Buster Keaton

The son of medicine show performers, Buster Keaton was one of the kings of comedy in vaudeville and the silent era in Hollywood. After a string of brilliant films, his life spun out of control in the late 1920s when he lost artistic control of his work, his marriage fell apart, and he became afflicted with alcoholism and mental illness. He made a comeback in the 1950s, when many of his silent masterpieces were re-released, and although his career may have lacked the luster of Charlie Chaplin’s, some consider Keaton the most gifted comedian of his time.