She performed a motherly position — on and off the set — in “The Godfather.”
Diane Keaton’s Hollywood breakthrough got here within the Francis Ford Coppola 1972 masterpiece, the place she starred as Kay Adams-Corleone, the schoolteacher spouse of mobster Michael Corleone, performed by Al Pacino.
Earlier than that, Keaton, solely 26, had acted in solely two different movies. But she nurtured a fledgling co-star.
“Diane was an excellent good friend and really type to me throughout the filming,” actor Gianni Russo recalled to The Submit on Saturday.
Russo, 81, who performed Carlo Rizzi, vicious husband to Michael’s sister Connie, performed by Talia Shire, mentioned Keaton was all the time there if he wanted her.
“She couldn’t imagine ‘The Godfather’ was my first film. She mentioned, ‘You probably have any questions simply ask me,’ and I did,” he recalled.
The co-stars saved in contact after the film wrapped and even met up for fancy Italian dinners.
“We might meet in Beverly Hills at Il Pastaio resturant for years after,” he reminisced.
“I’ll miss her dearly. God Bless her soul.”
