Buster Keaton "Francis". His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, who owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. According to a frequently repeated story, which may be apocryphal, Keaton acquired the nickname "Buster" at about 18 months of age. Keaton told interviewer Fletcher Markle that Houdini was present one day when the young Keaton took a tumble down a long flight of stairs without injury. After the infant sat up and shook off his experience, Houdini remarked, "That was a real buster!" According to Keaton,
Myra Keaton died on July 21, 1955, in Los Angeles, California, aged 78. She died while her son, Buster, was on tour in England. She was buried at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar, California. 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