Oscar winner and Tony Award nominee Diane Keaton has died. She was 79. The news was first reported by People.

Ms. Keaton was renowned as one of the great screen stars of the 1970s, but before she was whisked away to Hollywood, she was a Broadway baby.

Born Diane Hall, Ms. Keaton changed her surname to her mother's maiden name when registering for Actors Equity, as actor Diane Hall had already reserved the name in the union. Inspired by Katherine Hepburn, Ms. Keaton worked across New York in the mid-1960s, first as a nightclub singer while studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse, before Broadway came calling.

In 1968, she made her Broadway debut as a member of the original company of Hair, performing as a member of the tribe while understudying the role of political activist Sheila. Three months into the show's Broadway run, Ms. Keaton took over the role of Sheila from Lynn Kellogg full time. Ms. Keaton received some of the earliest press in her career for her refusal to fully disrobe at the end of the show's first act, when the cast traditionally performs nude. While the nudity in the production was officially optional (with those who chose to disrobe receiving a $50 weekly bonus), Ms. Keaton was one of the only performers in the musicals history to opt out.

After nine months, Ms. Keaton left Hair for Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam, which ran on Broadway in 1969 at the Broadhurst Theatre. While Ms. Keaton was nearly passed over due to the difference in heights between her and Allen (she being two inches taller than him), his near-immediate fascination with her eventually won over the rest of the creative team. For her performance as Linda Christie, she received a Tony Award nomination for a Best Featured Actress in a Play. Ms. Keaton reprised her role in the 1972 film adaptation.

Ms. Keaton would become Allen's most instantly recognizable muse. While she made her film debut in Lovers and Other Strangers, starred in Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films, and made countless appearances on television in scripted dramas and as a product spokeswoman, it is her association with Allen that would make her one of the most famous women of the 1970s. After Play It Again, Sam, Ms. Keaton's titular performance in 1977's Annie Hall would imprint eternally on the mind of film lovers across the globe.

The piece, which Ms. Keaton openly stated was an autobiographical exploration of her and Allen's relationship, positioned her as a new kind of leading lady: endearingly awkward and self deprecating, an anti-goddess whose approachability made her all the more enchanting. Her styling in the film, patterned after Ms. Keaton's own preference for wearing vintage men's clothing, would kick off an enduring fashion trend that continues to be regularly cycled through runways and red carpets. Ms. Keaton won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the film remains one of the most highly regarded films of the 1970s.

She would go on to play many eccentric women in Allen's films throughout the 1970s, including Sleeper, Love and Death, Interiors, Manhattan, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. Outside of Allen's influence, she received three additional Oscar nominations, for her work in Reds, Marvin's Room, and Something's Gotta Give. Ms. Keaton worked at a brisk pace for her entire life, starring in more than 70 films and television productions, as well as directing 12 and producing 15. Her other well-known films as an actor include The Family Stone, Book Club, The First Wives Club, Father of the Bride, Crimes of the Heart, Shoot the Moon, The Young Pope, Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and many, many more.

Ms. Keaton famously never married. She is survived by her two adopted children, Dexter and Duke, and by three of her most famous leading men, with whom she shared portions of her life: Allen, Al Pacino, and Warren Beatty.