During the 1930s, Keaton slipped from the spotlight. Unfortunately, stress from repeated clashes with MGM management, the loss of his independence and artistic control, and a divorce from his first wife, Natalie Talmadge (in which she was awarded sole custody of their two sons), caused Keaton's drinking to develop into outright alcoholism. MGM, meanwhile, wanted him to primarily star in dialogue-heavy farcical comedies, which Keaton absolutely hated. As such, he wanted his voice to be used in measure and his lines to be few and far between. Keaton generally liked the idea of doing talkies, and especially relished the idea of experimenting with sound in his pictures, but noted that he was more of a physical comedian and "not a joke-teller", and absolutely hated pun-based comedy. Still, there was contention between him and MGM in this area. As one would expect from his acrobatic skills, he was even a great dancer, though he rarely got a chance to display that on screen. note Unlike many silent film stars who were ruined because their voices were odd or otherwise did not match their images, Keaton's strong baritone voice and vaudeville-honed acting and singing skills allowed him to make the transition without much difficulty.
He then began making sound pictures in which he was often teamed with Jimmy Durante. The best of his MGM films are the silents The Cameraman and Spite Marriage. Charlie Chaplin warned him against signing beforehand, and Keaton would later come to seriously regret this decision, repeatedly calling it not just the biggest mistake of his career but his life. After his company was dissolved, Keaton signed a contract with MGM.
BUSTER KEATON MOVIES DIRECTED MOVIE
He was also never afraid of new technology: for instance, for a major silent movie star at the dawn of sound films, he wanted to get into them right away. From this period, his full-length film The General is still considered one of the best silent films ever made. Following Fatty's tragic fall from grace, Keaton formed his own production company, starring in and directing some of the most innovative comedy films of his day. He got into film with his good friend, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, then one of the top comedy movie stars. Oh, and did we mention that they started this act when Buster was three years old?Įventually, when the act's fortunes declined and Joe got too drunk and disorderly to work with safely, note Speaking of safety, Keaton repeatedly stated in interviews that he never suffered an injury as a result of being thrown their act was designed to look improvised and violent, but in reality, was quite planned and controlled. Their most famous shtick was when Pa Joe Keaton would react to Buster's mischief by literally throwing him around the stage and occasionally into the orchestra pit or the audience - once, Joe threw Buster at hecklers who made the mistake of criticizing the saxophone playing of Myra Keaton, Joe's wife. Indeed, according to a popular urban legend, one Keaton himself actually cited as fact, Harry Houdini gave him his nickname when he was an infant he had seen the young Keaton fall down a flight of stairs, and then easily get back up again like nothing had happened, to which Houdini should have exclaimed: "That was sure a buster!"īuster literally grew up on stage as part of the Three Keatons, one of the roughest acts in vaudeville. Keaton was the original screen Stoic (also known as " The Great Stone Face"), and possibly the toughest man in show business history during one film shoot, he broke his neck and continued with the day's shooting. Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (OctoFebruary 1, 1966) was an American comedian, actor, director, writer, and producer who is generally ranked alongside Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd in the pantheon of silent-era movie comedians.
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