Buster Keaton

Along with Chaplin, Buster was considered the great genius of early comedy. Sadly, when sound came along he was relegated to second fiddle and largely forgotten for many years. There is a sad scene in the wonderfiul "Sunset Boulevard" where there is a bridge game attend by the forgotten souls of old Hollywood and Buster is among them. Luckily, he did get rediscovered and his genius was widely acclaimed.