Rachel McAdams thanks ‘beloved’ Diane Keaton during Walk of Fame speech

Wed, 21 Jan, 2026 - 09:31

By Lauren Del Fabbro, Press Association Entertainment Reporter

Film star Rachel McAdams has thanked the late actress Diane Keaton for taking her under her wing like she was “her own daughter” during her Hollywood Walk of Fame speech.

The Canadian actress, 47 – known for Mean Girls, The Notebook and Spotlight – was recognised with a star on Monday for her contributions to film.

During her speech, McAdams thanked Hollywood actors Gena Rowlands and Sam Shepard, with a special mention to her “beloved” The Family Stone co-star Keaton, who died from pneumonia in October aged 79.

Diane Keaton death — Diane Keaton arriving for the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles. (Francis Specker/PA)

She said: “I’d like to thank the stars up above down here, the legendary working actors who I was given the great gift to learn from the ones who are no longer with us.

“To name a few, the pioneering Gena Rowlands, the prolific Sam Shepard and my beloved Diane Keaton, who took me under her wing like I was her own daughter.

“She taught me that no matter how long you’ve been doing this, you have to leave everything you’ve got on the table.

“Each performance, you must muster up as much love as you possibly can and then you’ll only feel like a dumb, dumb idiot half the time in life.”

Keaton was best known for her roles in The Godfather, Father Of The Bride and her Oscar-winning performance in Annie Hall.

The 88th Academy Awards – Arrivals – Los Angeles — Rachel McAdams arriving at the 88th Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood (Ian West/PA)

Prior to McAdam’s speech, her About Time co-star Domhnall Gleeson paid a heartfelt tribute to the “phenomenal actor”, who he said has the ability to make every room she walks in better.

Jokingly, he said: “Life, and more importantly, Hollywood, has taught me that you are not supposed to have it all. It is not fair to be everyone’s favourite person on set and the best actor in the room.

“It is selfish of you to be a devoted mother of two, putting family above all else and a huge movie star continually knocking it out of the park commercially and artistically.

“It’s not okay to be a Hollywood star and a character actor, to be gifted at comedy and drama, to be unrestricted by genre or expectation and to be the loveliest person I’ve ever met in my life, that’s not how we do things.”

The Irish actor also referenced their 2013 romantic comedy which follows Tim (Gleeson) as he discovers he can travel back in time and change the past to pursue the woman of his dreams, Mary (McAdams), adding that McAdams played the role so well she made him believe he could actually travel through time.

Echo Valley European premiere – London — Domhnall Gleeson attending the European premiere of Echo Valley, at BFI Southbank in London. (Ian West/PA)

He continued: “No matter the role, I always believe the characters you create, I empathise with all of them. You make me understand all of them and in this way, you make everything better.

“Every movie, every genre, every character, every co-star, every set, every crew, every room you walk into, you make them all better, and we are very lucky to have you.

“So while joining the icons immortalised in these streets makes this a pretty cool day for Rachel McAdams, if you ask me, this is also a really cool day for the Hollywood Walk of Fame, because, as usual, Rachel McAdams is about to rock up and make it better.”

McAdams shot to fame after starring in the 2004 comedy Mean Girls playing the popular Regina George alongside Lindsay Lohan.

She went on to star in the romance film The Notebook alongside Ryan Gosling followed by film credits in Midnight In Paris (2011), The Vow (2012), Doctor Strange (2016) and the upcoming thriller Send Help.