Frank Alexander

One of the many imitators of legendary early slapstick comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, 350-pound Frank Alexander also earned the then-popular nickname of "Fatty." A member of the Larry Semon stock company at Vitagraph in the early 1920s, Alexander later became a part of "A Ton of Fun," a trio of comedians advertised as the "three fattest men on the screen." Joining the equally hefty Hilliard Karr (aka "Fat" Karr) and Kewpie Ross, Fatty Alexander romped through a series of rather crude comedies released by FBO from 1925-1927. A surviving entry, All Tied Up (1925), is directed by rustic comic Slim Summerville, whose bean-pole physique was diametrically opposed to that of his stars. A self-described cowboy and stage driver prior to his screen debut with Keystone in the early 1910s, Alexander left films for good with the demise of the "Ton of Fun" series.