Marriage: xxxx Ohio, USA: Record information. Buster Keaton's full name is Joseph Frank Keaton and his nickname is Buster Keaton. Aerial stuntmen and daredevils from around 1920s - 1940s. Peter Hogue wrote in Film Comment, "Keaton is astonishing not only for what he does as an actor within the frame, but also for what he does with frame in relation to the actor. Keaton had a hard time capturing the promise of Sherlock Jr. over the next few years. However, Keaton was always able to show the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones. Keaton kept trying to persuade his bosses to let him do things his way. He had his sound debut in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, then made eight more films under his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract. Born on October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas, as Joseph Francis Keaton. The sequence furnished one of the most memorable images of his career. In 1934, with his MGM contract now terminated, Keaton filed for bankruptcy. Her sister, Norma Talmadge, was married to Joseph Schenck, owner of Comique Films the company that Keaton managed. "[22], Keaton said he had so much fun that he sometimes began laughing as his father threw him across the stage. Two years later, he appeared with Charlie Chaplin for the only time in Limelight. He amazed the cast and crew by doing many of his own stunts, although the Thames Television documentary reported that his increasingly ill health did force the use of a stunt double for some scenes. A chance meeting with comedian Rosco "Fatty" Arbuckle led him to break that contract. This channel is dedicated to the genius of Buster Keaton and family. [19] Talmadge decided not to have any more children, banishing Keaton to a separate bedroom; he dated actresses Dorothy Sebastian and Kathleen Key during this period. Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd advised him against making the move, cautioning that he would lose his independence. I Image: Wikimedia Commons. That same year, he was put under contract by Educational Films and returned to making shorts. In 1949, Keaton appeared on television for the first time. After her step-grandmother Eleanor died in 1998, Cox became the family's Goodwill Ambassador on behalf of her Grandpa Buster. CAMERA MAN Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, . On May 31, 1921, Keaton was married time to Natalie Talmadge. Battling Butler (1926), a boxing movie, was a commercial success. Born into a vaudeville family, Keaton's career waned after his inked with MGM and lost his artistic . [57] In August 1960, Keaton played mute King Sextimus the Silent in the national touring company of the Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress. Buster Keaton Remembered. Joe Keaton owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini called the "Mohawk Indian Medicine Company", which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. Buster Keaton was one of three great silent film comedians (along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd). Educational primarily distributed short subjects; it is best known for its series of comedies starring Buster Keaton (1934-37) and the earliest screen appearances . Keaton then refused to appear at a publicity event, and was fired 48 hours later. [92] The marriage lasted until his death. Resuming his daily job as an MGM gag writer, he provided material for Red Skelton[48] and gave help and advice to Lucille Ball. . Man Humor. [8][9][10][11] Welles said Keaton "was beyond all praisea very great artist, and one of the most beautiful men I ever saw on the screen. [48] The screenplay, by Sidney Sheldon, who also directed the film, was loosely based on Keaton's life but contained many factual errors and merged his three wives into one character. Keaton suffered from several personal crises as well. Free shipping for many products! His father owned a traveling show called the 'Mohawk Indian Medicine Company' along with Harry Houdini. In his presentation for The General, filmmaker Orson Welles hailed Buster Keaton as "the greatest of all the clowns in the history of the cinema a supreme artist, and I think one of the most beautiful people who was ever photographed". [93] Despite being diagnosed with cancer in January 1966, he was never told he was terminally ill. Keaton thought that he was recovering from a severe case of bronchitis. After the child fell down a long flight of stairs without injury, an actor friend named George Pardey remarked, "Gee whiz, he's a regular buster! His distributor, United Artists, insisted on a production manager who monitored expenses and interfered with certain story elements. in Piqua, Kansas, USA , United States, Died on February 01, 1966 [45] In another telling, Keaton was fired after MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer "raided" Keaton's dressing room during a wild party with Keaton's "cronies and their girlfriends" and Keaton "angrily ordered Mayer to get out." In 1949, comedian Ed Wynn invited Keaton to appear on his CBS Television comedy-variety show, The Ed Wynn Show, which was televised live on the West Coast. After the company shut its doors in 1937, Keaton was re-signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but only as a gagman. He appeared in a total of 14 Arbuckle shorts, running into 1920. An unnamed author of Keaton's obituary in Variety, wrote, "The secret to his lasting success as a master comedian was his universally recognized character - the unhappy, doleful fall guy to whom 'everything' happened. Production head Irving Thalberg would not permit Keaton to create a script from scratch because the studio had already purchased a stage property, Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath, at the suggestion of Lawrence Weingarten, who was Thalberg's brother-in-law and Keaton's producer. In Seven Chances (1925), he faces a rockslide. The young Keaton goaded his father by disobeying him, and the elder Keaton responded by throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. Cox moved with her family to Cloverdale in the . Shortly after his son's birth, Joseph Keaton changed his son's name to Joseph Francis Keaton. Noticing that this caused the audience to laugh less, he adopted his famous deadpan expression when performing. Keaton became the new head of the company, which was owned by Joseph Schenck (who later became Keaton's brother in law). Photograph: Ronald Grant. The following year, United Artists hired Keaton; he made ten shorts in the next two years. [16][17][18] According to a frequently repeated story, which may be apocryphal,[19] Keaton acquired the nickname Buster at the age of 18 months. "stuntmen don't get you laughs," Keaton had said.[43]. At my studio they would have the characters I wanted in 10 minutes. In addition to appearing in numerous commercials (including one for Alka-Seltzer), Keaton made many guest appearances in both comedies and dramas. Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Edith Cutler, happened to go into labor. In 1933, he married his nurse Mae Scriven during an alcoholic binge about which he afterwards claimed to remember nothing. Later, the family had two more children. [42] MGM refused, because the film was more valuable in silent form; it could be shown around the world in theaters that had not converted to sound. Keaton thought the premise was totally unsuitable, and was uncomfortable with his directors Jules White and Zion Myers, who emphasized blunt slapstick. His great period began in 1923 when he appeared in The Three Ages and a year later he made a full length comedy . Keaton's character emerged unscathed, due to a single open window. A scene from Steamboat Bill, Jr. required Keaton to stand still on a particular spot. But not MGM. Harry N. Abrams, 2001, pg. Later, Keaton changed his middle name to "Francis". A great primer about the history of Buster Keaton b. It marked the first time that a character walks off a movie screen and into "real life." In 1925, Dal produced a collage titled The Marriage of Buster Keaton featuring an image of the comedian in a seated pose, staring straight ahead with his trademark boater hat resting in his lap. The grandchildren delighted in deliberately mentioning Buster's name. Brother of Harry Stanley Keaton and Louise J. Keaton. Adding to his mystique was a background on the vaudeville stage with all its tricks and sleight of hand. Joseph Frank Keatonthe silent film star belovedly known as Busterwas born the same year, 1895, that the Lumire brothers unveiled the first moving pictures to an audience of stunned Parisians. $49.99. In 1950, he played himself in Sunset Boulevard. Service.[73]. Keaton then moved to full-length features. [54] In a series of silent television commercials for Simon Pure Beer made in 1962 by Jim Mohr in Buffalo, New York, Keaton revisited some of the gags from his silent film days. [22] Decades later, Keaton said that he was never hurt by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution. In 2022, two works on Keaton appeared within a month of each other. However, Thalberg did allow Keaton to stage the gags, including long stretches of pantomime, and agreed to send a crew to Keaton's own mansion for exterior shots. Buster joined his family's act at a very young age. Born into a performing family, Keaton's father Joe owned a traveling vaudeville show with Record information. Who are Buster Keaton grandchildren? Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Buster Keaton With Dog Rare Candid 8x10 Photo at the best online prices at eBay! [101], In his essay Film-arte, film-antiartstico, artist Salvador Dal declared the works of Keaton to be prime examples of "anti-artistic" filmmaking, calling them "pure poetry". In 1920, Keaton made his first full-length feature, The Saphead, playing the straight man, Bertie "The Lamb" Van Alstyne. No Beer? [4] In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, writing that "More than Chaplin, Keaton understood movies: He knew they consisted of a four-sided frame in which resided a malleable reality off which his persona could bounce. BUSTER KEATON is an adoptable Dog - Schnauzer searching for a forever family near Atlanta, GA. Use Petfinder to find adoptable pets in your area. Confined to a hospital during his final days, Keaton was restless and paced the room endlessly, desiring to return home. By the time he was five, Buster was formally added to the family act and instantly made "The Three Keatons" a success. MGM also forced Keaton to use a stunt double during some of the more dangerous scenes, something he had never done in his heyday, as MGM wanted badly to protect its investment. The director was usually Jules White, whose emphasis on slapstick and farce made most of these films resemble White's famous Three Stooges shorts. This was witnessed by the magician Harry Houdini (or, some say, actor George Pardey), who christened the hearty boy Buster. He was named "Joseph" to continue a tradition on his father's sidehe was sixth in a line bearing the name Joseph Keatonand "Frank" for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of the parents' union. He was soon offered a role in a Broadway show, The Passing Show of 1917, for the princely sum of $250 per week. On February 1, 1966, Keaton died of lung cancer in Woodland Hills, California. Genealogy for Joseph Frank Keaton, VI (1895 - 1966) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. [104], Keaton's Sherlock Jr., in which he walks into the movie he is projecting, was an influence Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, in which a character walks out of a movie and into real life. Fairbanks recommended Keaton to take the role[citation needed] for the remake five years later, since the film was to have a comic slant. During this period, he made another film in England, The Invader (released in the United States as An Old Spanish Custom in 1936).[45]. "[40], When the studio began making talking films, Keaton was enthused about the new technology and wanted to make his next film, Spite Marriage, with sound. It was followed a month later by James Curtis' biography Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life. Dedicated to bringing greater public attention to Keaton's life and work, the membership includes many individuals from the television and film industry: actors, producers, authors, artists, graphic novelists, musicians, and designers, as well as those who simply admire the magic of Buster Keaton. He lost creative control of his pictures, and, like his father before him, developed a nasty drinking problem. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1959. Actor: The General. [21] In Keaton's retelling, he was six months old when the incident occurred, and Harry Houdini gave him the nickname (though the family did not get to know Houdini until later). Like Arbuckle before him, Keaton began directing films that he appeared in. In 1920, The Saphead was released, in which Keaton had his first starring role in a full-length feature. He was forced to make several films as a straight man to Jimmy Durante, including Free and Easy (1930). [71] Keaton directed the film, along with Edward F. Cline. This combination of talents proved felicitous when Keaton inevitably aged out of the family act and started making movies. It is the angle that you remember: the figure perfectly straight but tilted forward, like the Spirit of Ecstasy on the hood of a Rolls-Royce [in The Three Ages], he drives a low-grade automobile over a bump in the road, and the car just crumbles beneath him. He was 70 years old. [49], Keaton accepted various character roles in both "A" and "B" features. [96] Keaton has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: 6619 Hollywood Boulevard (for motion pictures); and 6225 Hollywood Boulevard (for television). That's the way it always had been, until his mother . [3][4] 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". His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, a native of Vigo County, Indiana. Keaton found his footing with his next film, One Week (1920), which focused on the tribulations of a do-it-yourself house. (1933). His life quickly spiraled downward. Whenever a TV show wanted to simulate silent-movie comedy, Keaton answered the call and guested in such successful series as The Ken Murray Show, You Asked for It, and The Garry Moore Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show. None of them were very good. I said, 'I'd like to do something with a drunk and a fat lady and a kid. During his first meeting with Arbuckle, he was asked to jump in and start acting. the Number One enemy by giving generously te the Heart Fuad. $49.99 [32], Aside from Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Keaton's most enduring feature-length films include Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924), Sherlock Jr. (1924), Seven Chances (1925), The Cameraman (1928), and The General (1926). During the railroad water-tank scene in Sherlock Jr., Keaton broke his neck when a torrent of water fell on him from a water tower, but he did not realize it until years afterwards. Known as "The Great Stone Face," Keaton got big laughs out of his relentlessly blank expression in silent film comedies like The Saphead (1920), Sherlock, Jr. (1924), and his famous The General (1927). He was also a great director. On May 29, 1940, Keaton married Eleanor Norris, who was 23 years his junior. New York: St. Martin's Press. Keaton's wife Eleanor also was seen in the series (notably as Juliet to Keaton's Romeo in a little-theater vignette). Son of Joseph Frank Hallie Keaton and Myra Edith Keaton [69] Other favorite targets were cinematic plots, structures and devices. Three Kids. Keaton managed to get his drinking under control by 1934, after a short time in Europe where he appeared in several films including Le roi des Champs-Elyses (1934). Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life. Despite Renewed Interest, Only a Handful of Buster Keaton's Classic Comedies Are on Tape", "Buster Keaton For Simon Pure Beer Brookston Beer Bulletin", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)", "Buster Keaton in Maryvale, Arizona in 1961", "Buster Keaton at Maryvale Shopping City in 1961", "Buster Keaton at the Bowlero in 1961, Maryvale, Arizona", "Buster Keaton at the Lantern Inn in 1961, Maryvale, Arizona", "Buster Keaton Rides Again: Return of 'The Great Stone Face', "Why Buster Keaton is today's most influential actor", "The City of Beverly Hills: Historic Resources Inventory (19851986)", "Interviews: Melissa Talmadge Cox (Buster Keaton's Granddaughter)", "Buster Keaton's Second Wife Sues Him for Divorce", "Buster Keaton, 70, Dies on Coast. 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