I flicked on the telly on Sunday morning to check the weather and there was Diane as Annie Hall. Oh no! It only meant one thing. I was stabbed by sadness. Diane. Our Diane! She is gone. She had to be too young.

Sadly, she wasn’t. I soon discovered that she was 79, which is a pretty good innings, but I thought she would be here forever.

Australian director Gillian Armstrong (left) on the set of her 1984 film Mrs Soffel with her first “superstars”, Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson.

Diane Keaton starred in my 1984 MGM film Mrs Soffel with our Mel, who by that time was superstar Mel. Mel Gibson. So, two superstars. Not always a fun thing for them, I discovered.

I want to write about Diane because she was such a special person. A good person. Funny, yes. Extra talented, yes. But she had a huge heart and great compassion and I loved her.

A unique artist: Gillian Armstrong on set of Mrs Soffel with Diane Keaton.

Diane and Mel were the first two stars I had worked with and both were the antithesis of the Hollywood Star. My young producer Scott Rudin had approached me to work on this true story with the writer Ron Nyswaner. I was captivated by this tragic love story. It was set in an incredible jail in Pittsburgh that looked like cages set in a chapel.

Once we had a script, I was flown to meet Ms Keaton in some faraway US city like Chicago. I remember I was transfixed by her cool black shiny lace-up shoes and we both loved the same movies. I just got a great feeling about her. Oh, and she said yes to me!

And how lucky I was to have her.

Diane would sit........

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