No one could be funny while keeping a straight face like Buster Keaton.
Along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, the trio had a near lock on visual screen comedy during the first half of the twentieth century. And no one did more daring stunts in creating his movies – and had the broken bones to prove it – than Keaton.
As Jim Vorel wrote in Paste Magazine: “Where contemporaries such as Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin were likewise iconic silent comedy stars of the era, known for their charm and on-screen pathos, neither of them dared to regularly take the kinds of risks and over-the-top spills Keaton was known for.” To truly appreciate Keaton’s skills, watch some of the most dangerous – and creative stunts – he conceived: https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/buster-keaton/buster-keaton-stunts-ranked-most-dangerous-films-broken-neck-stuntwork.
Joseph Frank Keaton, born in 1895, entered show business as part of his parents’ vaudeville act at the age of four. Part of the Keaton’s act was throwing young Buster around the stage with apparent abandon. But like Keaton’s famous stunts in silent films, their act was carefully planned and choreographed to look more dangerous than they really were.
According to Keaton, he earned his nickname of Buster as a young child, when he fell down a staircase. The magician Harry Houdini picked up the child, dusted him off, and said, “That was a real buster your kid took!”
His stunts, all of which he performed without a double, are the stuff of cinematic legend. Many of them were shot in the San Fernando Valley and included some of his most famous stunts.
In Cops (1922), the passing car stunt was filmed on Cahuenga Boulevard in Studio City.
Keaton had to engineer a split-second move showing him running from the police and escaping by means of grabbing onto a passing car, which seems to yank him into the air as it accelerates.
Several scenes in Three Ages (1923) were filmed at the Valley’s Iverson Ranch.
Much of Seven Chances (1925) was shot in Chatsworth and Burbank, and highlighted Keaton’s athleticism. A large avalanche grows as Keaton’s character runs alongside progressively larger boulders down an apparently endless slope. It culminates with Keaton taking refuge behind an embankment as the boulders whiz past, inches from his head.
In Sherlock Jr. (1924) the famous water tank waterspout scene was filmed with Keaton’s car traveling east on Devonshire St. in Chatsworth.
The falling house from Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) is probably Keaton’s most iconic stunt. Unlike many of his other feats, which depended on his strength or athletic ability, this scene just required incredible timing…and standing in the right place without cringing: Keaton is standing in the middle of a cyclone when the entire façade of a house breaks away, collapsing on Keaton, who is saved because he’s perfectly positioned so that he passes through a single attic window and emerges unscathed.
This was no set or camera trickery. Keaton used a real two-story house façade for the shot. If he had missed his mark by just a few inches, causing the window frame to come smashing down on his head, he would have been killed or sustained severe injuries.
Keaton and his silent films slowly faded from consciousness in the ‘30s and ‘40s, but he was working throughout that time. Beginning in the ‘50s, his star became ascendant again and he was popular on television, and had his own show, The Buster Keaton Show, in 1950 on KTTV. He also appeared on several television programs throughout the middle of the century.
Beginning in 1960, Keaton served as Honorary Mayor of Woodland Hills for several years. His last film appearance was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) which premiered seven months after his death from lung cancer.
During his lifetime, Keaton received an Honorary Academy Award in 1960 “for his unique talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen.” He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and the other for his television work.
His personal life included long bouts of alcoholism, a trio of marriages, and finally a tranquil life in his Woodland Hills home, a six-room house at 22612 Sylvan Street in Woodland Hills, which he purchased in June 1956.
The National Film Registry included seven of his films in its list of the most prestigious American motion pictures, making him one of motion pictures’ most honored filmmakers.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held a tribute to Keaton on the 100th anniversary of his birth in association with the American Film Institute and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “The man with the stone face,” as he had been dubbed, might even have smiled in appreciation.
Martin Cooper, President of Cooper Communications, supervised public relations for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for ten years; held executive positions with Disney and Universal Studios; and served as Chairman of the Board of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. He is a Fernando Award Honoree and Past Chairman of VICA. An award-winning author, he has written four books, two of them on the San Fernando Valley. He is currently researching his next book, the history of motion pictures in the Valley.
