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It wasn't until a few years later that Keaton discovered the torrent of water and the resulting fall had actually fractured his neck. Why did Buster Keaton never smile? Then, as now, many moviegoers believed that Keaton, who died 53 years ago on February 1, never smiled. According to the organization, it was just a shtick: “The Great Stone Face was a theatrical …
Who was Buster Keaton?
ico_print. Comedian and director Buster Keaton was popular for his pioneering silent comedies in the 1920s.
How old was Keaton when he got the name "Buster"?
As legend has it, he earned the name of "Buster" when he was 18 months old, after falling down a flight of stairs. Magician Harry Houdini scooped up the child and turning to the boy's parents quipped, "That was a real buster!". Keaton quickly grew used to being knocked around a bit.
When did Buster Keaton start acting?
Born to vaudeville performers, Buster Keaton began performing at age 3. He was introduced to film when he was 21 and eventually directed and starred in films in the 1920s. The talkies eventually pushed him out of demand, but he made a comeback in the 1940s and '50s when he starred as himself in films such as Sunset Boulevard.
What was the name of the first movie that Keaton made?
Even in his first film, a 1917 two-reeler called The Butcher Boy starring Roscoe ("Fatty") Arbuckle, Keaton was extreme slapstick, with the young actor being subjected to a range of abuses, from being submerged in molasses to getting bit by a dog.
How much did Keaton work for Arbuckle?
Still, film called to Keaton, and for the next two years, he continued to work closely with Arbuckle for $40 a week. It was an apprenticeship of sorts and through it, Keaton was given full access to the movie-making process.
What was the name of the movie that Keaton made in 1923?
In 1923 Keaton started making full-length features such as The Three Ages (1923) and Sherlock, Jr. (1924). The lineup also included what is perhaps his finest creation, The General (1927), which starred Keaton as a train engineer in the Civil War. Keaton was the full force behind the film, writing and directing it.
What did Keaton do for his two reels?
In his early two-reelers the laugh-making included a mastery of the slapstick pie. His work also featured Keaton's penchant for doing his own stunts, and he became somewhat of a Hollywood legend not just for his falls but for his lack of injuries.
Buster Keaton allegedly got his name after falling down a flight of stairs
Buster Keaton got his name in true slapstick fashion. As a baby, he tumbled all the way down a flight of stairs to the landing below.
Buster Keaton often found himself in dangerous circumstances as a child
Before Buster Keaton ever stepped foot on a stage, his days were full of calamities and dramas — not necessarily of the comedic variety. According to Marion Meade's " Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase: A Biography ," Keaton spent the first couple of years of his life sleeping in a suitcase, and sometimes in tents.
Buster Keaton permanently damaged his hearing while fighting in WWI
Buster Keaton's first motion picture, "The Butcher Boy," came out two weeks before World War I began. According to Doughboy Center, he was drafted into the United States Army just as his career was kicking off. He arrived for training at California's Camp Kearney in July 1918 before being transferred to New York's Camp Mills.
Buster Keaton's close friend Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was accused of murder
"One day in September 1921, all of the laughter stopped," Buster Keaton once said, as quoted in David Yallop's " The Day The Laughter Stopped ." "Overnight what had been innocent fun was suddenly being denounced as 'another Hollywood drunken orgy' or 'one more shocking example of sex depravity.' The day our laughter stopped was the day that Roscoe Arbuckle was accused of having caused the death of Virginia Rappe.".
Buster Keaton lost his creative freedom when he signed with MGM
In 1928, Buster Keaton's film collaborator and brother-in-law Joe Schenck convinced Keaton to move into the mainstream. So Keaton signed a deal with MGM which, according to Slate, brought him a salary of $3,000 per week, plus a significant percentage of profits from the films he made.
Buster Keaton was widely panned for his Columbia shorts
Between 1939 and 1941, Buster Keaton produced a series of shorts for Columbia. According to the New Review of Film and Television Studies, his approach was resurrecting old-timey slapstick style. He made $500 per short, and some of them only required a few days of shooting.
Buster Keaton's first wife divorced him and received full custody of their children
On May 13, 1921, Buster Keaton married Natalie Talmadge, an actor who was one-third of the famous trio of Talmadge sisters. According to that day's Los Angeles Herald, the couple had a simple wedding in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens in New York City.
Did Keaton need to be a buster?
Keaton had need to be a Buster, for the Three Keatons’ act was strenuous. Between acrobatic feats they interspersed comedy routines, and Buster normally made his entrance with his father carrying him by the seat of the pants. Lesson From Mother. Advertisement.
Where did Buster Keaton live?
The world of Buster Keaton began in Piqua, Kan. , on Oct 4, 1895, where his parents, Joseph and Myra Keaton, vaudeville acrobats, were playing a one-night stand in a medicine show with Harry Houdini, later the famous escape artist. His First Applause.
Who are the names of the two sons of Keaton?
A sizable segment of Hollywood’s past and of theatrical history died with him. In addition to his widow, he leaves two sons, Robert and James Talmadge of Santa Monica, who took their mother’s name when Natalie Talmadge, Keaton’s first wife, divorced him in 1932. He also leaves a brother, Harry, of San Ysidro, and a sister, ...
What did Keaton do in 1917?
He came to Hollywood from the vaudeville stage in 1917, a consummate acrobat with an exquisite sense of comedy timing and an expressionless frozen face that “rolled ‘em in the aisles.”.
Was Keaton married to Miss Talmadge?
Advertisement. In 1932 he and Miss Talmadge were divorced after 11 years of marriage. In 1934 he was forced to go through bankruptcy. But Keaton was never entirely idle. He became a play doctor, a gagman, a coach for young comedians—Red Skelton, to name just one. In 1937 MGM hired him as a director of short subjects.
Was Keaton a doctor?
In 1934 he was forced to go through bankruptcy. But Keaton was never entirely idle. He became a play doctor, a gagman, a coach for young comedians—Red Skelton, to name just one. In 1937 MGM hired him as a director of short subjects. Then it all began to come back.
Who was Keaton married to in 1940?
In 1940, however, he married the dancer, Eleanor Norris, and they lived happily ever after. Keaton’s brand of comedy was “discovered” once more. Film parts began to come his way. Television arrived, and producers of TV commercials were amazed to find that his pantomime was as “killing” as it always been.
Buster Keaton Death
Buster passed away on February 1, 1966 at the age of 70 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Buster's cause of death was lung cancer.
Buster Keaton Birthday and Date of Death
Buster Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 and died on February 1, 1966. Buster was 70 years old at the time of death.
Buster Keaton - Biography
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton 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".
How did Keaton die?
Frankly speaking, it's rather amazing Keaton died of cancer at age 70 in 1966, according to The International Buster Keaton Society, rather than during a film shoot when a young man. Here are some of Keaton's wildest on-screen feats.
What happened to Buster Keaton in Our Hospitality?
In another harrowing scene from "Our Hospitality," Buster Keaton was suspended from a rope swinging out into the rush of a waterfall as he tried to save a woman from falling over the edge. The waterfall was a manmade construction on a set that was built over a studio swimming pool, not a natural feature of a location, and the woman in question was a mannequin in the actual rescue scene, notes Roger Ebert. But the water volume was real enough, and it was more than enough to overwhelm the actor. Knocked about by the rush of water, Keaton ended up accidentally consuming a dangerous amount of liquid.
How many inches was Keaton's house when it fell?
As it happened, when the front of the house fell, Keaton was only within two inches of injury or death.
How many inches did Keaton die from the collapse of the house?
As it happened, when the front of the house fell, Keaton was only within two inches of injury or death. The was one of several times where Keaton used a similar gag of a building collapsing around him, but it was by far the largest and heaviest such façade that ever nearly crushed the actor.
How much did Buster Keaton's stunt cost?
According to Ripley's, the stunt cost $42,000, a massive sum in 1926.
How much did the Keaton train crash cost?
According to Ripley's, the stunt cost $42,000, a massive sum in 1926. Spectacle aside, the fiery train crash was not the film's most dangerous stunt, though. That came in the form of Keaton riding on the front of a moving train while holding a massive rail tie across his lap.
Did Keaton jump?
Keaton ended up not jumping far enough and really did fall quite a ways down, fortunately into a waiting net. Thankfully, the actor's injuries only delayed production for a few days, and the stunt didn't potentially kill Keaton and cut short a career just kicking off.
Who was Buster Keaton married to?
The seemingly indestructible man married actress Natalie Talmadge in 1921, though wedded bliss did not last long. Informal portrait of Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge standing with their baby, Joseph Keaton, on the platform of a train station with a bridge in the background in Chicago, Illinois. It’s said Talmadge wanted a separate bedroom ...
Where is Buster Keaton's baby?
Informal portrait of Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge standing with their baby, Joseph Keaton, on the platform of a train station with a bridge in the background in Chicago, Illinois. It’s said Talmadge wanted a separate bedroom following the birth of their two sons.
Who said "That was a real buster"?
It supposedly came from Harry Houdini, who picked up young Joseph after the boy had fallen down a flight of stairs and, according to Biography, exclaimed: “That was a real buster!”. Buster Keaton in comedy Out-West (1918). Keaton Sr. was reportedly a heavy drinker.
When did Buster Keaton's contract end?
The contract was terminated in 1934. Buster Keaton and Ernest Torrence in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) – cropped screenshot. These pressures certainly set Keaton on a self-destructive path. His drinking was out of control, and he famously married nurse Mae Scriven in 1933.
Who was the stuntman in the 1920s?
Throughout the 1920s, Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton was a comedic force of nature on the big screen. Then, as the decade drew to a close, his influential brand of extreme slapstick and stunt work hit a bump in the road.
Who broke his neck in the show Stone Face?
The show didn’t end there however. Read another story from us: “Stone Face” Buster Keaton – King of Early Stunts who Broke his Neck without even Knowing. In the So Funny It Hurt documentary for TCM, it was revealed he channeled Harry Houdini to slip out of a straitjacket.
Did Hank Aaron get death threats?
During his epic season he received death threats (as did the awesome Hank Aaron in '74), was booed at games, and generally was hounded like a criminal. His hair fell out; what remained turned grey and white in a matter of months. It was just awful.
Is it cheaper to let people die when a Ford Pinto gas tank explodes?
It is cheaper to let corporations foul our water and air -- they don't have to put in cleaning fixtures, and people don't live as long. It would be cheaper to have no workplace safety measures.
How did Susan Hayward die?
Susan Hayward died of a brain tumor. She co-starred in [italic]The Conqueror, italic] which was filmed downwind of a nuclear-testing site in Utah. Hayward and co-stars John Wayne and Agnes Moorehead were smokers, but 91 of the 220 people involved in making the film developed cancer within 25 years of shooting.
