Keaton gave the world in his old two-reelers such as: “ The Cameraman,” “ Steamboat Bill Jr.,” “ The Passionate Plumber,” “ Sherlock Jr.” and in a full-length classic, “ The Navigator.” But there was no dissension over the wonderfully comic image Mr. Keaton told a correspondent: "“This is the first time I’ve been invited to a film festival, but I hope it won’t be the last.” Critics differed on “Film,” Samuel Beckett’s first screenplay, a story of an old, obsessed man who shuts himself up in a room to thwart fate. Keaton’s renaissance reached an artistic peak last October at the Venice Film Festival, when “ Film,” an arty 22-minute silent he made in New York in 1964, was accorded a five-minute standing ovation. Keaton’s attempt to tame a runaway train during the Civil War. It contained one of the great chases in movie history: Mr. It was shot in 18 weeks at a cost of $330,000. Keaton wrote the story and continuity of The General, directed it, cut it and played the leading role. People laughed harder than they did in 1927, when the film first came out. The first reissue was of “ The General” - a slapstick classic of a bumbling Civil War spy - in 1962. The pantomime remained intact and the old subtitles were kept. He had the film quality restored and a sound track of music added. Keaton had had his own producing company in the 1920’s and he retained ownership of his old films. He kept busy, making several filmed television shows in Hollywood and appearing in several acting engagements.īut it was his old silent movies that brought in the gold. Keaton used the money to buy a ranch-type house and an acre and a half of farmland in the San Fernando Valley. Keaton’s rise from vaudeville to Hollywood stardom, with Donald O’Connor playing the title role. In 1956 Paramount paid him $50,000 for the rights to “ The Keaton Story,” a film tracing Mr. He appeared on most major television shows in London and was paid from $1,000 to $2,500 for each performance. It brought him fresh fame, a comfortable income and a new public. She survives him, as do his two sons.īritish television rescued him from obscurity in the early 1950s. His third marriage, to Eleanor Norris, a 21-year-old dancer, in 1940, brought stability. Just when life seemed as hostile as a paranoid’s nightmare, things began to look up. In 1934, filing for bankruptcy, Buster listed assets of $12,000 and liabilities of $303,832. His second marriage, to Mae Scribbens, ended in divorce in 1935. After 11 years of marriage (and two sons), he and Natalie Talmadge, sister of the beautiful actresses Norma and Constance, were divorced in 1932. Hard times and marital troubles piled up. The public wanted voices, and Buster’s pantomime technique failed to hold up. The way a thing looked on the screen was the way you’d done it.” When the movies began talking, Buster Keaton dropped out of sight. In those days we didn’t use miniatures or process shots. “Sometimes, we’d work out a gag in advance other times, it would work itself out as we went along. Keaton recalled in an interview two years ago.Īctor, Director, Producer, Writer, Stunt Performer “Two or three writers and I would start with an idea and then we’d work out a strong finish and let the middle take care of itself, as it always does,” Mr. Keaton’s films were made without a script. His ability to take a violent fall without breaking a bone was the marvel of the day. Chaplin in comic inventiveness, he was held even superior to “the little tramp” in acrobatic grace. In those light-tax days, Buster’s salary soared to $3,500 a week, and he built a $300,000 house in Beverly Hills.Ī great pantomimist, the equal of Mr. His period of greatest productivity was in the early and mid-1920's. For his life was marked by periods of triumph and frustration - wealth, a descent into poverty and alcoholism, and then, in his twilight years, a return to riches, recognition and contentment. He displayed that perseverance not only in his comic characterizations but also in his private activities.
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