Hollywood actor Richard Gere remembered his "Looking for Mr Goodbar" co-star and the late Oscar-winning actor Diane Keaton, calling her a "gentle and original person".

Both the actors featured in Richard Brooks' directorial, which released in 1977.

It revolved around a schoolteacher, Theresa Dunn (Keaton), who spends her nights cruising bars, searching for males with whom she can engage in progressively dangerous, extreme sexual activities. Gere essayed the role of Tony.

The "Pretty Woman" actor said working on the film was challenging, and it was just his second project back then.

"Obviously, I think about her now. We made a film a few years ago, too. I hadn’t seen her in a long time...That was a difficult film (Looking for Mr Goodbar), this very kind of raw, sexual film. And she’s pretty shy and skittish. And I was, too. That was my second film. And we kind of took care of each other, getting through these kind of challenging physical scenes with each other," Gere said on the Today show.

"But I remember just how sweet and gentle she was and how real. And I think anyone who’s ever worked with her is just like, ‘This is a real person. She was completely original," he added.

Keaton, whose credits include notable performances in films such as "Annie Hall” and “The Godfather” films, died on October 11, aged 79.

She started working on the stage as an understudy in the Broadway production of “Hair,” and in Allen's “Play It Again, Sam” in 1968, for which she received a Tony nomination.

Keaton made her film debut in the 1970 romantic comedy “Lovers and Other Strangers,” but her big breakthrough came with the 1972 "The Godfather", which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

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