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
Speak Easily East West Entertainment. The first ever DVD release in the UK is from Powis Square Pictures in January 2009. Speak Easily Speak Easily is a 1932 American Pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Thelma Todd, and directed by Edward Sedgwick. The studio also paired Keaton and Durante as a comedy team during this period in "The Passionate Plumber" and "What! No Beer?" Keaton later used many of the physical gags he created for this film later when he wrote (uncredited) gags for the Marx Brothers' "A Night At The Opera". Prof. Post (Buster Keaton) is a shy