A vaudeville star before the age of ten, Buster Keaton was preparing to make his Broadway debut in 1917... (Learn more)
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Buster Keaton’s Milestones
| Appeared in eight MGM movies, ranging from mediocre to abysmal | |
| Drafted into Army and assigned to the 40th Infantry; posted to France | |
| In the late 30s, a faulty refrigeration system in a film vault destroyed the negatives to all his silent movies | |
| Joined the family act before the age of three, The Two Keatons becoming The Three Keatons | |
| Made first stage appearance at the age of nine months, crawling into the middle of his father's blackface routine | |
| 1900 | "Official" professional debut, October 17 at Dockstader's Theatre, Wilmington, Delaware |
| 1900 - 1917 | The Three Keatons traveled widely, appearing all over the USA and becoming headliners in NYC; from the beginning Buster was the star of the act |
| 1909 | Keaton family made a brief trip to Europe, during which they played London's Palace |
| 1917 | Accepted a part in the Broadway show "The Passing Show of 1917" at $250 a week but broke contract after meeting Rosco 'Fatty' Arbuckle and appearing in his first film |
| 1917 | Father's drinking led to break-up of the act |
| 1917 | First short film as actor, "The Butcher Boy", written and directed by Arbuckle |
| 1920 | First released short film as director, "One Week"; co-helmed with Eddie Cline |
| 1920 | First short film as director, "The High Sign" (shelved and not released until 1921) |
| 1920 | Played a straight role in his first feature, "The Saphead"; made on loan to Metro Pictures |
| 1920 | Took over Joseph Schenck's Comique Films (formerly headed by Arbuckle) |
| 1921 | With Cline, co-wrote and co-directedthe two-reeler "The Playhouse", a special effects tour de force in which he appeared on screen simultaneously nine times, even performing a dance with himself |
| 1922 | Comique Films name changed to Buster Keaton Productions (though Schenck still owned it) |
| 1923 | Completed first feature comedy, "The Three Ages", a spoof of D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916) |
| 1924 | Released "Sherlock Jr" and "The Navigator"; the former considered by many as one of (if not) his finest films |
| 1926 | His best-known film "The General" opened to unfavorable critical response |
| 1928 | First picture for MGM, "The Cameraman", well up to the standard of his best independent features |
| 1928 | Last film released under the umbrella of "Buster Keaton Productions", "Steamboat Bill Jr" |
| 1928 | Signed contract with MGM |
| 1929 | Last silent feature, "Spite Marriage" |
| 1929 | Made first talking film as actor "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" |
| 1933 | MGM contract terminated |
| 1934 | Made French film, "Le roi des Champs-Elyses"; never released in USA |
| 1934 | Signed contract with Educational Films for two-reelers |
| 1936 | Made "Grand Slam Opera", his favorite short for Educational |
| 1937 | Educational Films closed down |
| 1937 | Signed contract with MGM as gagman only |
| 1938 | Last directing assignments, three single-reelers for MGM ("Life in Sometown, USA", "Hollywood Handicap", "Streamlined Swing") |
| 1939 | Signed contract with Columbia; made 10 shorts over the next two years |
| 1941 | Toured USA in detective play, "The Gorilla" |
| 1947 | First appearance at Cirque Medrano, Paris (as Malec) |
| 1949 | James Agee's essay in LIFE sparked renewed interest in silent films, particualrly the work of Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon |
| 1949 | Made TV debut re-enacting a scene from "The Butcher Boy" on "The Ed Wynn Show" (CBS) |
| 1950 | Appeared as himself in Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" |
| 1952 | Acted in Chaplin's "Limelight" (only time the two appeared together) |
| 1955 | Actor James Mason, then-owner of the villa Keaton had built for former wife Natalie Talmadge in 1925, discovered a cache of film cans in a locked vault in a gardner's shed which contained prints of all of Keaton's silent features and many of his short comedies too, a veritable treasure trove from which Rohaure could begin his work |
| 1955 | Met businessman Raymond Rohaurer who would pull together a collection of prints of Keaton's silent films |
| 1956 | Appeared in Michael Anderson's "Around the World in 80 Days" |
| 1957 | Paramount released "The Buster Keaton Story", starring Donald O'Connor |
| 1959 | Awarded a special Oscar for "his unique talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen" |
| 1963 | Acted in Stanley Kramer's "It a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" |
| 1965 | Received standing ovation as special guest at the Venice Film Festival where "Film", a 22-minte short written for him by Samuel Beckett, premiered |
| 1966 | Last film appearances (excluding archival footage) in Richard Lester's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and Luigi Scattini's "War Italian Style" (released in the USA in 1967) |
| 1987 | Last film unearthed and restored by Rohaurer (with Kevin Brownlow), the 1921 short "Hard Luck", premiered at London's Palladium |
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