Eleanor Ruth Keaton (née Norris; July 29, 1918 – October 19, 1998) was an American dancer and variety show performer.

In her later years, she bred champion St. Bernard dogs, was a gag consultant for Hollywood filmmakers, and was an invited speaker at silent-film screenings.

[7] Norris took dance lessons as a child and dropped out of school at age 15 to join a nightclub act called Six Blondes from Hollywood, which toured internationally.

One time, however, she snapped back at another player who "made a nasty remark" about a card she had played, and Keaton raised his eyes and noticed her.

[11] With his independent filmmaking career taken from him, two failed marriages, most of his money gone, and a history of alcoholism, Keaton, 42 years old when they met in 1938, was quite the opposite of the pretty and popular Eleanor, then aged 19.

[13][8] Keaton was working at MGM as a gag writer, producing comedy routines for the Marx Brothers and others at a salary of $200 a week.

[12][15] She sensed that she could give Keaton what he needed: not just a wife, but "a combination valet, cook, housekeeper, bill payer, and constant reminder".

[7] John C. Tibbetts noted in his interview with her that she possessed "the kind of sturdy independence, inner reserve and genuine caring nature that must have appealed to Buster".

[19] As theater attendance decreased after World War II, MGM laid off its chorus members, including Eleanor Keaton in 1953.

[19] He performed in state fairs in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Tennessee, and Alabama;[25] in fact, it was on a return trip from the Kansas State Fair that Eleanor, driving while Buster dozed, stopped the car when she realized they were in Piqua and introduced him to the place he had been born while his parents were touring in a medicine show.

[17][28][29] In his authorized biography, Keaton, Rudi Blesh praised Eleanor for having buoyed her husband through career setbacks and encouraging him to keep plying his talents on television and in film.

He wrote: [S]he has seen Buster Keaton through a long period of painful adjustment, relapse, and readjustment and a dozen partial comebacks.

[7][35][36][37] She gave many interviews to journalists, biographers, and film historians, speaking candidly about her husband's personality, opinions, career, and their life together.

[45] Eleanor attended events in Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Los Angeles, Muskegon, Michigan, and Piqua, Kansas.

[14][41][46] In June 1998, Keaton donated more than 900 items of her husband's personal memorabilia from 1938 to 1966 to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the urging of biographer Jeffrey Vance, who argued that these materials should be preserved in an archive rather than in the hands of private collectors or sold at auction.

[7][37][49] She also served as a gag consultant for Hollywood filmmakers such as Mel Brooks, and was invited to speak at silent-film screenings, such as the annual Last Remaining Seats film series at the Los Angeles Conservancy.