Buster Keaton

Filmmaker / Comedian / Actor

Born: 4 October 1895

Died: 1 February 1966 (lung cancer)

Birthplace: Piqua, Kansas

Best known as:

The silent film comedy great known as "The Great Stone Face"

Name at birth: Joseph Francis Keaton VI

Known as "The Great Stone Face," Buster Keaton got big laughs out of his relentlessly blank expression in silent film comedies like The Saphead (1920), Sherlock, Jr. (1924), and his famous The General (1927). Keaton was one of silent film's most famous comedians; his popularity waned in the 1930s, but he made a nostalgic flurry of films before his 1966 death. Buster Keaton's other films include Go West (1925), Doughboys (1930), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965).

Extra credit:

Keaton was briefly a cryptographer with U.S. forces in France during World War I.