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.
Frank Alexander
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