9 Actors Who Helped Movies In Ways You Won't Believe
3. Buster Keaton Was A Gag Consultant On Countless Movies
Buster Keaton is one of the most iconic filmmakers who has ever lived, remembered best for his incredible run of films in the 1920s, such as Sherlock Jr., The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr., and The Cameraman, which embraced his penchant for physical comedy and daringly dangerous in-camera stunts.
Keaton's career declined in the 1930s amid poor business decisions and personal woes, and he spent much of the late '30s and '40s working as a "gag consultant," lending his skills to other productions in need of a comedic punch-up.
Keaton contributed gags to the Marx Brothers' 1939 At the Circus - causing considerable friction between Keaton and the brothers - showed up on the set of 1944's musical Bathing Beauty to help write a resolution to one of the major set-pieces, contributed enough gags to 1949's In the Good Old Summertime that the director also cast him in a role in the movie, and worked on baseball gags for the 1949 Frank Sinatra-Gene Kelly musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game.
It may have been low-profile work for a man of Keaton's talents, especially as he was reportedly paid scale for some of these jobs, but his creative frisson ensured these projects were all immediately elevated by his involvement.