Joseph Frank Keaton
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Buster Keaton directed and starred in The General 1926 and Sherlock Jr. 1924. Known for his deadpan expression and performing his own stunts, he pioneered silent film comedy. After a career decline in the sound era, he was rediscovered and received an Academy Honorary Award in 1960. Keaton died in 1966 at age 70.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Buster Keaton — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Buster Keaton by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Buster Keaton — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
At age three, Joseph Frank Keaton — later nicknamed Buster by Harry Houdini after a fall — performed with his parents in a rough vaudeville act. He was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to comedians Myra and Joe Keaton, and his father threw him around as part of the show. The act toured until Keaton was 21, when his father’s alcoholism forced its dissolution.
In 1917, Keaton met Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle on Broadway and was cast in The Butcher Boy, launching his film career. By 1920, he inherited Arbuckle’s studio and produced his own shorts like One Week 1920 and Cops 1922. His first feature, Three Ages 1923, led to masterpieces: The Navigator 1924, Sherlock Jr. 1924, and The General 1926. The General featured the most expensive stunt of its time, a train falling off a bridge. In 1928, Keaton’s contract was sold to MGM, leading to loss of creative control and a decline. After alcoholism and divorce, he found work as a gag writer and had a comeback in the 1940s and 1950s, including a role in Sunset Boulevard 1950.
Keaton married Natalie Talmadge in 1921. The union produced two sons but ended in divorce in 1932. The divorce cost him his home and contact with his children; Natalie changed their last names to Talmadge. He married nurse Mae Scriven in 1933, divorcing in 1935. In 1940, he married Eleanor Norris, who remained with him until his death. Keaton struggled with alcoholism during his career decline but eventually regained stability.
In the 1950s, critics rediscovered Keaton’s films, sparking a late-career revival. The American Film Institute ranked him the 21st greatest actor and The General appears on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list. He was honored with a US postage stamp in 1994 and a day on Turner Classic Movies in 2019. His innovative use of special effects in Sherlock Jr. has been compared to Inception. Keaton is remembered as one of the greatest silent film comedians, whose physical comedy and daring stunts continue to inspire.
The complete filmography of Buster Keaton — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Buster Keaton — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Buster Keaton — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
No Man Can Be a Genius in Slapshoes and a Flat Hat.
Tragedy Is a Close Up; Comedy, a Long Shot.
I Gotta Do Some Sad Scenes. Why, I Never Tried to Make Anybody Cry in My Life! and I Go ‘Round All the Time Dolled up in Kippie Clothes Wear Everything but a Corset . . . Can’t Stub My Toe in This Picture nor Anything! Just Imagine Having to Play Act All the Time Without Ever Getting Hit with Anything!
Is Hollywood the Cruelest City in the World? Well, It Can Be. New York Can Be Like That, Too. You Can Be a Broadway Star Here One Night, and Something Happens, and Then You’re Out Nobody Knows You on the Street. They Forget You Ever Lived. It Happens in Hollywood, Too.
The First Thing I Did in the Studio Was to Want to Tear That Camera to Pieces. I Had to Know How That Film Got into the Cutting Room, What You Did to It in There, How You Projected It, How You Finally Got the Picture Together, How You Made Things Match. the Technical Part of Pictures Is What Interested Me. Material Was the Last Thing in the World I Thought About. You Only Had to Turn Me Loose on the Set and I’d Have Material in Two Minutes, Because I’d Been Doing It All My Life.
They Say Pantomime’s a Lost Art. It’s Never Been a Lost Art and Never Will Be, Because It’s Too Natural to Do.
Think Slow, Act Fast.
Silence Is of the Gods; Only Monkeys Chatter.
All My Life, I Have Been Happiest When the Folks Watching Me Said to Each Other, Look at the Poor Dope, Will Ya?.
Not Long Ago, a Friend Asked Me What Was the Greatest Pleasure I Got from Spending My Whole Life as an Actor. There Have Been so Many That I Had to Think About That for a Moment. Then I Said, Like Everyone Else, I Like to Be with a Happy Crowd..
Dumb Show Is Best for Screen People, If They Must Appear in Public.
Only Things That One Could Imagine Happening to Real People, I Guess, Remain in a Person’s Memory.
When I’ve Got a Gag That Spreads Out, I Hate to Jump a Camera into Close Ups. so I Do Everything in the World I Can to Hold It in That Long Shot and Keep the Action Rolling. Close Ups Are Too Jarring on the Screen, and This Type of Cut Can Stop an Audience from Laughing.
Half of Our Scenes, for God’s Sakes, We Only Just Talked Over. We Didn’t Actually Get Out There and Rehearse ‘Em. We Would Just Walk Through It and Talk About It. We Crank That First Rehearsal. Because Any Thing Can Happen and Generally Did . . . We Used the Rehearsal Scenes Instead of the Second Take.
I Always Want the Audience to Out Guess Me, and Then I Double Cross Them.
A Comedian Does Funny Things. a Good Comedian Does Things Funny.
Railroads Are a Great Prop. You Can Do Some Awful Wild Things with Railroads.
Little-known facts about Buster Keaton — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
After playing cards with his wife, Keaton died quietly at home in his sleep.
While remodeling his home in 1952, James Mason discovered several reels of Keaton’s lost films and recognized their historical significance, taking responsibility for their preservation.
Keaton married into the powerful Talmadge dynasty, leading to rumors that he married for respect, though he is now a film legend while the Talmadges are less known.
He fractured his neck while filming Sherlock Jr. 1924 but did not learn of it until many years later during a routine X-ray.
Keaton became hearing-impaired in 1918 after serving in Germany during World War I.
He performed all his own stunts and also acted as a stunt double for other actors as needed.
He often surrounded himself with tall, heavyset actors in his films to make his character seem at a physical disadvantage.
A heavy smoker, Keaton was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 1966 but was never told the diagnosis; he thought he had bronchitis.
Keaton welcomed sound films, knowing his character didn’t need dialogue but looking forward to sound effects.
He mentored comedienne Lucille Ball.
In a scene from Sherlock Jr. 1924, he fractured his neck while hanging from a water tube at a train station.
He said he learned everything about filmmaking and comedy from Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle.
A baseball fanatic, Keaton held games between takes and incorporated baseball into his actor hiring applications.
Keaton was eager to go into sound films because he had a fine baritone voice and years of stage experience.
He became an alcoholic when his career collapsed around 1930, only kicking the habit after marrying Eleanor Norris in 1940.
He loved to play baseball and sometimes played between takes on set.
Spending most of his childhood in vaudeville, he had few peers, but enjoyed summer getaways to an Actor’s Colony in Muskegon, Michigan.
At age three, he got his right index finger caught in a clothes wringer, resulting in amputation at the first knuckle, visible in The Garage 1919.
His performance in The General 1926 is ranked #34 on Premiere magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time 2006.
Keaton, Charles Chaplin, and Stan Laurel all referred to their screen characters as The Little Fellow.
He met Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle for the first time on Broadway in New York City.
He is believed to be the first person to use Buster as a name, popularizing its usage.
He launched Edward Brophy’s comedy career by giving him a role in The Cameraman 1928.
He wrote left-handed but played the ukulele right-handed, and threw right-handed and batted left-handed in baseball.
Unlike Chaplin and Lloyd, Keaton sold his studio to MGM, leading to financial and personal problems.
He was voted the 7th-Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, the highest-rated comedy director.
He was named the 21st-Greatest Actor on the American Film Institute’s 50 Greatest Screen Legends list.
Dick Van Dyke delivered the eulogy at Keaton’s funeral in 1966.
Four of his films appear on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies list: The General 1926 at #18, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 1963 at #40, Sherlock Jr. 1924 at #62, and The Navigator 1924 at #81.
He was already ill with lung cancer during his last film, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 1966, and used a stunt double for the first time.
The Navigator 1924 was his most successful movie by gross revenue.
He wanted to become an engineer as a child.
He died the same day as co-star Hedda Hopper.
Most biographers overlook his appearance on The Hollywood Palace 1964 with Gloria Swanson.
The origin of his nickname Buster is attributed to Harry Houdini, though other versions exist.
He contributed gags to the Red Skelton film A Southern Yankee 1948, famously solving a scene with a dog.
He appeared in some 16 commercials including Colgate, Alka-Seltzer, and Budweiser.
On August 19, 2019, he was honored with a day of his film work during Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.
In later years, he became better acquainted with Stan Laurel and attended Laurel’s funeral.
He was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for Motion Pictures and for Television.
He was voted the 35th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
He and his in-laws generally didn’t get along, as they were condescending to him for being a comedian.
He and his parents formed an acrobatic group called The Three Keatons in his early youth.
He broke his ankle while filming The Electric House 1922 and was still recovering during The Play House 1921.
Eight of his films have been selected for the National Film Registry, including One Week 1920, Cops 1922, Sherlock Jr. 1924, The Navigator 1924, The General 1926, Steamboat Bill, Jr. 1928, The Cameraman 1928, and Sunset Boulevard 1950.
He was pictured on a 29¢ US commemorative postage stamp in 1994 as part of a set honoring silent screen stars.
His favorite film was Hard Luck 1921, which was once lost but a copy has been found.
His mother was of British/German ancestry, and his father was of Scottish/Irish ancestry.
After working at MGM for five years, he was fired by Louis B. Mayer for drunken behavior.
Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Buster Keaton.
Celebrities similar to Buster Keaton — same craft, ranked by reach.
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