Buster Keaton has influenced many actors throughout the years. Paul Dooley is one of them.
“When I was 15 I saw Keaton on film and that made me want to become an actor,” Dooley said.
He met Keaton later in life while doing a commercial.
Dooley made his acting debut in “The Odd Couple” on Broadway and later made the transition to movies. He has performed in movies like “A Wedding,” “Popeye,” “Breaking Away” and “Sixteen Candles.” He will attend the Buster Keaton Festival this weekend. On Friday he will speak to the Keaton audience and show a film.
“I will be showing a 40-minute silent movie that I made in my late teens,” he said. “I started making my own and thought Iola would like to see it.”
He said the 50 year old film is “not as funny as the masters” but hopes the audience will enjoy it.
Dooley appreciates Keaton’s acting style and said Keaton is responsible for his own acting style.
“Buster didn’t use a lot of movements,” he said. “He didn’t do that over done business. He was much more a naturalist.”
Along with his silent movie, Dooley will show a television show that has a pantomime.
This year’s topic at the Celebration is Chaplin and the Fifties. Dooley said Chaplin and Keaton are “both equally genius,” but prefers Keaton.
“I can identify with him more,” he said. “Buster seemed like an every man.”
Dooley’s wife, Winnie Holzman, will attend the festival with him. She is a writer and is known for writing the television series “My So-Called Life,” and the book “Wicked” which was later adapted into the Broadway musical.
Dooley said she wasn’t a Keaton fan at first but he “converted her as one.”
He will speak at 3:20 p.m. at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center Friday.
