Life Magazine, February 11th 1966
Obituary
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This included a reprint of the James Agee article written in 1949. Rather than repeating it here there is a link to this section of "Comedy's Greatest Era" at the place it was inserted in the obituary.
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The last fade-out on the Great Stone Face
Buster Keaton
 
Keaton began his career in a vaudeville act with his parents. As his mother played the Saxophone, Buster wore a beard and was tossed around so violently by his father that he was called "the human mop." Below he waits on the set of Samuel Beckett's "Film", which he made in 1964.
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Last week Buster Keaton, silent film comic died at the age of 70. He was one of the actors described in an article "Comedy's Greatest Era," which James Agee (later a Pulitzer prize winner) wrote for 'Life' in 1949. The article, a classic summation of movie history, was published in the book "Agee On Film". Here the section dealing with Buster Keaton is reprinted.
 
In his comedy was the
whisper of melancholia
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A smile that was almost never seen cracked the famous poker face as Keaton watched his performance on a playback of a TV salute to Stan Laurel last year. At left behind him is his third wife, Eleanor. 
 
A generation earlier, Keaton got himself in and out of predicaments, slapstick and solemnly hilarious, in a score of two reelers. They took only weeks to make but earned millions
 
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