WRoscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd, as well as with his nephew Al St. John. He mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. He was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for $14,000.
WSir Charles Spencer Chaplin was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, "The Tramp", and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.
WThe Chuckle Brothers were an English comedy double act comprising Barry David Elliott and Paul Harman Elliott. They were known for their BBC children's programme ChuckleVision, which celebrated its twenty-first series with a 2010 stage tour entitled An Audience with the Chuckle Brothers. The comedy of the Chuckle Brothers usually derived from slapstick, wordplay and other visual gags, and their catchphrases included "To me, to you!" and "Oh dear, oh dear!"
WHenri André Chapais, known as André Deed, was a French actor and director, best known for his Foolshead comedies, produced in the 1900s and 1910s. André Deed was one of the first named actors in cinema, and his film series based around Foolshead were a global success.
WMarie Marguerite Sarah Duhamel, was a French stage and film comedienne.
WWilliam Thomson Hay was an English comedian who wrote and acted in a schoolmaster sketch that was popular all over the world, and later transferred to the screen, where he also played other authority figures with comic failings. His film Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937), made by Gainsborough Pictures, is often cited as the supreme British-produced film-comedy, and in 1938 he was the third highest-grossing star in the UK. Many famous comedians have acknowledged him as a major influence. Hay was also a keen amateur astronomer.
WAlfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer, best remembered for his television programme The Benny Hill Show, an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque, and double entendre in a format that included live comedy and filmed segments, with Hill at the focus of almost every segment.
WJoseph Frank Keaton, known professionally as Buster Keaton, was an American actor, comedian, film director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer. He is best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" on a series of films that make him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". His career declined afterward with a loss of artistic independence when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, his wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1959.
WNeville Kennard was an England actor, comedian and writer, most active in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was a prolific writer of sketches and a specialist in variety entertainment, who was one of the most famous names associated with the concert party form of entertainment.
WFred Kitchen was an English music hall star, comic and entertainer.
WHarry Philmore Langdon was an American comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films, and talkies.
WGabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle, known professionally as Max Linder, was a French actor, director, screenwriter, producer and comedian of the silent film era. His onscreen persona "Max" was one of the first recognizable recurring characters in film. He has also been cited as the "first international movie star" and "the first film star anywhere".
WVenu Madhav was an Indian film actor, television presenter, mimicry artist and comedian known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema, and few Tamil and Kannada films. He was one of the finest comedians in the Telugu cinema, he starred in some 170 films in a variety of roles, starting his career as an impressionist; imitating celebrities, politicians, and local dialects. He received breakthrough in cinema with works such as Master (1997), and Tholi Prema (1998).
WYuri Vladimirovich Nikulin was a well-known Soviet and Russian actor and clown who starred in many popular films. He is best known for his roles in Leonid Gaidai's comedies, such as The Diamond Arm and Kidnapping Caucassian Style, although he occasionally starred in dramatic roles and performed in Moscow Circus.
WThe Patton Brothers, comprising Jimmy Elliott and Brian Elliott, were an English comedy double act and the two older brothers of Barry and Paul Elliott, the Chuckle Brothers. They began their career as a double act in the 1950s.
WLéonce Joseph Perret was a prolific and innovative French film actor, director and producer. He also worked as a stage actor and director. Often described as avant-garde for his unorthodox directing methods, Léonce Perret introduced innovative camera, lighting and film scoring techniques to French cinema.
WCharles Prince Seigneur was a French-born film actor and comedian, best known for his screen persona "Rigadin" in numerous short slapstick comedies. He was also known as "Moritz" in Germany, "Whiffles" in England and the US, and "Tartufini" in Italy. He was the second biggest film star in the world in the years leading up to World War I, just behind his rival Max Linder. Prince's "Rigadin" character was similar to Linder's "Max" in that they were both upper-class dandys that were constantly getting into trouble with authority figures and love interests. Prince began his acting career on the stage and was hired by Pathé Frères in 1908. He made over 200 films as "Rigadin" from 1909 until 1920. By 1920 his popularity had faded and he played supporting roles in a handful of films in the 1920s and 1930s. Two of his Rigadin shorts, Rigadin Directeur de Cinéma and Rigadin et le Chien de la Baronne, were preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.
WUppaluri Subbbaraya Sarma is an Indian film character actor, and comedian known for his exclusive works in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre, and Television. In a film career spanning more than forty years, Sarma played a variety of characters.
WMack Sennett was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'.
WShim Hyung-rae is a South Korean former comedian and filmmaker best known for directing Yonggary (Korean: 용가리) and D-War (Korean: 디-워), by far the most expensive Korean movie in history. He has often worked with fellow directors Nam Gi-nam (Korean: 남기남) and Kim Cheong-gi (Korean: 김청기).
WTrivikram Srinivas is an Indian screenwriter, dialogue writer, and director, known for his works exclusively in Telugu cinema. Trivikram's craft is known for its high dose of comedy, fast-paced repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, and comedy thriller plot lines involving action, emotion, courtship, family and marriage. In the year 2000, he wrote dialogues for Nuvve Kavali, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year. He is popularly known as Maatala Maantrikudu and Guruji.
WThe Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best known for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures that have been regularly airing on television since 1958. Their hallmark was physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared over the act's run : Moe Howard and Larry Fine were mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly 50-year run and the pivotal "third stooge" was played by Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser and "Curly" Joe DeRita.
WVivekanandan, known by his stage name Vivek, is an Indian film actor, comedian, television personality, playback singer and activist working in the Tamil film industry. In 2009, Government of India awarded Vivek with the Padma Shri award for his contribution to the arts. Sathyabama University has conferred actor Vivek with an honorary doctorate for his contribution to the society through cinema. As a television personality, Vivek has hosted a number of events and has interviewed media personalities, notably A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
WSir Norman Joseph Wisdom, was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character that was often called Norman Pitkin. He was awarded the 1953 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles following the release of Trouble in Store, his first film in a lead role.