Buster Keaton

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Buster Keaton

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Buster Keaton (Joseph Francis Keaton), 1895-1966, American movie actor, b. Piqua, Kans. Considered one of the greatest comic actors in film history, Keaton used his considerable acrobatic skills, which he had developed as a child in vaudeville, in many silent comedies in which he portrayed a deadpan hero who survived against incredible odds. Among these movies are The Navigator (1924), The General (1926), and Steamboat Bill Junior (1927). He made a comeback as a supporting actor in such films as Sunset Boulevard (1959), Limelight (1952), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).

Bibliography: See biographies by R. Blesh (1960), M. Meade (1995), and E. McPherson (2005); J. E. Rapf, Buster Keaton: A Bio-Bibliography (1995); J. Kline, The Complete Films of Buster Keaton (2003); studies by G. Wead and G. Lellis (1977), G. Oldham (1996), and R. Knopf (1999).

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Keaton, Buster

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Keaton, Buster (1895–1966) US comic silent-film actor and director. Our Hospitality (1923), Seven Chances (1925) and The General (1926) are pre-eminent among the ten full-length features he released before 1928.

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article ``TCM Archives: The Buster Keaton Collection'' Debuts on DVD from Warner Home Video December 7.
Business Wire; 10/18/2004
Free Article Block `Buster' of film stunts: Keaton's train wreck is 80.(Features)
Newspaper article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR); 7/23/2006
Free Article Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat.(Brief article)(Book review)
Magazine article from: The Bookwatch; 12/1/2005

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Look at Comic Actor Buster Keaton, CBS
Transcript from: CBS News Sunday Morning; 5/20/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...see at the movies was Buster Keaton. And as Jerry Bowen is...to this day, Buster Keaton is among the very best...because she didn`t want Buster to slip at all. Today, people speak of Chaplin and Keaton in the same breath. I...
UNEARTHED BUSTER KEATON BRINGS SILENT MAGIC TO LIFE.(ACCENT)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 3/30/1995; 700+ words ; ...achievements. In ``The Playhouse,'' Keaton buys a ticket to a minstrel show and discovers that Buster Keaton, in differing costumes and drag...stage. Special effects? Hardly. Keaton was able to play nine Busters in a minstrel show by taping off...
Film World Celebrates the Genius of Buster Keaton
Transcript from: NPR Weekend Edition - Sunday; 10/1/1995; 700+ words ; ...great, silent film comedian Buster Keaton, whose 100th birthday anniversary...Houdini to nickname his god-son Buster. Keaton learned as a kid that when he...and try out new comic routines. BUSTER KEATON: You just get an idea that...
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Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 11/18/1987; ; 700+ words ; ...Ignoring the contribution Buster Keaton made to American culture...when Hollywood made "The Buster Keaton Story" in 1957, it concocted...cutesy about it. When Keaton's alcoholism is noted, and a crony recalls, "Buster drank out of loneliness...
Buster Keaton, Seriously Funny
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 10/22/1995; ; 700+ words ; Next to Garbo, Buster Keaton possessed the most exquisite...All in all, life in Keaton's movies is a fairly...The details of young Buster's early life are famously...Joseph Francis "Buster" Keaton was born in Piqua, Kan...
Buster Keaton revisited, redundantly
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 5/8/2005; ; 700+ words ; Buster Keaton Tempest in a Flat Hat By...Press. $26.95. Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat is...the stage." By age 10, Buster was a major attraction of...original reporting beyond seeing Keaton's films and describing...
Buster Keaton or the work of comedy in the age of mechanical reproduction.
Magazine article from: Cineaste; 6/22/1995; ; 700+ words ; ...centennial of the birth of Buster Keaton, and it's no exaggeration to claim that Keaton is one of the definitions...equaled MGM, the nut equaled Buster Keaton." A great deal...system. A careful viewing of Keaton's films, however, reveals...
The Balloon of Equilibrium: Symmetry, Structures, and Narrative Authority in Buster Keaton's The Blacksmith
Magazine article from: Literature/Film Quarterly; 1/1/1997; ; 700+ words ; I. Buster Ludens Like God, Buster Keaton, in the films that were...escapism" (114). But Keaton's ending goes against...Kramer notes only that the Keaton character is dressed...take into account that Buster and his wife and child...
A BUSTER KEATON GEM
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 3/4/1988; ; 700+ words ; Buster Keaton was always an outsider. While Charlie...The baby in the prologue is played by Buster Keaton Jr., and Keaton's father, Joe...rediscovered after his death in 1966. But Buster Keaton wouldn't want our sympathy. Just our...
KEATON BIO CRACKS STONE-FACED FACADE\BUSTER KEATON: CUT TO THE CHASE.\BY MARION MEADE.\HARPERCOLLINS. 440 PAGES. $30.(ENTERTAINMENT/WEEKEND/SPOTLIGHT)
Newspaper article from: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO); 2/7/1996; 641 words ; ...BLOWEN There are hundreds of hours of Buster Keaton on celluloid. From his classic silent...movie How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Keaton's film persona was always stone...author Marion Meade contends that Keaton's sour expression began long before...

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