The kids of today probably hasn’t even heard about the silent era of comedy. But people like me who were born in 80s and 90s might have heard a bit about some silent comedians. Those people were the best entertainers because amusing people without uttering a single word is what’s actually harder. Following is the list of top 10 silent comedians of their time, some of them might be heard of whereas others have been forgotten in time.
10. Larry Semon
Larry is listed amongst the forgotten stars of the century. He was born in Mississippi in 1889 and had been working for a newspaper as a cartoonist. Soon he was approached to write and direct a few films and within 3 months he was starring in them as well. His appearance in his films was verily appreciated, he appeared in films as a white-faced, derby hat wearing klutz who would stumble into a scene and cause all kinds of chaos. After his films received a great success he was allowed to make the films as accordingly as he liked which caused Larry being bankrupt just before his end of time which was in 1928.
9.Ben Turpin
Turpin was born in 1869 in New Orleans. Like most other stars he started his career in very early stages. In the year 1907, when cinemas came to life he got work at the Essanay studios as an actor and also as the janitor. But within few years his scribbling the floor days were far over. He became an established actor. The most famous thing about Turpin was his crossed eyes. The attention he got was not only because of the jokes but also because of his appearance. A publicity stunt was reported about Turpin that he had insured his eyes for $25,000. He retired early but still had appeared in some shows as a guest. He died on July 1, 1940 due to a heart attack.
8.Mabel Normond
After seeing her face if anyone is having the impression of a young innocent girl, I’m sorry to say that you sir/mam are thinking totally opposite of what she really was. Her abilities included directing, producing and acting. But the star’s life was full of scandals and drug addiction. She had played a very important role in cinematography and also in the career development of the infamous Chaplin. Chaplin’s character made its first ever appearance in Mable’s film. In Normond’s early twenties problems started arousing because of the fact that she was involved in drugs and was also counted as a suspect in the mysterious murder of her close friend. She carried on making a few more movies while ignoring her health which caused her an early death in 1930, her cause of death was TB.
7.Mary Pickford
Mary, who was born as Gladys Marie Smith in 1982 was a very talented and one of few silent female comedians of the silent era. She was the first super star who had control over things, either onscreen or off-screen. She had been doing a little this a little that in the beginning but by 1913, she had been hired by a director for $500 per week. Her success rate was so fast that within 3 years she was earning ten thousand dollars. Her cause of popularity was based around her innocent looks. She had played the roles of teenagers in her adulthood. Mary was considered to be the most famous woman in the world by 1920s. Due to some inside problems she retired early in 1933.
6.Fatty Arbuckle
Fatty Arbuckle is yet another forgotten comedian. In his time he was considered to be the only one who could stand next to Chaplin in terms of box office receipts and worldwide fame. His rate of success can be concluded by the fact that he rose from a plumber’s assistant to a million dollar a year movie star. However he was never as ambitious a Chaplin but still his art of making people laugh can’t be forgotten, even though his life was filled with scandals. Arbuckle was Chaplin’s mentor. The star had to face 3 trials for a scandal hit of killing Virginia Rappe after raping her. He was shortly acquitted by the jury, but the damage had been done and his career went to ruins. In 1932 he appeared in a couple of short films. He was forgiven by the public and was ready to make a full-fledged comeback, he even signed a contract with Warner in 1933, but as he said it was the best day of his life he died of a heart attack on the very same night.
5.Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd is one of those who lived to see cinema talk but was not able to be a part of it. He was considered to be one of the biggest stars of the day; he replaced Arbuckle and started to step up with Chaplin. His big break was in 1913 when he was working with Hal Roach. Lloyd became the comic character of Roachâs famous comic. He had appeared in more than sixty one reel comedies during the time period from 1915-1917. He went on doing big projects, with films like Girl Shy, The Freshman and Speedy were all big success. He was on the path of much greater success until the talkies arrived. He took a back seat in filming and was dealing with depression and other problems. He died in 1971 from a prostate cancer.
4. Oliver Hardy
Oliver is the one-half of the cinemaâs best comedy duo ever to live. Oliver had already entered film industry at a very early age. He often worked as a projectionist, ticket taker, janitor and manager of his local nickelodeon in Georgia. His first appearance as an actor was in 1914 and within the next ten years he had made over 200 shorts often featuring Larry Semon before the original duo united in 1927. The duo started making shorts at an amazing rate that featured most of the unique stuff such as the most amazing pie fight in the history of films etc. Hardy and his partner were a few of those people who successfully stepped into sound and made their name permanent because they are still very well recognized, even now. And I can bet that most people have watched their movies more than other silent comedians.
3. Stan Laurel
Stan is the second-half of the cinemaâs best comedy duo to ever live. Onscreen Stan was always the fall guy but off screen, he was the brains behind the success of the duo. Stan was born in England in 1880. He joined Fred Karnoâs troupe of actors in 1910. In 1926, he joined the Hal Roach studio and started directing his own films. His intentions were to only direct and write films till the day he met Oliver Hardy in 1927. Hal Roach noticed the stars in them and made their dreams into reality. Their success on the sound cinema was as much as they had in the silent era. Their performance on any screen was always welcomed. Â Their careers started to wade off after the 40s when both of them started having health issues and finally in 1957 Ollie died. Stan, his best buddy followed him in the arms of death on January 1965.
2.Buster Keaton
Keaton was born in 1895 to a lower class family. He gained his education from his father who would no doubt use his own son as a servant rather than a human being at the only age of five. Arbuckle showed Keaton the way into filming industry and when he got his recognition and confidence he went out on his own in the 20s and never once looked back. He had been doing films for quite some time and had performed his own dangerous stunts without any protections. Soon after he discovered that MGM was going to take away his freedom by claiming him to do their films he lost his spirit, became an alcoholic and never reclaimed his past glories. He was lucky enough to be cheered for in the 60s and finally getting credit for all his work. But that credit came late as he died soon on Feb 1, 1966 due to lung cancer.
1. Charlie Chaplin
No one in the silent comedy era is more widely known than Charlie Chaplin. Even the people who have never seen a silent film can recognize the Chaplin silhouette, the shabby suit, and the bowler hat. Chaplin was born in England on 1889. Before the arrival of Chaplin in the industry, the film comics were usually based firmly in the realm of cartoonish slapstick. Chaplinâs film making genius and storytelling instincts changed all that. In 1915, his film The Tramp was released. In the film whenever his character gets hurt he is not seen standing up again and continuing the shots, in fact he is seen in hospital beds as to show more reality than fiction. Once he got a leap to the feature films he got even more ambitious. More than 3 or 4 movies of his have been ranked to top 250 movies of all time. Chaplin has made a name that can never be removed from the history of this world. In the late 60s, his health began to fall slowly. Chaplin died in 1977 in his sleep.
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