| Buster Keaton | |
|---|---|
| File:Busterkeaton edit.jpg Keaton in 1925 | |
| Born | Joseph Frank Keaton October 4, 1895 Piqua, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | February 20, 1988 (aged 92) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1899–1979 |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
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Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 20, 1988) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, writing that "More than Chaplin, Keaton understood movies: He knew they consisted of a four-sided frame in which resided a malleable reality off which his persona could bounce. A vaudeville child star, Keaton grew up to be a tinkerer, an athlete, a visual mathematician; his films offer belly laughs of mind-boggling physical invention and a spacey determination that nears philosophical grandeur." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.