$49.99. [25], Keaton served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France with the United States Army's 40th Infantry Division during World War I. that he was soon Arbuckle's second director and his entire gag department. Keatan balanced his work in front and behind the camera very well. once in English, once in Spanish, and once in either French or German, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), "Deadpan but alive to the future: Buster Keaton the revolutionary", "The 50 Greatest Directors and Their 100 Best Movies", "AFI Recognizes the 50 Greatest American Screen Legends", "The General: the greatest comedy of all time? He appeared in the early television series Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town. Still, he continued to find new situations in which to put his long-suffering face. Keaton's loss of independence as a filmmaker coincided with the coming of sound films (although he was interested in making the transition) and mounting personal problems, and his career in the early sound era was hurt as a result. Csblnc Flashback Open.mov. Buster that the judge thought my mother was the bride! 'tendell of Pittsburgh Gas Com- ern District Grand Lodge of.^, 1, Col. 8) KOONEY Shucked By Tragedy HOLLYWOOD deadpan comedian. "[76] Gilberto Perez commented on "Keaton's genius as an actor to keep a face so nearly deadpan and yet render it, by subtle inflections, so vividly expressive of inner life. The seemingly indestructible man married actress Natalie Talmadge in 1921, though wedded bliss did not last long. When she saw the little house, she flew into a rage: she thought the house was much too small, with no place for servants. Most of these parodies targeted acts with which Keaton had shared the bill. No Beer? Lost after the comedy epic's "roadshow" exhibition, the audio of that scene was discovered and combined with still pictures to recreate the scene.). He made his last starring feature, El Moderno Barba Azul (1946), in Mexico; the film was a low-budget production, and it may not have been seen in the United States until its release on VHS in the 1980s, under the title Boom in the Moon. [96] Keaton has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: 6619 Hollywood Boulevard (for motion pictures); and 6225 Hollywood Boulevard (for television). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The giant studio was run along strict factory lines, with everything planned and budgeted in advance. He was, in fact, the star and a skilled acrobat. By 1935, this second marriage had ended in divorce. and it would just be this wonderful, inventive stuff.[66]. Well into his fifties, Keaton successfully recreated his old routines, including one stunt in which he propped one foot onto a table, then swung the second foot up next to it and held the awkward position in midair for a moment before crashing to the stage floor. They eventually had two sons, Joseph and Robert. Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century. With The Frozen North and The Playhouse. Record information. . The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. [109] In honor of the event, the City of Los Angeles declared the date "Buster Keaton Day."[110]. 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 . It was not released until 1921. Keaton's contract with MGM was ended in 1933. That same year, he was put under contract by Educational Films and returned to making shorts. In 2023, Keatons life and work was depicted in the graphic novel biography Buster: A Life in Pictures written by Ryan Barnett and illustrated by Matthew Tavares. Buster Keaton and Marceline Day in The Cameraman, 1928. I just stood there, and everybody is hassling. Geni requires JavaScript! He was forced to make several films as a straight man to Jimmy Durante, including Free and Easy (1930). Keaton's personal favorite was the series' debut, Pest from the West, a shorter, tighter remake of Keaton's little-viewed 1934 feature The Invader; it was directed not by White but by Del Lord, a veteran director for Mack Sennett. He was a student at Blackfox Military Academy and a graduate of Santa Monica High School. Keaton's last commercial film appearance was in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), which was filmed in Spain in SeptemberNovember 1965. The series benefited from a company of veteran actors, including Marcia Mae Jones as the ingenue, Iris Adrian, Dick Wessel, Fuzzy Knight, Dub Taylor, Philip Van Zandt, and his silent-era contemporaries Harold Goodwin, Hank Mann, and stuntman Harvey Parry. "The Three Keatons," a poor vaudeville family consisting of Joe, his wife Myra and their seven-year-old son Buster, arrive in Fargo, North Dakota on a snowy winter's day in 1904, with dreams of becoming stars. 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. A scene from Steamboat Bill, Jr. required Keaton to stand still on a particular spot. [24] Despite tangles with the law, Keaton was a rising star in the theater. [69] Other favorite targets were cinematic plots, structures and devices. Who was I to say I was right and everyone was wrong? . [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. (Read Lillian Gish's 1929 Britannica essay on silent film.) [20]:18, At the age of three, Keaton began performing with his parents in The Three Keatons. Keaton became the new head of the company, which was owned by Joseph Schenck (who later became Keaton's brother in law). Keaton then refused to appear at a publicity event, and was fired 48 hours later. [100] Hirschfeld said that modern film stars were more difficult to depict, that silent film comedians such as Laurel and Hardy and Keaton "looked like their caricatures". Keaton then moved to full-length features. Buster Keaton. 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. [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". The General, set during the American Civil War, combined physical comedy with Keaton's love of trains,[33] including an epic locomotive chase. [51] Keaton had prints of the features Three Ages, Sherlock Jr., Steamboat Bill, Jr., and College (missing one reel), and the shorts "The Boat" and "My Wife's Relations", which Keaton and Rohauer then transferred to Cellulose acetate film from deteriorating nitrate film stock. "[12] In 2018, Peter Bogdanovich released The Great Buster: A Celebration, a tribute to Keaton featuring Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Werner Herzog and Quentin Tarantino, among others. In Seven Chances (1925), he faces a rockslide. It's just where his parents, two traveling vaudevillians, happened to be performing. [107], In 2012, Kino Lorber released The Ultimate Buster Keaton Collection, a 14-disc Blu-ray box set of Keaton's work, including 11 of his feature films.[108]. Melissa Talmadge Cox is the granddaughter of Buster Keaton and a long time resident of Cloverdale. [92] The marriage lasted until his death. I n the shadow of a massive dune known as Pigeon Hill. 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. His first was a parody of the famous D.W. Griffith film Intolerance (1916), entitled The Three Ages. The 21st Annual International Buster Keaton Convention will be held Oct 2-3, in Muskegon, MI, and The Humphrey Bogart Film Festival will be held October 21-25, in Key Largo, FL. Why did Buster Keaton stop making movies? A scene from "Our Hospitality," the feature film at the 2013 Buster Keaton Convention in Muskegon. [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. In In the Good Old Summertime, Keaton personally directed the stars Judy Garland and Van Johnson in their first scene together, where they bump into each other on the street. ", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Keaton, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/buster-keaton.html, http://www.biography.com/articles/Buster-Keaton-9361442, http://www.answers.com/topic/buster-keaton. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend . Upon Keaton's return to Hollywood in 1934, he made a screen comeback in two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures. Other significant film appearances included Around the World in 80 Days (1956), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), and War Italian Style (1966). On February 14, 2007, James Talmadge (born Joseph Talmadge Keaton) passed away peacefully with his wife of 63 years, the love of his life, Barbara Talmadge, by his side. Diane Keaton knew she made the best decision of her life when she pursued adoption more than two decades ago. Sherlock Jr. will be Keaton's most enduring commentary on the art of cinema. Keaton was born into a vaudeville family. His third wife was a dancer named Eleanor Ruth Norris. Buster Keaton's full name is Joseph Frank Keaton and his nickname is Buster Keaton. Working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline, Keaton made a series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), and The Electric House (1922). [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. Buster William Keaton Sr. from tree Keaton Family Tree. He had a cameo as Jimmy, appearing near the end of the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). Buster Keaton, original name Joseph Frank Keaton IV, (born October 4, 1895, Piqua, Kansas, U.S.died February 1, 1966, Woodland Hills, California), American film comedian and director, the "Great Stone Face" of the silent screen, known for his deadpan expression and his imaginative and often elaborate visual comedy. [2] He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Keaton had never paid much attention to the business side of the film industry, and he paid a hefty price. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the latest celebrity news, but don't worry we have you covered. Keaton parodied the tired formula of the melodramatic transformation from bad guy to good guy, which Hart's characters went through, known as "the good badman". On June 16, 2018, the International Buster Keaton Society laid a four-foot plaque in honor of both Keaton and Charles Chaplin on the corner of the shared block (1021 Lillian Ave) where each had made many of their silent comedies in Hollywood. He first appeared on stage in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware. 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. TCM voice-over, October 2011, "Buster Keaton Month". Ex-husband of Natalie Talmadge and Mae Elizabeth Keaton Lewis was particularly moved by the fact that Eleanor said his eyes looked like Keaton's. Scriven claimed that she didn't know Keaton's real first name until after the marriage. Keaton, however, did not own any part of the company. He is the first action hero; to be precise, he is a small, pale-faced American who is startled, tripped, drenched and inspired into becoming a hero. [61][62][63][64][65], Meanwhile, Keaton's big-screen career continued. When the Educational series lapsed in 1937, Keaton returned to MGM as a gag writer, supplying material for the final three Marx Brothers MGM films: At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940), and The Big Store (1941); these were not as artistically successful as the Marxes' previous MGM features. The first of MGM's Keaton films was The Cameraman (1928), and Keaton sensed trouble immediately when he saw the script. Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat. [73] The film's opening intertitles give it its mock-serious tone, and are taken from "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" by Robert W. You are the only one who doesn't.' The oldest son of Joseph and Myra Keaton, who were stage comedians. Keaton played every role in the movie, which was set in a theater. 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. The following year, United Artists hired Keaton; he made ten shorts in the next two years. She filed for divorce in 1935 after finding him with Leah Clampitt Sewell, the wife of millionaire Barton Sewell,[88] in a hotel in Santa Barbara. That's the way it always had been, until his mother . Keaton was such a natural in his first film, The Butcher Boy, he was hired on the spot. Keaton was convinced to star in a short film with Arbuckle, called The Butcher Boy (1917). He ran to meet misfortune and never failed to make connections. [94] He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.[95]. He'd say, "How about this?" Harry N. Abrams, 2001, pg. The act was mainly a comedy sketch. The program also promoted the release of the biographical film The Buster Keaton Story with Donald O'Connor. 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. Joseph Frank Keaton IV was born October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas. In 1914, he told the Detroit News: "The secret is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. Filmmaker Mel Brooks has credited Keaton as a major influence, saying: "I owe (Buster) a lot on two levels: One for being such a great teacher for me as a filmmaker myself, and the other just as a human being watching this gifted person doing these amazing things. On May 31, 1921, Keaton was married time to Natalie Talmadge. . Later, Keaton changed his middle name to "Francis". So that's how he did itit hurtbut you had to care enough not to care. 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. Two of his best films were made in 1924. Comment. 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! Look at his faceas beautiful but as inhuman as a butterflyand you see that utter failure to identify sentiment. [57] In August 1960, Keaton played mute King Sextimus the Silent in the national touring company of the Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress. Throughout the story, a simple good-guys-versus-bad-guys schema is applied to the Civil War, with the Confederates being the good guys, and Johnnie's hometown of Marietta depicted as a sort of bland, folksy utopia. 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