In the silent film era, there are three comedic characters that have to be mentioned, namely Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. The first two have been introduced in the previous cast series, and today we will look at the third one , Buster Keaton.
Actors in Film History Series 1: Charlie Chaplin
Actors in Film History Series 2: Harold Lloyd
Buster Keaton was born on October 4, 1895, in Kansas, to a vaudeville family. From the age of 3, Little Keaton performed on stage with his parents. At that time, the special performance of the "Keaton Trio" was to throw little Keaton around, so little Keaton also learned how to land safely, known as "boy who won't be hurt". When he first started throwing, Keaton always liked to laugh a lot, but after finding that such a move would make the audience laugh less, he slowly became an expressionless performer. This is one of the classic characteristics of his career as an actor, and it also earned him the title of "Big Stone Face".
At the age of 21, due to his father's poor drinking habits, Keaton moved to New York with his mother, which also allowed his acting career to transition from stage to film. In February 1917, Keaton became acquainted with Abaker and made his first film, The Butcher Boy. It was not until 1920 that Keaton and Abaker co-produced 14 short films. In the two years that followed, Keaton produced a number of high-quality short films, including Weekly in 1920, Theater in 1921, Policeman in 1922, and Electrified House in 1922.
After producing these high-quality short films, Keaton began experimenting with feature-length films. Between 1923 and 1929, Keaton produced and starred in 12 feature films, most of which were of high quality. It can be said that this period was the most brilliant era of Keaton's career as an actor. 1926's "The General" is arguably Keaton's most famous masterpiece, and even admirer Orson Wilson said: "The General is the highest achievement in the history of comedy films." However, the film did not receive much praise when it was released, and was accused of lacking jokes. Although the classic "train falls on the river" scene has been in the film history for a long time, the huge cost has made Keaton begin to lose control of the film's creation. Two years later, "Captain II" also shocked the world, and in the movie, the scene of the wall falling impressed fans. Such adventurous scenes appear endlessly in Keaton's films, and they also give him the title of "Desperate Sanlang". Years later, kung fu superstar Jackie Chan also paid tribute to Keaton many times in his own films.
After losing the power to produce films independently, Keaton joined MGM in 1928. During this time at MGM, due to the deprivation of independent production rights and the deterioration of relations with his wife, Keaton drank heavily all day, and no excellent works were born. In 1933, after filming "What! After "No Beer", MGM terminated its contract with Keaton, who had repeatedly failed to quit drinking. In 1940, after marrying Eleanor Norris, Keaton returned to the film industry. For a long time thereafter, he made short films, acted in commercials, participated in film production, tried TV series, and made cameo appearances in films such as Sunset Boulevard in 1950, and even co-starred with Charlie Chaplin in 1952.
In 1960, Keaton received the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 32nd Academy Awards, and he himself holds two star medals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his achievements in both film and television. Buster Keaton died of lung cancer in Los Angeles on February 1, 1966, and was buried in Hollywood Hills Boulevard Memorial Park.
When it comes to silent films, people always think of Chaplin and ignore Keaton. However, Keaton's influence on latecomers and contributions to film history cannot be ignored for many years.