The "Great Stone Face" died in 1966, aged 70. In Seven Chances (1925), he faces a rockslide. Meanwhile, the eldest scion of "fun's funniest family" traveled on to New York and Ehrich House, where he arrived, according to his datebook, on January 18, 1917. . login . Harry Keaton Jr., nephew of Buster Keaton, talks about how famiy members have reunited at various Keaton festivals during a panel discussion featuring Keaton family members in person and appearing virtually on a screen. "[20]:17 After this, Keaton's father began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster. As a baby, he tumbled all the way down a flight of stairs to the landing below. During his first meeting with Arbuckle, he was asked to jump in and start acting. [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. It soon. Then, the facade of a two-story building toppled forward on top of Keaton. At the end of the day, he asked to borrow one of the cameras to get a feel for how it worked. [72] Audiences of the 1920s recognized the parody and thought the film hysterically funny. The program always includes talks by Keaton expertsincluding family memberssocial events and film screenings. The audience roared. "Introduction." The spectacular stunt cost $42,000 to makea huge amount at the time. He lost creative control of his pictures, and, like his father before him, developed a nasty drinking problem. Buster Keaton. Six of his films have been included in the National Film Registry, making him one of the most honored filmmakers on that list: One Week (1920), Cops (1922), Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr., and The Cameraman (both 1928)[97], A 1957 film biography, The Buster Keaton Story, starring Donald O'Connor as Keaton was released. Though The General (1926) was successful in retrospect, at the time it was critically derided. $49.99 Over time, things grew unpleasant between Buster and his dad . From left is Harry Keaton Jr.'s daughter, Lisa Geisler, and Keaton celebration committee chairman Frank Scheide. [53] Keaton also found steady work as an actor in TV commercials for Colgate, Alka-Seltzer, U.S. Steel, 7-Up, RCA Victor, Phillips 66, Milky Way, Ford Motors, Minute Rub, and Budweiser, among others. [24] Despite tangles with the law, Keaton was a rising star in the theater. Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat. [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". Username and password are case sensitive. Sherlock Jr. will be Keaton's most enduring commentary on the art of cinema. "[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. Critics rediscovered Keaton in 1949 and producers occasionally hired him for bigger "prestige" pictures. In the first Keaton pictures with sound, he and his fellow actors would shoot each scene three times: once in English, once in Spanish, and once in either French or German. He was a student at Blackfox Military Academy and a graduate of Santa Monica High School. [69] When Keaton transposed his experience in vaudeville to film, in many works he parodied melodramas. "[31] The more adventurous ideas called for dangerous stunts, performed by Keaton at great physical risk. 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. The seemingly indestructible man married actress Natalie Talmadge in 1921, though wedded bliss did not last long. His wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. In the end, I gave up like a fool and said 'what the hell?' Noticing that this caused the audience to laugh less, he adopted his famous deadpan expression when performing. Two years later, he appeared with Charlie Chaplin for the only time in Limelight. Era By BOB THOMAS H list grows thin. A century has passed since Buster Keaton entered the plum decade of his career. Sarah Porter , Joseph Judson, Isabeau de DAMPIERRE , John de FIENNES, Brangre de CASTILLE , Alfonse Ix de CASTILLE. [56] In December 1958, Keaton was a guest star in the episode "A Very Merry Christmas" of The Donna Reed Show on ABC. Natalie would glare and fly into a rage. [74][75] Critic and film historian Imogen Sara Smith stated about Keaton's style: "the coolness and subtlety of his style [is] very cinematic in terms of recognising that the camera can pick up very, very small effects".[74]. Get 'em for me.' [38] But, given Schenck's desire to keep things "in the family" and Keaton's having to admit that his independent pictures hadn't done well, Keaton agreed to sign with MGM. Buster Keaton With Family Rare Candid 8x10 Photo. After Robert's birth, the marriage began to suffer. Rami Malek and Buster Keaton Samir Hussein/WireImage/John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images. But not MGM. 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. Joseph Frank Keaton IV was born October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas. Reaction was strong enough for a local Los Angeles station to offer Keaton his own show, also broadcast live, in 1950. Look at his faceas beautiful but as inhuman as a butterflyand you see that utter failure to identify sentiment. [92] The marriage lasted until his death. James Curtis. 'Camera Man' unspools the colorful life of silent film star Buster Keaton: By age 5, Keaton was a star in his family's vaudeville act; he went on to star in and direct silent films, performing jaw . This was witnessed by the magician Harry Houdini (or, some say, actor George Pardey), who christened the hearty boy Buster. Irving was usually on my side, but this time he said, 'Larry likes it. 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. With complete artistic control, he developed his own working methodology and made about two pictures per year. [7] The General is viewed as his masterpiece: Orson Welles considered it "the greatest comedy ever madeand perhaps the greatest film ever made". He was every member of the audience as well as every performer. This combination of talents proved felicitous when Keaton inevitably aged out of the family act and started making movies. The high point in the Educational series is Grand Slam Opera (1936), featuring Keaton in his own screenplay as an amateur-hour contestant. [19] He was briefly institutionalized, according to the Turner Classic Movies documentary So Funny It Hurt. During this period, he made another film in England, The Invader (released in the United States as An Old Spanish Custom in 1936).[45]. A scene from Steamboat Bill, Jr. required Keaton to stand still on a particular spot. A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the constant tossing. From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis--a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern--and irresistible--today as they . The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. His parents were part of a traveling vaudeville act, and at the age of four he joined them, subsequently becoming known as . After this failure, Schenck sold his contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where his son, Nicholas, just happened to be in charge. Keaton was one of silent film's most famous comedians; his popularity waned in the 1930s, but he made a nostalgic flurry of films before his 1966 death. Buster KEATON from tree Compton-Queen Family Tree_2011-02-01. $49.99. Born Joseph Keaton (the sixth in a line of Joseph Keatons) in Piqua, Kansas on October 1, 1895, Buster had the delightful fortune of being born in the right place at the right time. He was 70 years old. Buster Keaton's full name is Joseph Frank Keaton and his nickname is Buster Keaton. I just stood there, and everybody is hassling. Piqua, Kansas's greatest claim to fame is that it's the birthplace of Buster Keaton. Keaton found his footing with his next film, One Week (1920), which focused on the tribulations of a do-it-yourself house. Early Days in Vaudeville - 1895-1917. By Kelly Braun. Childhood & Early Life. By the time he was 9, his reputation as a performer had reached both coasts of the US, which Stevens' details alongside evolving child abuse and labor law reform in . [78], Buster Keaton's comedy endures not just because he had a face that belongs on Mount Rushmore, at once hauntingly immovable and classically American, but because that face was attached to one of the most gifted actors and directors who ever graced the screen. Vance, Jeffrey. Keaton then refused to appear at a publicity event, and was fired 48 hours later. Advertisement. Several factors, other than the loss of creative control, contributed to Keaton's downward spiral in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The one-story house, built in 1947, was bought with the $50,000 given to Buster by Paramount for the screen rights to his life story. Neibaur, James L. and Terri Niemi (2013). He opened his jacket and he was all bruised. The sequence furnished one of the most memorable images of his career. Keaton kept trying to persuade his bosses to let him do things his way. 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