Il Nuovo Postiglione - Woody Allen says world 'drearier' without ex-partner Diane Keaton

He has now paid a heartfelt tribute to his favorite actress and former partner, whose death was announced at the weekend.

"I first laid eyes on her lanky beauty at an audition and thought, If Huckleberry Finn was a gorgeous young woman, he'd be Keaton," 89-year-old Allen wrote in a long tribute in The Free Press to Keaton, whose death was announced Saturday. She was 79.

"For the first week of rehearsal we never spoke a word to one another," he said of his time acting alongside her in the 1972 film "Play It Again, Sam."

"She was shy, I was shy, and with two shy people things can get pretty dull. Finally, by chance we took a break at the same moment and wound up sharing a fast bite... The upshot is that she was so charming, so beautiful, so magical, that I questioned my sanity. I thought: Could I be in love so quickly?"

Allen, the acclaimed director-screenwriter-actor who never shook allegations that he molested his adopted daughter in 1992, described later moving in with Keaton and forming a creative bond with the beloved actress.

"She sat through 'Take the Money and Run' and said the movie was very funny and very original. Her words. Its success proved her correct and I never doubted her judgment again," she said.

"I never read a single review of my work and cared only what Keaton had to say about it. If she liked it, I counted the film as an artistic success," said Allen, who worked alongside Keaton in several films, including "Annie Hall," "Manhattan," and "Manhattan Murder Mystery."

Keaton stood by Allen when much of Hollywood shunned the neurotic funnyman at the height of the MeToo reckoning in January 2018, tweeting "Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him."

At that time, the director was again facing accusations of sexual assault, made in 1992 by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow. Charges against him were dropped after two separate investigations.

- Troubled relationship with food -

In his tribute, Allen describes Keaton's difficult relationship with food.

"She'd put away a sirloin, hash browns, marble cheesecake, and coffee. Then we'd get home, and moments later she'd be toasting waffles or packing a huge taco with pork," he wrote.

"This slim actress ate like Paul Bunyan. Only years later when she wrote a memoir did she describe her eating disorder."

Allen concluded his tribute by saying that "a few days ago the world was a place that included Diane Keaton."

"Now it's a world that does not. Hence, it's a drearier world."

A.Mariconda--INP