In American film, the most prominent comic actors of the silent era were Charlie Chaplin ( although born in England, his success was principally in the U. S .), Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

Lewis followed the legacy of such comedians as Keaton and Harold Lloyd, but his work was not well received by critics in the United States ( in contrast to France where he proved highly popular.

It was in these early years that Remi developed a love of cinema, particularly favouring Windsor McCay's pioneering animated film Gertie the Dinosaur and the films featuring Charlie Chaplin, Harry Langdon and Buster Keaton ; his later work in the comic strip medium would display an obvious influence from these early films in style and content.

However, during his own silent film career, the nearest Keaton had appeared in a " police comedy " was The Goat ( 1921 ) and Cops ( 1922 ).

His last work, in 1935, was as a producer-director for Educational Pictures ; he directed Buster Keaton in The Timid Young Man and Joan Davis in Way Up Thar.

She attempted two unsuccessful series in a row: Mary, which featured David Letterman, Michael Keaton, Swoosie Kurtz and Dick Shawn in the supporting cast and lasted three episodes, which was re-tooled as The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, a backstage show within a show, with Mary portraying a TV star putting on a variety show.

When the film opened in June 1989, it was backed by the biggest marketing and merchandising campaign in film history at the time, and became one of the biggest box office hits of all time, grossing well over US $ 250 million in the US alone and $ 400 million worldwide ( numbers not adjusted for inflation ) and earning critical acclaim for the performances of both Keaton and Nicholson, as well as the film's production aspects, which won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

The result was Batman Returns which featured Michael Keaton returning as the Dark Knight, and a new triad of villains: Danny DeVito ( as the Penguin ), Michelle Pfeiffer ( as Catwoman ) and Christopher Walken as Max Shreck, an evil corporate tycoon and original character created for the film ( similar to Superman IIIs Ross Webster ).

Joseph Frank " Buster " Keaton ( October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966 ) was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer.

Buster Keaton ( his lifelong stage name ) was recognized as the seventh-greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Keaton was born Joseph Frank Keaton into a vaudeville family.

He was named " Joseph " to continue a tradition on his father's side — he was sixth in a line bearing the name Joseph Keaton — and " Frank " for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of the parents ' union.

His father was Joseph Hallie " Joe " Keaton, a native of Vigo County, Indiana.

Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Keaton ( née Myra Edith Cutler ), happened to go into labor.

" According to Keaton, in those days, the word " buster " was used to refer to a spill or a fall that had the potential to produce injury.

The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely ; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage.

However, Buster Keaton was always able to show the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones.

" Decades later, Keaton said that he was never hurt by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution.

Keaton claimed he was having so much fun that he would sometimes begin laughing as his father threw him across the stage.

It is said that, when one official saw Keaton in full costume and makeup and asked a stagehand how old he was, the stagehand, aware of the situation with the Keatons, then pointed to the boy's mother, saying, " I don't know, ask his wife!

" According to one biographer, Keaton was made to go to school while performing in New York, but only attended for part of one day.

Despite tangles with the law and a disastrous tour of music halls in the United Kingdom, Keaton was a rising star in the theater.

According to a frequently-repeated story, which may be apocryphal, Keaton acquired the nickname " Buster " at about eighteen months of age.

After attempts at reconciliation, Natalie divorced Keaton in 1932, taking his entire fortune and refusing to allow any contact between Keaton and his sons, whose last name she had changed to Talmadge.

Keaton was not at home at the time, and his wife and children escaped unharmed, staying at the home of Tom Mix until the following morning.

When they divorced in 1936, it was again at great financial cost to Keaton.

In a British television documentary about his career, his widow Eleanor told producers of Thames Television that Keaton was up out of bed and moving around, and even played cards with friends who came to visit at their house the day before he died.

Keaton observed that during his silent period, such a hat cost him around two dollars ; at the time of his interview, he said, they cost almost $ 13.

* In the Buster Keaton film The Playhouse, a zouave drill routine is one of the acts at the theatre.

The actor appeared at a celebrity baseball game as the Monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcher Buster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the Monster stomped into home plate.

From this one might think that Keaton jumped at the chance but this is not the case.

) Often when crew was stumped over a technical problem with the camera, he came through with suggestions, inevitably prefacing his comments by explaining that he had solved such problems many times at the Keaton Studios back in 1927 .”

* Buster Keaton in FILM ( 1965 ) at Internet Archive

Keaton began studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City.

Coppola noted that he first noticed Keaton in Lovers and Other Strangers, and cast her because of her reputation for eccentricity that he wanted her to bring to the role ( Keaton claims that at the time she was commonly referred to as " the kooky actress " of the film industry ).

Keaton at the White House with Warren Beatty and first lady Nancy Reagan, 1981

Keaton reprised her role four years later in the sequel, as a woman who becomes pregnant in middle age at the same time as her daughter.

In the film, scripted and directed by Thomas Bezucha, Keaton played a breast cancer survivor and matriarch of a big New England family, who reunites at the parents ' home for their annual Christmas holidays.

Keaton received her second Satellite Award nomination for her portrayal, on which Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented, " Keaton, a sorceress at blending humor and heartbreak, honors the film with a grace that makes it stick in the memory.

Keaton told interviewer Fletcher Markle that Harry Houdini happened to be present one day when the young Keaton took a tumble down a long flight of stairs without injury.

Instead, the number was replaced by one featuring Buster Keaton, though Dressler did pose for stills wearing a Lady Godiva wig.

Hanging Up, I'm Not Rappaport ( 1996 ) was also one of his best and a 2000 film directed by Diane Keaton, was Matthau's final appearance on screen.

This speech by Diane Keaton is as close to perfect as such a speech can likely be ... all done in one take of brilliant brinksmanship.

The " roll dance " the tramp character performs in the film is considered one of the most memorable scenes in film history, although Roscoe Arbuckle did something similar in the 1917 movie The Rough House which co-starred Buster Keaton.

Although the role called for Beckett ’ s seemingly ubiquitous bowler hat, Keaton had brought along some of his trademark flattened-down Stetsons and it was quickly agreed that he should wear one of those.

Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular and influential film comedians of the silent film era.

In 1977, Keaton starred with Allen in the romantic comedy Annie Hall, one of her most famous roles.

The Little Drummer Girl was both a financial and critical failure, with critics claiming that Keaton was miscast for the genre, such as one review from The New Republic claiming that " the title role, the pivotal role, is played by Diane Keaton, and around her the picture collapses in tatters.

By the 1990s, Keaton had established herself as one of the most popular and versatile actors in Hollywood.

A review of the film for the San Francisco Examiner was one of many in which Keaton once again received comparison to Katharine Hepburn: " No longer relying on that stuttering uncertainty that seeped into all her characterizations of the 1970s, she has somehow become Katharine Hepburn with a deep maternal instinct, that is, she is a fine and intelligent actress who doesn't need to be tough and edgy in order to prove her feminism.

Though some critics found that Keaton was underused in the film, the actress was generally praised for performance, with James Berardinelli of ReelViews noting that " Diane Keaton is so good at her part that one can see her sliding effortlessly into an anchor's chair on a real morning show.

Keaton still maintains contact with both Allen and Beatty, and describes Allen as one of her closest friends.

According to Woody Allen ( in a New York Times interview from January 30, 2000 ), W. C. Fields is one of only six " genuine comic geniuses " he recognized as such in movie history, along with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Groucho and Harpo Marx, and Peter Sellers.