Top 15 Hollywood Legends who started at Keystone Studios
by kishiro6 | created - 17 Dec 2019 | updated - 18 Dec 2019 | PublicSilent-era stars who had their start at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios. These are the early comic stars and directors (post french underrated slapstick superstar, Max Linder)
1. Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Actor | Coney Island
Roscoe Arbuckle, the youngest of nine children, reportedly weighed 16 pounds at birth in Smith Center, Kansas on March 24, 1887. His family moved to California when he was one year old. At age 8 he first appeared on the stage. His first part was with the Webster-Brown stock company. From then until...
2. Buster Keaton
Actor | The General
Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...
3. Harold Lloyd
Actor | Safety Last!
Born in Burchard, Nebraska, USA to Elizabeth Fraser and J. Darcie 'Foxy' Lloyd who fought constantly and soon divorced (at the time a rare event), Harold Clayton Lloyd was nominally educated in Denver and San Diego high schools and received his stage training at the School of Dramatic Art (San ...
4. Charles Chaplin
Writer | The Great Dictator
Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...
5. Mabel Normand
Actress | Mickey
Mabel Normand was one of the comedy greats of early film. In an era when women are deemed 'not funny enough' it seems film history has forgotten her contributions. Her films debuted the Keystone Cops, Charlie Chaplin's tramp and the pie in the face gag. She co-starred with both Chaplin and Roscoe "...
6. Ford Sterling
Actor | The Trouble with Wives
Ford Sterling was born on November 3, 1883 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Trouble with Wives (1925), He Who Gets Slapped (1924) and Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919). He was married to Teddy Sampson. He died on October 13, 1939 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
7. Gloria Swanson
Actress | Sunset Blvd.
Gloria Swanson was born Gloria May Josephine Svensson in Chicago, Illinois. She was destined to be perhaps one of the biggest stars of the silent movie era. Her personality and antics in private definitely made her a favorite with America's movie-going public. Gloria certainly didn't intend on ...
8. Syd Chaplin
Actor | King, Queen and Joker
Syd Chaplin was born on March 16, 1885 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for King, Queen and Joker (1921), The Better 'Ole (1926) and A Lover's Lost Control (1915). He was married to Minnie Chaplin and Henriette. He died on April 15, 1965 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France.
9. Robert Thornby
Director | West of Broadway
Robert Thornby was born on March 27, 1888 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and actor, known for West of Broadway (1926), The Drivin' Fool (1923) and On Dangerous Ground (1917). He died on March 6, 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
10. Henry Lehrman
Producer | Why Sailors Go Wrong
Austrian-born Henry Lehrman entered the film industry in 1909 while working as a trolley conductor. Legend has it that he cornered director D.W. Griffith and claimed to be an agent for the French-based Pathe company, sent by them to work with Griffith. By the time Griffith found out that Lehrman's ...
11. Mack Sennett
Producer | A Small Town Idol
Mack Sennett was born Michael Sinnott on January 17, 1880 in Danville, Quebec, Canada, to Irish immigrant farmers. When he was 17, his parents moved the family to East Berlin, Connecticut, and he became a laborer at American Iron Works, a job he continued when they moved to Northampton, ...
12. Charles Avery
Director | Love and Bullets
Charles Avery was born on May 28, 1873 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Love and Bullets (1914), His Lying Heart (1916) and The Taming of the Shrew (1908). He was married to Elsa Clark, Margaret Ella Royster and Katherine Caroline Gormley. He died on July 23, 1926 ...
13. Wilfred Lucas
Actor | Modern Times
The youngest of three sons, he was born in Norfolk, Ontario, Canada and was educated at McGill University then In 1904 he moved to New York where he appeared in a number of plays on Broadway including The Blue Grass Handicap, The Superstition of Sue and successful The Chorus Lady after which he was...
14. George Nichols
Actor | The Flirt
George Nichols was born on October 28, 1864 in Rockford, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Flirt (1922), The Midnight Express (1924) and Jess (1912). He was married to Viola Alberti. He died on September 20, 1927 in Hollywood, California, USA.
15. Fred Mace
Director | Without Hope
Mace was a dentist from Erie, Pennsylvania who at one point did some stage stock work for Mack Sennett. Heading west, he worked for Carl Laemmle and Thomas H. Ince before settling back with Sennett. After achieving success as the Chief of the Keystone Kops, he quit Sennett and opened his own ...
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