A hundred years later, the sequence still radiates an otherworldly aura: a man wearing a porkpie hat walks down the aisle of ...

Harry Houdini gave Buster Keaton the “Buster” nickname. A 1905 photo of Buster Keaton as a child with his parents, Joe and Myra, with whom he formed a family vaudeville act. | Express/Getty Images ...

Buster Keaton's fame was aided by such Jewish stalwarts as Harry Houdini, Joseph Schenck and, much later, Richard Lester and Stephen Sondheim.

Comedian Buster Keaton, 70, Hollywood immortal whose trade-mark was the dead pan and who felt last year that “I might live forever,” died of lung cancer Tuesday in his Woodland Hills home.

(The oft-told tale of Buster getting his nickname from escape artist Harry Houdini — “That’s some little buster you got there!” he allegedly exclaimed as the toddler landed on his feet ...