Buster Keaton Was At The Height Of His Powers In 1928. Then He Made An Awful Mistake
Buster Keaton’s journey from the top of the Hollywood mountain in 1928 to the depths of despair in the early ’30s is a sad and cautionary tale. He had it all, but then he made what he would later call the worst mistake of his life. His subsequent fall from grace was an all-too-familiar tale of personal troubles, worsened by a battle with the oppressive Tinseltown studio machine.
During the ’20s Keaton had become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He hit the heights with remarkable speed, too, rising to the level of worldwide fame only a few years after his first full-length movie was released. His combination of hilarious physical comedy and death-defying stunts made him a beloved marquee name.
Keaton’s defining period between 1920 and 1929 is now seen as one of the most golden that any Hollywood star has ever experienced. In 2002 famed movie critic Roger Ebert heaped praise upon Keaton’s greatest decade. He wrote that, during this run “he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest-actor-director in the history of the movies.”
The innovative star reaped the benefits of his success at the time. In 1924 Keaton had a house built in Beverly Hills for himself and his wife, at the cost of $33,000. After she decided it was too small, he simply built a bigger one. This $300,000 mansion had 20 rooms, including billiards and screening rooms, as well as an outdoor swimming pool. He named it the “Italian Villa.”
Yet as it turned out the 1920s would prove to be the height of Keaton’s fame. In the following decade several factors conspired which saw him experience an alarming decline in both his personal and professional lives. In fact, by the time an emotional Keaton was honored by retrospectives at several 1960s film festivals, he admitted to the (mistaken) belief that his work had been relegated to the forgotten corners of Hollywood history.
