The most iconic actors of the silent era are the silent comedians. They are normally the first people anyone thinks of when silent films are brought up, and filmmakers nowadays pay homage to them a lot. They have been a huge influence on comedians and filmmakers throughout the 20th century, and even movies today; the director of Wall-E, showed the staff, during their lunch breaks for a year, every single Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin film he could find, no doubt because he wanted the Wall-E character to be influenced by those actors. Jackie Chan is also known for taking inspiration from the likes of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, for their insane stunts. Those are two examples of how these actors have managed to capture the hearts of, and as well as influence many, famous people.
What makes silent comedy so appealing is that back then there were no high brow/low brow comedy films. Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd films were all very wacky comedies and their style was very standard back then. You could not make, what top critics would consider, a sophisticated comedy because the humour could only be portrayed by extreme emotions, actions, and situations, so slapstick and random comedy was the best way to portray the comedy genre back then. Sure, you couldn't exactly quote them, since there was no spoken dialogue in those films, but nonetheless the visual style of these films, and the unique acting style of Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd, are one of the most iconic and memorable elements of film around.
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