Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton (1895-1966), American actor and silent-film comic, whose deadpan expressions and remarkable sense of timing made him one of the most popular and inventive comedians of the silent era.

Born Joseph Francis Keaton in Piqua, Kansas, he was the son of touring vaudeville performers, with whom he first appeared on stage at the age of three; he continued to perform with the Three Keatons for almost 20 years. Keaton began his film career in 1917, supporting the established comedian Fatty Arbuckle in The Butcher Boy, and over three years he made more than 12 other short films. When Arbuckle signed for Paramount in 1920, his producer, Joseph Schenck, decided to set up a new production unit and make films with Keaton, whom he recognized as a rising talent. They completed 20 short films—many of great brilliance—in three years, and with the freedom to write, develop, and direct his own material, Keaton flourished. He created the distinctive persona that would thereafter characterize his work: the quiet, undemonstrative, determined man with a blank countenance (he was sometimes called the “Great Stone Face”) who seemed oblivious to danger and stoically able to endure endless frustrations. Keaton adapted easily to the film medium, mastering its techniques and revelling in the opportunities they offered for creating unique comic effects.

His first feature-length film was The Saphead (1920), but more notable early efforts were The Three Ages (1923) and Our Hospitality (1923). In 1924 he created the first of what are considered his masterpieces, Sherlock, Jr., a fantasy in which a projectionist falls asleep and dreams himself onto the screen. This was closely followed by The Navigator (1924), Seven Chances (1925), The General (1927), and Steamboat Bill (1927), among others. The General, with its mock-heroic plot and meticulously realized American Civil War setting, is often considered his greatest work. In 1928, Schenck sold Keaton's contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and Keaton's decline began. Although The Cameraman (1928) was a solid feature, studio demands, denial of autonomy, and Keaton's own alcoholism encroached steadily on the quality of his later films, among them Doughboys (1930), Sidewalks of New York (1931), and Speak Easily (1932), in which he was teamed unsuccessfully with Jimmy Durante.

By the mid-1930s, as Keaton faced increasing personal problems, he could only find work in mediocre films, and by the end of the decade he was reduced to playing minor roles and carrying out writing assignments. Television offered him a new arena, and for a time he had his own half-hour TV series. In addition, he worked on commercials and made a few cameo appearances in films such as Sunset Boulevard (1950), Limelight (1952), in which he made his only on-screen appearance with Charlie Chaplin, and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). The decade also saw a renewal of interest in Keaton as his films began to be re-released in cinemas. In 1959 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences belatedly acknowledged his contribution to the industry with an honorary Academy Award “for his unique talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen”. In the 1960s demand for Keaton returned, and he made personal appearances and acted in a number of films, most memorably in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).