Joe Keaton Joe Keaton Joseph Hallie Keaton (July 6, 1867 – January 13, 1946) was an American vaudeville performer and silent film actor. He was the father of actor Buster Keaton and appeared with his son in several of his films. Keaton was born a few miles south of Terre Haute, Indiana to Libbie Jane and Joseph Francis Keaton IV. Leaving home in 1889, the year of the Land Rush, he homesteaded in the Oklahoma territory for a time, securing a claim three and a half miles northwest of Edmond. A few months into Keaton's residency, the neighboring homesteader (a Canadian whom
Buster Keaton Cellulose acetate film from deteriorating nitrate film stock. On April 3, 1957, Keaton was surprised by Ralph Edwards for the weekly NBC program "This Is Your Life". The program also promoted the release of the biographical film "The Buster Keaton Story" with Donald O'Connor. In December 1958, Keaton was a guest star in the episode "A Very Merry Christmas" of "The Donna Reed Show" on ABC. He returned to the program in 1965 in the episode "Now You See It, Now You Don't". In August 1960, Keaton played mute King Sextimus the Silent in the national touring company of the