Buster Keaton
Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills
Buster Keaton, known as "The
Great Stone Face," was one of Hollywood's most creative and physically inventive comedians.
Keaton earned his nickname at an early age, when the 6-month-old tot
tumbled unharmed down a flight of stairs at a boardinghouse for vaudeville entertainers.
(The story that Keaton got his nickname from magician Harry Houdini is probably
more legend than fact.) That set the stage for Keaton's lifetime of acrobatic
daredevil antics.
Keaton's parents were both vaudeville comedians, and he joined
the act when he was 3 years old. The Three Keatons' act consisted of the parents
In 1917, the 21-year-old Keaton was an established vaudeville star,
and decided to try his talents in film in New York City. He made his screen debut
in "The Butcher Boy" (1917), which was written by, directed by and co-starred
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who became Keaton's lifelong friend. Keaton and Arbuckle
appeared in dozens of comedy shorts over the next few years. In 1920, Keaton
came to Hollywood, and released his first feature-length film, "The Saphead"
(1920), which established Keaton as a comedy star. He followed that with
"One Week" (1920), in which Keaton attempts to construct a house from a do-it-yourself
kit. Many fans consider this film to be Keaton's first masterpiece. In 1921,
Keaton married actress Natalie Talmadge, of the famous Talmadge sisters, who appeared
in several of his films.
Keaton excelled at physical, acrobatic stunts, and he was also a
pioneer in the use of multiple-exposure visual effects, dream sequences and other
photography tricks. For the next several years, Keaton wrote, directed and starred
in a series of films that have become silent comedy classics - "The Boat" (1921),
"The Playhouse" (1921), "The Blacksmith" (1922), "Cops" (1922), "The Electric House"
(1922), "The Paleface" (1922), "The Three Ages" (1923), "Our Hospitality" (1923),
"The Balloonatic" (1923), "The Navigator" (1924), "Sherlock, Jr." (1924), "Seven
Chances" (1925), "The Battling Butler" (1926), "College" (1927), "The General"
(1927), "The Cameraman" (1928), "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (1928) and "Spite Marriage" (1929).
The films typically portrayed Keaton, with his trademark porkpie
hat and expressionless face, battling some insurmountable adversity. As a director,
Keaton was a perfectionist who would never take a shortcut or cheat the audience
By the early 1930s, Keaton's physical health was deteriorating, in
part because of the many injuries he received during his performances, as was his
mental health, due to battles with alcohol and a second failed marriage. After
spending time in a psychiatric clinic, Keaton returned to films in smaller roles,
and as a writer and assistant director. After success in several stage appearances,
Keaton's career as a performer was revived in the late 1940s. Notable was Keaton's
performance in "Limelight" (1952), the only film in which Keaton and Charlie Chaplin
appeared together. Keaton also appeared in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" (1963)
and three teen beach movies -- "Pajama Party" (1964), "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini"
(1965) and "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965). Keaton was also the technical advisor
on his biography, "The Buster Keaton Story" (1957), which starred Donald O'Connor.
In 1960, Keaton received an honorary Academy Award, "for his unique
talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen."
Keaton was born Joseph Frank Keaton VI on Oct. 4, 1895, in
Piqua, KS. He died on Feb. 1, 1966, in Los Angeles, CA.
1895 - 1966
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