Buster Keaton

Pork pie hat, slapshoes, deadpan expression
His films contain elaborate gadgets of his own devising
Used the camera to help comedy, e.g. to create effect of rocking boat in beginning of Wasser hat keine Balken (1921).
Small and slight frame
Sympathetic characters who can never quite catch a break

Died quietly at home in his sleep, shortly after playing cards with his wife.
While remodeling his home in 1952, James Mason discovered several reels of Keaton's "lost" films (Mason had purchased Keaton's Hollywood mansion) and immediately recognized their historical significance. He took upon himself the responsibility for their preservation.
When he married Natalie Talmadge, the Talmadge family was one of the great acting dynasties in both theater and film, and the gossip in Hollywood was that Keaton married her to gain respect in the industry, a rumor he never quite lived down during his peak. Ironically, Keaton is now a film legend, while most people would be hard-pressed to answer who the Talmadges are.
Fractured his neck while filming Sherlock Holmes Jr. (1924) but did not learn about it until a doctor saw X-rays of his neck during a routine physical examination many years later.
Was hearing-impaired since 1918, after serving in Germany fighting World War I.

No man can be a genius in slapshoes and a flat hat.
Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot.
I gotta do some sad scenes. Why, I never tried to make anybody cry in my life! And I go 'round all the time dolled up in kippie clothes--wear everything but a corset . . . can't stub my toe in this picture nor anything! Just imagine having to play-act all the time without ever getting hit with anything!
[Asked by a reporter at an MGM premiere, "Are you happy to be here?"] Of course, I got off location for this!
What used to get my goat at MGM were comedians like The Marx Brothers or [Bud Abbott] and [Lou Costello], who never worried about the script or the next scene. My God, we ate, slept and dreamed our pictures.