ROSCOE FATTY ARBUCKLE

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was a wildly popular silent actor. In the late 1910s, he was probably the most famous and most successful silent comedian, and in 1918, he discovered Buster Keaton, who appeared in a number of movies with him, before going on to major stardom himself. Arbuckle's career was cut short in 1921, at the height of his fame, when he was accused of raping and causing the death of minor actress Virginia Rappe at an infamous party. Despite a significant lack of evidence, he was put on trial, and there were two trials that ended in hung juries, and then at this third trial, where Buster Keaton testified in his defense, he was not only acquitted, but the jury gave him a letter apologizing for the injustices done to him! But because of the scandal, his career was ruined. While Hollywood would eventually "forgive" him, and he started making movies again in 1932, he would only make six new films (comedy shorts for Warner Bros.) between this time and June 1933 (less than nine months later), when he passed away from a heart attack, and he was just 46 years old. Some of his movies include: Fatty and Mabel Adrift, The Garage, Back Stage, Go West, and the Bell Boy.