Buster Keaton ever made. Keaton was recognized as the seventh-greatest film director by "Entertainment Weekly", and the American Film Institute ranked him in 1999 as the 21st greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in Piqua, Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Keaton ("née" Cutler), was when she went into labor. He was named "Joseph" to continue a tradition on his father's side (he was sixth in a line bearing the name Joseph Keaton) and "Frank" for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of his parents' union. Later, Keaton changed his middle name to
Michael Keaton steadfastly refused and was replaced by Val Kilmer in "Batman Forever" (1995). Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including "Pacific Heights", "One Good Cop", "My Life" and the star-studded Shakespearean story "Much Ado About Nothing". He starred in "The Paper" and "Multiplicity", and twice in the same role, that of Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in the films "Jackie Brown" and "Out of Sight". He made the family holiday movie "Jack Frost" and the thriller "Desperate Measures". Keaton starred as a political candidate's speechwriter in 1994's "Speechless". In the early 2000s, Keaton