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
Myra Keaton Myra Keaton Myra Edith Keaton (née Cutler, March 13, 1877 – July 21, 1955) was an American vaudeville performer and film actress. She was the mother of actor Buster Keaton. Myra Keaton was born in Modale, Iowa, the daughter of Frank Luke Cutler (1849–1935) and Sarah Elizabeth (née Shaffer; 1850–1887). She had an older brother, Burt Melvin Cutler, and a half-brother, Clinton M. Cutler. As teenagers, Myra and Burt traveled and performed with their father's medicine show. Joe Keaton joined the show while they traveled through Oklahoma Territory in 1893. Myra and Joe married on May 31, 1894, and began