Buster Keaton
| Buster Keaton | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Joseph Frank Keaton October 4, 1895 Piqua, Kansas, United States |
| Died | February 1, 1966 (aged 70) Woodland Hills, California, United States |
| Cause of death | Lung cancer |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills |
| Occupation | Actor, director, producer, writer, stunt performer |
| Years active | 1898–1966 |
| Spouse(s) |
Natalie Talmadge (m. 1921; div. 1932) Mae Scriven (m. 1933; div. 1936) Eleanor Norris (m. 1940) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | |
 Interview with Buster Keaton, 37:56, Studs Terkel Radio Archive
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Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, director, producer, writer, and stunt performer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face." Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, [when] he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor–director in the history of the movies". His career declined afterward with a dispiriting loss of his artistic independence when he was hired by MGM, which resulted in a crippling alcoholism that ruined his family life. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career to a degree as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1959.
Many of Keaton's films from the 1920s, such as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), and The Cameraman (1928), remain highly regarded, with the second of these three widely viewed as his masterpiece. Among its strongest admirers was Orson Welles, who stated that The General was cinema's highest achievement in comedy, and perhaps the greatest film ever made. Keaton was recognized as the seventh-greatest film director by Entertainment Weekly, and in 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 21st greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in Piqua, Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Keaton (née Cutler), happened to go into labor. He was named "Joseph" to continue a tradition on his father's side (he was sixth in a line bearing the name Joseph Keaton) and "Frank" for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of his parents' union. Later, Keaton changed his middle name to "Francis". His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, who owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side.
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