Buster Keaton

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton, a distinguished filmmaker and comedian, conceived, wrote, directed, acted in and even edited most of his ten feature films and 19 short comedies, which represent some of the finest silent pictures ever made. This biography goes behind the scenes at the making of Keaton's masterpiece "The General", selected by the American Film Institute as one of the five best silent films of all time. It details his experiences acting with Charlie Chaplin in the film "Limelight", and reveals his role in one of Hollywood's most infamous sex scandals involving Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The book discloses details about the private Keaton: the anguish of child abuse, his lifelong struggle to conceal his basic lack of education, the alcoholism that practically ended his career and his life, the women and the marriages. This work is based on four years of research and more than 200 interviews with people who knew, worked with and loved him, including Billy Wilder, Leni Riefenstahl, Gene Kelly, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Irene Mayer Selznick and Bill Cosby, as well as members of Keaton's family, some of whom had refused to speak to biographers and journalists until now.
It also contains many never-before-seen photographs, contributed by Keaton's estate. Marion Meade is the author of "Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This?"