When Arbuckle left to make features for Paramount, Keaton took over the company with Joseph Schenck handling the business end of things as he had for Arbuckle.Īfter appearing in shorts like "One Week" (1920) and "Convict 13" (1920) without Arbuckle, Keaton made his first feature, "The Saphead" (1920), which launched his career and turned him into a star. From his first days before Arbuckle's camera, Keaton understood that film demanded a more subtle acting style than had the stage, and in contrast to his fellow performers' extravagance, he was quiet, controlled, unhurried, economical and accurate. Upon his return to the States, Keaton resumed his career with Arbuckle and appeared in such silent comedies as "Out West" (1918), "Back Stage" (1918), "The Hayseed" (1919) and "The Garage" (1920). Keaton failed to see any action, but suffered an ear infection that permanently damaged his hearing. He and Arbuckle became fast friends, though their collaboration was delayed when Keaton was drafted into the army during World War I and was posted in France with the 40th Infantry.
Now on his own, Keaton earned $250 a week in the Broadway show "The Passing Show of 1917," but broke his contract upon meeting Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and appearing in his first film, "The Butcher Boy" (1917). Keaton worked with his parents nearly 20 years until his father's excessive drinking led to the breakup of the act. Tossed about by his father in the most physical of acts, he soon developed a knack for falling coupled with his signature impassivity, a theatrical contrivance - very much in contrast with his off-stage demeanor - which he maintained throughout his life. Whatever the origins, the Keatons struggled prior to Buster coming on board, but became a success soon after he joined the show. According to legend, the great Harry Houdini, seeing the youngster take a fall down the stairs, remarked, "That's some buster your kid took." True or not, the nickname stuck and Houdini took credit for coining it throughout his life, though other sources indicated actor George Pardey made the comment, as the Keatons had not yet met Houdini.
By the age of three, Keaton had joined his mother and father in their traveling show, rechristened The Three Keatons, although keeping him working earned the constant scrutiny of the Gerry Society, the turn-of-the-century child labor authorities. 4, 1895 in Piqua, KS, Keaton was raised by his father, Joseph, and his mother, Myra, both of whom where vaudeville performers. But Keaton made a resurgence decades later after numerous attempts at a comeback, starring opposite Chaplin in "Limelight" (1952) and becoming a frequent guest star on a several popular shows, which helped keep his name alive and assure his place in cinema history.īorn on Oct. He made the transition to talkies with "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" (1929), but suffered from bouts of alcoholism and other personal problems that eventually relegated him to little more than a gagman. Keaton directed and starred in his greatest achievement, "The General" (1927), which was panned by critics at the time and was a major box office flop, but later gained a reputation for being one of the best films made during the silent era. In fact, his daring comic stunts, which he performed himself without camera trickery, quickly became the stuff of legend in films like "One Week" (1920), "The Three Ages" (1923), "Sherlock, Jr." (1924) and "The Navigator" (1924). Coming into prominence at the same time as Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, Keaton - whose deadpan expressions to the onscreen comic disasters that befell him earned him the sobriquet "The Great Stone Face" - became one of the most popular and successful comic actors of the silent era.
A vaudeville star before the age of 10, Buster Keaton was preparing to make his Broadway debut in 1917 when a meeting with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle changed both the course of his life and the history of cinema forever.
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