Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton
Keaton in 1920
Born
Joseph Frank Keaton

(1895-10-04)October 4, 1895
Piqua, Kansas, U.S.
DiedFebruary 1, 1966(1966-02-01) (aged 70)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • filmmaker
  • stuntman
Years active1899–1966
WorksFull list
Spouses
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​
(m. 1921; div. 1932)​
Mae Scriven
​
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(m. 1933; div. 1936)​
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(m. 1940)​
Children2
Parents

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966)[1] was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker.[2] He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently maintained a stoic, deadpan facial expression that became his trademark and earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".[3][4]

Keaton was a child vaudeville star, performing as part of his family's traveling act. As an adult, he began working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline, with whom he made a series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), and The Electric House (1922). He then moved to feature-length films; several of them, such as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), and The Cameraman (1928), remain highly regarded.[5] The General is perhaps his most acclaimed work; Orson Welles considered it "the greatest comedy ever made...and perhaps the greatest film ever made".[6][7][8][9]

Keaton's career declined after 1928, when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and lost his artistic independence. His first wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. He was fired from MGM in 1933, ending his career as a leading man in feature films. He recovered in the 1940s, marrying Eleanor Norris and working as an honored comic performer until the end of his life. During this period, he made cameos in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950), Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952), Samuel Beckett's Film (1965) and a variety of television programs. He earned an Academy Honorary Award in 1959.

Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies".[4] In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, stating that "his films offer belly laughs of mind-boggling physical invention and a spacey determination that nears philosophical grandeur."[10] In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.[11]

  1. ^ Meade, Marion (1997). Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase. Da Capo. p. 16. ISBN 0-306-80802-1.
  2. ^ Obituary Variety, February 2, 1966, page 63.
  3. ^ Barber, Nicholas (January 8, 2014). "Deadpan but alive to the future: Buster Keaton the revolutionary". The Independent. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  4. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (November 10, 2002). "The Films of Buster Keaton". Archived from the original on November 3, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  5. ^ "Buster Keaton's Acclaimed Films". They Shoot Pictures, Don't They. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  6. ^ "Sight & Sound Critics' Poll (2002): Top Films of All Time". Sight & Sound via Mubi.com. Archived from the original on January 29, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  7. ^ "Votes for The General (1924)". British Film Institute. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  8. ^ Andrew, Geoff (January 23, 2014). "The General: the greatest comedy of all time?". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  9. ^ Orson Welles interview, from the Kino November 10, 2009 Blu-Ray edition of The General
  10. ^ EW Staff (April 19, 1996). "The 50 Greatest Directors and Their 100 Best Movies". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  11. ^ "AFI Recognizes the 50 Greatest American Screen Legends" (Press release). American Film Institute. June 16, 1999. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2013.