on Monday, Oct. 13, the Severance actress, 57, shared fond memories of working with the late Oscar-winning actress.
“She was just so immediate, and so alive and so generous,” Arquette tells PEOPLE of collaborating with Keaton on the 1991 made-for-TV movie Wildflower. Keaton also directed Arquette in the 1990 CBS Schoolbreak Special episode “The Girl with the Crazy Brother.”
Keaton, who died on Saturday, Oct. 11 at the age of 79, was a director for both the movie and the aforementioned television series.
Arquette tells PEOPLE the First Wives Club alum had “such an incredible vision for beauty and design and photography and art,” as well as “the arts and music.”
“She was just so effervescent and so alive,” the Oscar winner continues of Keaton, who she says “had no pretenses.”
The Medium star also praises the legendary actress as someone who was “very much her own person,” noting that “we have very few original artists, like, real original people.”
“What an actress,” Arquette tells PEOPLE, as she reflects on Keaton’s decades-long career. “If you watch Reds (1981) or Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), you know? All the comedies, but also of course Annie Hall (1977) and The Godfather, I mean her acting is incredible.”
Keaton’s role in Annie Hall propelled her to win an Oscar for Best Actress. Keaton also starred in all three Godfather movies as Kay, Al Pacino’s onscreen wife.
“I used to ditch school so I could see Reds,” Arquette tells PEOPLE of one of her all-time favorite films starring Keaton.
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) confirmed to PEOPLE that they responded to Keaton’s home at 8:08 a.m. local time on Saturday and transported a 79-year-old woman to a hospital.
“There are no further details available at this time, and her family has asked for privacy in this moment of great sadness,” a spokesperson for the actress told PEOPLE.
Throughout her teen years, Keaton performed in plays in high school, and after graduating in 1964, she went to college to study drama.
She didn’t graduate from college, but she still pursued her dreams, landing a starring role in Woody Allen’s Broadway show Play It Again, Sam in 1969, which Keaton received a Tony nomination for.
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“I knew what I wanted in life, and I went after it,” Keaton said in her final interview with PEOPLE. “Being a person who always knew simplifies things — it’s hard to find your way if you don’t.”
Keaton is survived by her two children, daughter Dexter and son Duke, whom she adopted in 1996 and 2001, respectively.
Arquette’s next project is Murdaugh: Death in the Family, which stars Jason Clarke as Alex Murdaugh, a former South Carolina lawyer who was found guilty of murdering his wife (played by Arquette) and his son (played by Johnny Berchtold). The series debuts on Hulu on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
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