Pete, I will have to look up Buster Keaton.     I think i saw a doco on him. IF its the guy i am thinking about, he got charged with indecent dealings with a girl and died a alcoholic, but i will have to relook at the doco i have saved from Austar on the history channel. Was he a chubby guy with black hair ? I might have the wrong guy, but it sounds familiar. ?
of being musical and just play speech mute. He could whistle like a demon as well.

No, that was Fatty Arbuckle
Fatty actually gave Buster his start in movies
Buster stuck by his mentor after the controversy