Many Old Hollywood stars are considered legends because they used their talents to leave a lasting influence on the world of film and acting. This month here at Germ, we’re saluting a legend whose contributions to the field of comedy were so powerful and revolutionary that he’s been called a comedic pioneer. But if you asked him, he would just tell you to call him Buster — as in Buster Keaton.
Buster Keaton was born Joseph Frank Keaton IV on October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas. According to Hollywood folklore, Joseph received the nickname “Buster” from none other than Harry Houdini, the famous magician. As the story goes, Joseph was 6 months old when he fell down a flight of stairs, landing at Harry Houdini’s feet. Houdini picked Joseph up, looked at Joseph’s parents and remarked, “What a buster.” Needless to say, the name stuck.
Buster made his theatrical debut at the age of 3 as a participant in his parents’ vaudeville act. In fact, it was there that Buster would start to hone the various comedic techniques that would later become his trademark. For example, in his parents’ act, Buster perfected the art of the “deadpan” expression — which is responding to an outrageous situation or a ridiculous comment by staring blankly into the audience. He also learned the art of performing stunts perfectly. His parents, wanting the show to be “as rough as it was funny,” would use Buster constantly in stunts.
Reflecting on his vaudeville days, Buster once noted that as soon as he could walk, his father would “start doing gags with me . . . especially kickin’ me clean across the stage or taking me by the back of the neck and throwing me. By the time I got up to around seven or eight years old, we were called ‘The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage.’”
In 1917, at the age of 22, Buster made his film debut in a short called The Butcher Boy. While Buster would find success at making numerous shorts every year, he still hadn’t experienced his first big break as an actor. That was all to change in 1923, when Buster starred in his first feature-length film: Three Ages. From there, Buster would continue to star in movies with some notable titles, including Sherlock Jr. (1924), Seven Chances (1925), The General (1926), and The Cameraman (1928).
But in 1928, Buster made a disastrous career move that he would come to regret later in life. As more and more filmmakers began the switch from silent movies to talkies — movies with sound — Buster signed a contract with MGM to star in a series of talkies. But in his contract, Buster also gave up some of the creative control he had in past films. With Buster giving less input in the filmmaking process, the films he made lacked the “Buster Keaton magic” that audiences had grown to love and adore.
Unfortunately, Buster wasn’t only suffering professionally; in his personal life, Buster battled alcoholism and depression as his marriage to actress Natalie Talmadge dissolved into a bitter divorce. In 1934, MGM let Buster go, and he was forced to enter bankruptcy. The star who once made $3,500 a week at the height of his career was worth only $12,000 when he filed for bankruptcy.
In 1940, Buster’s life started to turn around when he married a dancer named Eleanor Morris. While it was Buster’s third marriage, it was also his last; Buster and Eleanor would stay married until his death in 1966. His professional life also started to slowly turn around. In 1950, Buster became a sensation in England when he “appeared on a string of English programs.”
His status as a star also started to climb in America as he appeared in such classic movies as Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Limelight (1952). Adding to his level of fame was the popular reshowing of silent movies in the early 1960s. Moviegoers fell in love with the old films, and Keaton’s silent work was no exception. In 1962, Keaton re-released The General (1926), and it “drew praise from fans and critics from all over Europe.” Buster was back on top where he belonged.
Toward the end of his life, the man who once declared $12,000 as his total worth was now “making more than $100,000 a year just from doing commercials.” He also continued to appear in hit movies, such as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). While Buster never won an Academy Award for his work, the Academy did honor him with a special award in 1959.
Sadly, on February 1, 1966, Buster Keaton died of lung cancer. He was 70 years old.