This day in history: American actor, comedian and filmmaker Buster Keaton was born on this day in 1895. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.
"In the 1920s CGI didn’t exist, so actors either had to hire stuntpeople or do their own stunts; Keaton chose the latter. One of his most remarkable stunts was done in the 1928 feature film Steamboat Bill, Jr., where a 4000-pound facade of a house fell on the actor. 'Keaton’s position on the ground had to line up exactly with an open window in the top of the house; thankfully for him, it did,' The Guardian wrote. However, Keaton did injure himself a few times.
On the set of The Electric House (1922), he broke his ankle. On Sherlock Jr. (1924), Keaton broke his neck—and somehow he didn't even realize it. A water spout knocked him unconscious on train tracks, and despite suffering from headaches, he didn’t know the extent of the damage until years later when an X-ray revealed the breakage." Source
In 1965, Keaton starred in the short film The Railrodder for the National Film Board of Canada. He traveled from one end of Canada to the other on a motorized handcar, wearing his traditional pork pie hat and performing gags similar to those in films that he made 50 years before. The film is also notable for being his last silent screen performance.
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