Buster Keaton

Son of Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton.

Father, with Natalie Talmadge , of sons Buster Keaton Jr. and Bob Talmadge.

Older brother of Harry Keaton and Louise Keaton.

Unlike many silent movie stars, Buster was eager to go into sound considering he had a fine baritone voice with no speech impediments and years of stage experience, so dialogue was not a problem.

Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

Pictured on one of ten 29 US commemorative postage stamps celebrating stars of the silent screen, issued 27 April 1994. Designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld , this set of stamps also honored Rudolph Valentino , Clara Bow , Charles Chaplin , Lon Chaney , John Gilbert , Zasu Pitts , Harold Lloyd , Theda Bara and the Keystone Kops.

Fractured his neck while filming Sherlock Jr. and did not learn about it until a doctor saw X-rays of his neck during a routine physical examination many years later.

Died quietly at home, in his sleep, shortly after playing cards with his wife.

He was already quite sick with the cancer that would eventually kill him by the time he made his last completed film, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum . He used a stunt double in this film, as well as most of the films he made as an MGM contract player. Before signing with MGM in 1928, he had performed all of his own stunts, and even doubled for cast members in his own films, as in Sherlock Jr. , where he played both himself, riding on the handlebars of a motorcycle, and the man who falls off the back of there.

His mother was of British/German ancestry, and his father was of Scottish/Irish ancestry.

Because most of his childhood was spent in vaudeville with his parents, he had few peers. However, he enjoyed a more regular childhood during his familys annual summer getaways to an Actors Colony on Lake Michigan in Muskegon, MI. In fact, the city of Muskegon has erected a historical marker to note his stomping ground.

First married Mae Scriven in Mexico on January 1, 1932 before his divorce from Natalie Talmadge was final, then again legally in 1933.

He became an alcoholic when he his career collapsed around 1930, only kicking his habit and regaining his self-esteem when he married Eleanor Norris (Eleanor Keaton ), his wife from 1940 until his death in 1966.

Was voted the seventh Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him the highest rated comedy director. Charles Chaplin did not make the list.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 523-531. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

He was voted the 35th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

When he married Natalie Talmadge , the Talmadge family was one of the great acting dynasties in both theater and film, and the gossip in Hollywood was that Keaton married her to gain respect in the industry, a rumor he never quite lived down during his peak. Ironically, Keaton is now a film legend, while most people would be hard-pressed to answer who the Talmadges are.

Not only did Keaton do all his own stunts, but, when needed, he acted as a stunt double for other actors in the films.

He often surrounded himself with tall and heavyset actors in his films, typically as his antagonist, to make his character seem to be at as much of a physical disadvantage as possible. The similarly diminutive Charlie Chaplin (Charles Chaplin ) also did this.

The three top comedians in silent-era Hollywood were Keaton, Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. All three produced, controlled and owned their own films. Keaton was convinced to sell his studio and films to MGM in the 1920s, while Chaplin and Lloyd retained ownership of their films. Chaplin and Lloyd became wealthy, while Keaton endured years of financial and personal problems.

In one scene in Sherlock Jr. , filmed at a train station, Keaton was hanging from a tube connected to a water basin. The water poured out and washed him on to the track, fracturing his neck. This footage appears in the released film.

Was named the 21st Greatest Actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by the American Film Institute

Was hearing-impaired since 1918, after serving in Germany fighting World War I.

Met Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle for the first time strolling down Broadway in New York City. Arbuckle was with Keatons old vaudeville acquaintance Lou Anger , who introduced them. Arbuckle immediately asked Keaton to visit the Colony Studio, where he was set to begin a series of comedies for Joseph M. Schenck. The famous comedy team was born.

Loved to play baseball. He would sometimes play between takes on the movie set. Furthermore, for the annual Hollywood charity baseball game for Mt. Sinai Hospital in the 1930s, he always led the comedians team and developed comedy business on field with his writers.

Said he learned everything about moviemaking and comedy from Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle.

The Navigator was his most successful movie by gross revenue.

There is much legend regarding the conception of his nickname, Buster. Many attribute the name to the legendary Harry Houdini , who was the partner of Joe Keaton (Busters father) in the medicine-show group "Kathleen Marownen", after he saw a young Buster fall down a set of stairs without any injury. Others have said that it was Joe who conceived the name after he saw Busters accident, while still others say that Joe Keaton fabricated the incident for a good story to tell on vaudeville. Which of these stories is actually true is unknown.

He and his parents formed an acrobatic group called "The Three Keatons" in his early youth.

Wanted to become an engineer as a child.

His performance as Johnny Gray in The General (1926) is ranked #34 on Premiere magazines 100 Greatest Performances of All Time .

His last film work was The Railrodder , but because it was such a short film it was released before other movies, like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum , which had completed filming before "The Railrodder".

Is mentioned in the song "Cinma" by Paola Del Medico.

When he was three years old he got his right index finger caught in a clothes wringer and it was crushed and had to be amputated at the first knuckle. The injury is most clearly visible in The Garage , when Keaton steadies Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle s head with his right hand while wiping oil off his face with his left.

He died the same day as his The Stolen Jools , Speak Easily (1932) and Sunset Blvd. co-star Hedda Hopper.

In 1952 while remodeling his home, James Mason discovered several reels of Keatons "lost" films (Mason had purchased Keatons Hollywood mansion) and immediately recognized their historical significance. He took upon himself the responsibility for their preservation.

He is believed to be the first person to use "Buster" as a name, and popularized its usage ever after.

Keaton was one of the few actors who welcomed the advent of sound films. He knew his character didnt need dialog, but he looked forward to sound effects. "When somebody goes boom, they really go

Boom

" he once said.

Keaton, Charles Chaplin and Stan Laurel all referred to their screen characters as "The Little Fellow".

A baseball fanatic, Keaton not only held games between takes, but also incorporated it into applications for employment. According to legend, two of the questions on the application he used to hire actors read "Are you a good actor?" and "Are you a good baseball player?". Anyone who answered "Yes" to either had a job with Keaton.

He appears in four of the American Film Institutes 100 Funniest Movies: The General (1926) at #18, Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World at #40, Sherlock Jr. at #62 and The Navigator at #81.

Broke his ankle while filming The Electric House when he slipped on the escalator and was still recovering from it when he made The Play House (1921) in which his stunts were considered to be tamer than usual.

Ex-son-in-law of Margaret Talmadge.

Ex-brother-in-law of Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge.

On a whim, Keaton took crew member Edward Brophy and used him in a comedy role in The Cameraman . That decision launched Brophy on his own notable comedy career.

Acting mentor to comedienne Lucille Ball.

He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6619 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 6321 Hollywood Boulevard.

Most biographers overlook his appearance on the ABC-TV variety show "The Hollywood Palace" . At the end of the first winter-spring season, series producers Nick Vanoff and William O. Harbach scheduled the shows host Gene Barry with guest stars Keaton and Gloria Swanson to appear together in a comedy sketch. Keaton was at that time appearing in Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World . Bringing famous Hollywood film stars onto the show was the producers main goal. Getting Swanson and Keaton on the show was considered a coup and an opportunity to promote the film. The sketch starred Swanson as Cleopatra and Keaton as Marc Antony, staged on a stepped Roman platform terrace surrounded by a 20-inch-high parapet wall and Roman columns, with the pair falling in love. It was written by Joe Bigelow and Jay Burton , but director Grey Lockwood encouraged Swanson and Keaton to contribute any bits, routines and ideas that they wanted to, which they did. On the first day of rehearsal Swanson was on the stage, gazing up at the lighting fixtures overhead. She asked for lighting director Jack Denton to come to the stage, which he did, and Swanson began pointing out how she wanted which lights to focus on her and Keaton during the sketch--side light, key light, back light, which color gels to use, etc. Denton made sure that all of her suggestions were implemented. Keatons idea was that the sketch should end with "Antony" and "Cleopatra" sitting on the parapet wall bench, join hands, raising their legs high and falling backwards out of sight over the wall. He and Swanson rehearsed the fall several times, and did the stunt themselves when it came time to actually shoot the scene for the show.

Contributed gags to the Red Skelton film A Southern Yankee . No one could figure out a simple, yet funny way to get Aubrey out of the house when he was being held captive by the angry dog. Buster, employed by MGM as a roving gag man, was called to the set, looked at the set up, and came up with the idea of removing the door hinges and letting the dog in as Aubrey got out. The most famous gag in the movie took him all of five minutes to devise. Some of the other gags he contributed were some he had done himself years earlier.

David Jason is one of his biggest fans, and claims to channel him whenever he did his own stunts. He was quite honored when the Daily Mirror compared them.

Perhaps as a result of an accident that crushed his right index finger at age three, he developed the ability to use his right hand for certain tasks and his left hand for others. He wrote left-handed but played the ukulele right-handed. When he played baseball (his favorite sport), he threw right-handed and batted left-handed.

A heavy smoker for most of his life, he was diagnosed with lung cancer during the first week of January 1966 after a month-long coughing bout, but he was never told that he was terminally sick or that he had cancer, as his doctors feared that the news would be detrimental to his health. Keaton thought that he was recovering from a severe case of bronchitis. Despite his failing health, he was active and walking about almost until the day he died.

No man can be a genius in slapshoes and a flat hat.

Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot.

They forget you ever lived. It happens in Hollywood, too.

Think slow, act fast.

Silence is of the gods; only monkeys chatter.

All my life, I have been happiest when the folks watching me said to,each other, "Look at the poor dope, will ya?".

Not long ago, a friend asked me what was the greatest pleasure I got,from spending my whole life as an actor. There have been so many that I,had to think about that for a moment. Then I said, "Like everyone else,I like to be with a happy crowd. ".

Dumb show is best for screen people, if they must appear in public.

[on the advent of sound in the movies] In every picture it got tougher.

I always want the audience to out-guess me, and then I double-cross,them.

A comedian does funny things. A good comedian does things funny.

Pop made me the featured performer of our act when I was five. There,were dozens of other family acts in vaudeville at the turn of the,century, but none of the children in them was featured as early as,that. Many of those kids were very talented, and their parents were as,eager as mine to give them the same head start in show business that I,was getting. The reason managers approved of my being featured was,because I was unique, being at that time the only little hell-raising,Huck Finn type boy in vaudeville. The parents of the others presented,their boys as cute and charming Little Lord Fauntleroys. The girls were,Dolly Dimples types with long, golden curls. I doubt that any kid actor,had more attempts made to save him [by civic do-gooders] than did our,Little Buster. The reason of course was our slam-bang act. Even people,who most enjoyed our work marvelled when I was able to get up after my,bashing, crashing, smashing sessions with pop.

Railroads are a great prop. You can do some awful wild things with,railroads. .