Did you know that Al Pacino and Diane Keaton were crazy in love back in the days? The
renowned actress was obsessed with her charismatic colleague, but that relationship went downhill.
Here's a closer look at their love story,
including how Keaton's ultimatum led to their demise.
It was a true Hollywood story. Al Pacino and Diane Keaton met on the
set of The Godfather in the 1970s. At the time, Keaton was in her late
twenties, while Pacino was in his early thirties. Both were relatively unknown.
Actors immediately felt onscreen chemistry going offscreen. In a recent interview, Keaton shared
that her attraction towards Pacino was instant and powerful, “I was mad for him. 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!”
The pair had an on-again, off-again relationship, with Keaton and Pacino breaking up and finding
their way back. Over a span of two decades, Keaton also dated some of the biggest Hollywood stars,
including Warren Beatty and Woody Allen. But in the late 1980s, she was back with Pacino.
A special kind of chemistry brought together these two Hollywood Goliaths.
Both celebrities became an overnight success after the release of The Godfather in 1972.
Both were eager to plunge into the vibrant world of acting.
Young and aspiring, rising Hollywood stars were ambitious dreamers. Later in life, Keaton would
blame them for unrealistic expectations and a naive attitude towards a romantic relationship.
But while they were together, they were powerful. Keaton even helped Pacino overcome
some of his anxieties. Once, he was leaving their house for the interview. He usually
got pretty uncomfortable in situations like that. Keaton was extremely encouraging and empathetic,
trying to make him feel better about himself. No doubt,
she was engulfed in love with Pacino. So, what could go wrong at the end of the day?
Pacino and Keaton ended their romantic relationship sometime after The Godfather Part
III. When he wouldn’t commit to marriage, Keaton recalled,
she gave him an ultimatum, and their relationship was over. “I worked hard
on that one. I went about it in not a perfect way,” she said in the interview.
While filming The Godfather III, the pair shared a villa in Rome. Al Pacino's friends and associates
thought he would finally marry Keaton. However, that was not meant to be. The situation between
them reached a crisis point while they were in Italy. The main conflict seemed to be that
Keaton wanted a long-term commitment, while Pacino couldn't imagine his life with her.
"I wanted more, lots more,' Keaton admitted, "I wanted him to want me as much as I wanted him. I
wanted him to love me." On their trip to Rome, she told Pacino, "Marry me, or at least commit to the
possibility." The actor's response was negative, but they got together again later. It resulted in
a row of breakups. "Poor Al. Poor me — I never stopped insisting,' she described that time.
Once they were back in the U.S., Keaton was hit with the news of her father being diagnosed with a
brain tumor. Five months later, Keaton was sitting in a therapist's office - Pacino ended things with
her for the last time. He walked off without a backward glance. Although Keaton struggled to
make things work for so long, she couldn't come to terms with the possibility of being away from him.
In an interview, Keaton revealed that she was heartbroken after the couple called it quits.
Despite that, she always felt attracted to Pacino. She shared the details,
"Al was simply the most entertaining man … To me, that's the most beautiful face.
I think Warren was gorgeous, very pretty, but Al's face is like whoa. Killer, killer face."
Years after their breakup, Keaton would consider her attitude towards
the situation impractical - she just had an insane idea of what love means.
Today, she believes partners should make a good team to build a long-lasting romantic
relationship. "I told myself I wanted to, but I didn't really want a man that I could have.
I wanted the dream," she revealed the details of her romance with Pacino.
Keaton couldn't find the way to the actor's heart,
who was more of a career-oriented person at that time. It turns out, marriage
wasn't a part of the plan for Pacino. So it was extremely challenging for him to compromise.
As Keaton said, "He was even less inclined to be realistic than me. So that poor guy. I don't think
he was really that interested. And I don't think a long-term happy marriage would be easy for him."
Keaton, who’s now 75, has shied away from romantic relationships in recent decades,
sharing in an interview, “Let’s just get that straight. That one’s important.
I haven’t been on a date in, I would say, 35 years. No dates.”
A lack of managerial skills made Keaton go through lots of unhappy romantic relationships.
She recently opened up about her inability to nurture a romantic connection with somebody.
"I needed as much as they needed, and that's not a good mix. I didn't choose wisely for
a long-term partnership where we could weather experiences together and be there for each other,"
Keaton reflected. It seems as though she was searching for flame and passion that
could never end in something reliable she so desperately needed at the time.
Interestingly enough, the award-winning academy actress never married. As the years went by,
Keaton reinvented her attitude towards marriage - she became more focused on her professional life.
As someone who often portrays successful, career-oriented women on film,
it seems the actress' life is an instance of life imitating art,
as Keaton once told People she wasn't built to be a wife.
"I think that I'm strange," Keaton said in a recent interview. Diane believes she's the
only actress in her generation who has been single throughout the entirety of her life.
Keaton added she lacks a nurturing capacity so often needed for the marriage.
"I don't think it would have been a good idea for me to have married,
and I'm really glad I didn't," she noted, "and I'm sure they're happy about it, too."
Wait, but what about Al Pacino? Did he finally find the right person to wed?
Even though Al Pacino has been romantically linked to several women over the years,
very little has been made of his love life. But we
know for sure that Pacino remained one of the Hollywood most wanted bachelors.
Aside from Keaton, Pacino has dated Beverly D'Angelo. Best known for her role in the
Vacation film franchise, she had been in a relationship with Pacino for seven years.
While the couple never got married, they were committed. Beverly even underwent in
vitro fertilization and gave birth to Al's twins. Pacino was also linked to Lucila
Polak (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjiV_C7UQOo - 0.54), his girlfriend of ten years,
before they split up in 2018.
Based on the stories that Diane Keaton has shared about her off-and-on relationship with Al Pacino,
it seems as if he has an aversion to getting married. That said, in the years since Pacino
rose to fame, he has been romantically linked to lots of different women, but none of these
relationships were about marriage. Meanwhile, Keaton became a single
mom to two kids in her 50s – she decided it was time for a different kind of love story.
She said that becoming a mother helped her become a better person. “It made me
realize that I was completely self-involved. I’m an actress,
after all. I didn’t have anyone to tell me how well I was doing, or if I was doing it right.”
Some might think it’s unusual that Keaton became a mom in her 50s, but it was a change for the
better. Keaton made it clear that children are the most important people in her life.”
The loves of my life are my children and my mother. I don’t feel as if I need a man.
Don’t get me wrong, I love men … but I have kids and my work. That’s fine with me.”
Both Keaton and Pacino never settled down, but they cherished their long-lasting friendship
more than anything. When Keaton received an AFI Lifetime Achievement award in 2017,
Pacino paid an emotional tribute to the Annie Hall actress. At the ceremony, he called her
“Di” and cheerfully recalled how she used to make him laugh before one of his numerous interviews.
And if that wasn’t moving enough for you – he then closed the speech by telling her,
“I love you forever.” In her memoir, Keaton wrote,
"For me, the Godfathers, all three of them, were about one thing — Al. It was as simple as that."
The relationship between Keaton and Pacino was based on a shared experience of the
acting world and a respect for each other's craft. It seemed supportive and healthy.
Although they couldn't go the distance with their romance, both built illustrious careers.
In retrospect, it seems that avoiding marriage was the right choice for the
couple. Keaton plunged into her family life, raising kids and working hard. Pacino kept
up with the Hollywood career and became a father himself. But even today, they
continue to cherish that affection for one other. Dreams about getting married never came true,
but maybe that's because they're way better off as great friends?
Could it be a better scenario than a messy and painful romantic relationship?
Let us know what you think about this love story, and stay tuned to discover more!