Roscoe Arbuckle "Middle Man". Roscoe Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. Starting at the Selig Polyscope Company he eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd. He mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s, and soon became one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for US$1 million (equivalent to approximately $ in dollars). Between November
Billy West (silent film actor) Billy West (silent film actor) Billy West (September 22, 1892 – July 21, 1975) was a film actor, producer and director of the silent film era. He is best known as a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Born Roy B. Weissburg (or "Weissberg") in the Russian Empire to a Jewish family, West emigrated to Chicago with his family aged two. He appeared in many short films, first in "Apartment No. 13" in 1912. In 1917 movie theaters could not get enough Charlie Chaplin comedies, and an enterprising producer hired West, who had been doing comic pantomimes on the vaudeville stage, to make