Joseph Frank "
Buster"
Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, director, producer, writer, and stunt performer. He was best known for his
silent films, in which his trademark was
physical comedy with a consistently
stoic,
deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Keaton was recognized as the seventh-greatest film director by
Entertainment Weekly. In 1999, the
American Film Institute ranked Keaton the 21st
greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. Critic
Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, [when] he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". His career declined afterward with a dispiriting loss of his artistic independence when he was hired by
MGM, which resulted in a crippling
alcoholism that ruined his family life. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career to a degree as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an
Academy Honorary Award in 1959.