Wallace Beery
Encyclopedia
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill
opposite Marie Dressler
, as Long John Silver
in Treasure Island
, as Pancho Villa
in Viva Villa!
, and his titular role in The Champ
, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor
. Beery appeared in some 250 movies over a 36-year span.
, Missouri
to Noah W. and Marguerite (Fitzgerald) Beery. He was a younger brother of actor/film executive William Beery and actor Noah Beery
, who also had long careers in the motion picture industry, and was an uncle of actor Noah Beery, Jr.
, whose own screen career spanned seven decades. According to U.S. Census records, all three Beery brothers were born to the same parents, making them full brothers and not half-brothers as many biographies have claimed.
Wallace Beery ran away from home and joined the Ringling Brothers Circus at age sixteen as an assistant elephant
trainer. He left two years later, after being clawed by a leopard
. Beery found work in New York City
in comic opera as a baritone and began to appear on Broadway
. In 1913, he moved to Chicago to work for Essanay Studios
, cast as Sweedie, The Swedish Maid
, a masculine character in drag
. Later, he worked for the Essanay Studios location in Niles, California
.
In 1915, Beery starred with his wife Gloria Swanson
in Sweedie Goes to College
. This marriage did not survive his drinking
and abuse
. Beery began playing villains, and in 1917 portrayed Pancho Villa
in Patria
at a time when Villa was still active in Mexico
. Beery reprised the role seventeen years later in one of MGM's biggest hits
.
Wallace Beery's notable silent films include Arthur Conan Doyle
's dinosaur epic The Lost World
(1925; as Professor Challenger
), Robin Hood
with Douglas Fairbanks
(Beery played King Richard the Lionheart in this film and a sequel the following year called Richard the Lion-Hearted
), Last of the Mohicans (1920), The Round-Up (1920; with Roscoe Arbuckle), Old Ironsides (1926), Now We're in the Air
(1927), The Usual Way (1913), Casey at the Bat
(1927), and Beggars of Life
(1928) with Louise Brooks
.
hired him under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
as a character actor
during the dawn of the sound film era.
Beery played the savage convict "Butch," a role originally intended for Lon Chaney, Sr.
, in the highly successful 1930 prison film The Big House, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor
. The same year, he made Min and Bill
(opposite Marie Dressler
), the movie that vaulted him into the box office
first rank. He followed with The Champ
in 1931, this time winning the Best Actor
Oscar
, and the role of Long John Silver
in Treasure Island
(1934). He received a gold medal from the Venice Film Festival
for his second performance as Pancho Villa
in Viva Villa!
(1934) with Fay Wray
. (Lee Tracy
was originally to appear in the film until he drunkenly urinated off the balcony into a crowd of Mexicans standing below; Tracy's career never recovered from the incident.) Other Beery films include Billy the Kid
(1930) with Johnny Mack Brown
, The Secret Six
(1931) with Jean Harlow
and Clark Gable
, Hell Divers
(1931) with Gable, Grand Hotel
(1932) with Joan Crawford
, Tugboat Annie
(1933) with Dressler, Dinner at Eight (1933) opposite Harlow, The Bowery
with George Raft
, Fay Wray
, and Pert Kelton
that same year, China Seas (1935) with Gable and Harlow, and Eugene O'Neill
's Ah, Wilderness!
(1935) in the role of a drunken uncle later played on Broadway by Jackie Gleason
in a musical comedy version. During the 1930s Beery was one of Hollywood's Top 10 box office stars, and at one point his contract with MGM stipulated that he be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio, making him the highest paid actor in the world.
He starred in several comedies with Marie Dressler
and Marjorie Main
, but his career began to decline in his last decade. In 1943 his brother Noah Beery, Sr.
appeared with him in the war-time propaganda
film Salute to the Marines
, followed by Bad Bascomb
(1946) and The Mighty McGurk
(1947). He remained top-billed and none of Beery's films during the sound era lost money at the box office; his movies were particularly popular in the Southern regions of the United States, especially small towns and cities.
; the two performed onscreen together. Although Beery had enjoyed popularity with his Sweedie shorts, his career had taken a dip, and during the marriage to Swanson, he relied on her as a breadwinner. According to Swanson's autobiography, Beery tricked her into swallowing an abortifacient when she became pregnant, and caused her to lose their child. Beery's second wife was Rita Gilman. They adopted Carol Ann, daughter of Rita Beery's cousin. Like his first, this marriage also ended in divorce.
According to E.J. Fleming's book The Fixers (about MGM's legendary "fixers" Eddie Mannix
and Howard Strickling
), Beery, gangster Pat DiCicco, and Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli
(who was also DiCicco's cousin and eventual producer of the James Bond
films) allegedly beat comedian Ted Healy
to death in the parking lot of the Trocadero
nightclub in 1937. The book claims that Beery was sent to Europe
by the studio for a few months, while a story was concocted that three college students had killed Healy. Immigration records confirm a four-month-long trip to Europe on Beery's part immediately after Healy's death, ending April 17, 1938. A pencil drawing of Beery survives that was done on a film set by Healy, an amateur artist as well as movie actor and the organizer and original leader of the Three Stooges
.
Beery owned and flew his own planes, one a Howard DGA-11
. On April 15, 1933 he was commissioned a lieutenant commander in A-V(S), USNR at NRAB Long Beach.
In December, 1939, the unmarried Beery adopted a seven-month old infant girl Phyllis Anne. No further information on the child appears to exist, and she is not mentioned in Beery's obituary.
Beery left an impression of being misanthropic and difficult to work with on many of his colleagues. Jackie Cooper
, who made several films as a child with Beery, called Beery "a big disappointment," and accused him of upstaging and other attempts to undermine the boy's performances out of what Cooper presumed was jealousy. Child actress Margaret O'Brien
also worked with Beery, and she ultimately had to be protected by crew members from Beery's insistence on constantly pinching her. Mickey Rooney
remains an exception to this attitude among child actors, however, and has frequently stated that he enjoyed working with Beery.
One of his proudest achievements was catching the largest black sea bass
in the world off Santa Catalina Island
in 1916. It was a record that stood for 35 years.
A noteworthy episode in Beery's life is chronicled in the 5th episode of Ken Burns' documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea
: In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed an executive order creating Jackson Hole National Monument
to protect the land adjoining the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Local ranchers, outraged at loss of lands they wanted to graze and comparing this action of FDR's to Hitler's taking of Austria, were led by the aging Beery as they protested by herding 500 cattle across the monument lands without a permit.
home of a heart attack
in 1949. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California
.
For his contributions to the film industry, Wallace Beery has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.
Min and Bill
Min and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson....
opposite Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
, as Long John Silver
Long John Silver
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
in Treasure Island
Treasure Island (1934 film)
Treasure Island is a 1934 movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous 1883 novel Treasure Island. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but pirates led by Long John Silver threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and...
, as Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
in Viva Villa!
Viva Villa!
Viva Villa! is a 1934 American film starring Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa and was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from a biography by Edgecumb Pinchon and Odo B. Stade. The picture was directed by Jack Conway. There was special, uncredited help with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin...
, and his titular role in The Champ
The Champ
The Champ is a 1931 American film written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper , and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who tries to put his life together for the sake of his young son.The...
, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. Beery appeared in some 250 movies over a 36-year span.
Early life and career
Beery was born in Kansas CityKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
to Noah W. and Marguerite (Fitzgerald) Beery. He was a younger brother of actor/film executive William Beery and actor Noah Beery
Noah Beery, Sr.
Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors...
, who also had long careers in the motion picture industry, and was an uncle of actor Noah Beery, Jr.
Noah Beery, Jr.
Noah Lindsey Beery , known professionally as Noah Beery, Jr. or just Noah Beery, was an American actor specializing in warm, friendly character parts similar to the ones played by his uncle Wallace Beery, although Noah Beery, Jr., unlike his uncle, seldom broke away from playing supporting...
, whose own screen career spanned seven decades. According to U.S. Census records, all three Beery brothers were born to the same parents, making them full brothers and not half-brothers as many biographies have claimed.
Wallace Beery ran away from home and joined the Ringling Brothers Circus at age sixteen as an assistant elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
trainer. He left two years later, after being clawed by a leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
. Beery found work in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in comic opera as a baritone and began to appear on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. In 1913, he moved to Chicago to work for Essanay Studios
Essanay Studios
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture studio. It is best known today for its series of Charlie Chaplin comedies of 1915.-Founding:...
, cast as Sweedie, The Swedish Maid
Sweedie
Sweedie or Sweedie, The Swedish Maid is a fictional manly character in drag portrayed by Wallace Beery in a series of comedy films 1914-1916. The series is notable as the means by which Beery, a particularly masculine actor , first made his name in the film industry...
, a masculine character in drag
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
. Later, he worked for the Essanay Studios location in Niles, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
In 1915, Beery starred with his wife Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
in Sweedie Goes to College
Sweedie Goes to College
Sweedie Goes to College is a 1915 silent comedy film directed by Richard Foster Baker and featuring Gloria Swanson.-Cast:* Wallace Beery - Sweedie* Ben Turpin - Sweedie's Romeo* Charlotte Mineau - Mrs. Knowledge - the Matron...
. This marriage did not survive his drinking
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and abuse
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
. Beery began playing villains, and in 1917 portrayed Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
in Patria
Patria (1917 film)
Patria is a 1917 15-chapter serial film starring Irene Castle, Milton Sills, and Warner Oland based on the novel The Last of the Fighting Channings by Louis Joseph Vance. The film is notable for the first time that Wallace Beery portrays Pancho Villa, a role that he would repeat in Viva Villa! in...
at a time when Villa was still active in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Beery reprised the role seventeen years later in one of MGM's biggest hits
Viva Villa!
Viva Villa! is a 1934 American film starring Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa and was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from a biography by Edgecumb Pinchon and Odo B. Stade. The picture was directed by Jack Conway. There was special, uncredited help with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin...
.
Wallace Beery's notable silent films include Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's dinosaur epic The Lost World
The Lost World (1925 film)
The Lost World is a 1925 silent film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name. The movie was produced by First National Pictures, a large Hollywood studio at the time, and stars Wallace Beery as Professor Challenger. This version was directed by Harry O...
(1925; as Professor Challenger
Professor Challenger
George Edward Challenger, better known as Professor Challenger, is a fictional character in a series of science fiction stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...
), Robin Hood
Robin Hood (1922 film)
Robin Hood is the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, is Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, as shown in the illustration at right...
with Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
(Beery played King Richard the Lionheart in this film and a sequel the following year called Richard the Lion-Hearted
Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923 film)
Richard the Lion-Hearted is a 1923 sequel to Robin Hood , with Wallace Beery returning as Richard the Lion-Hearted. The movie was written by Frank E. Woods from the Sir Walter Scott novel The Talisman and directed by Chester Withey.The film is lost.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Richard the...
), Last of the Mohicans (1920), The Round-Up (1920; with Roscoe Arbuckle), Old Ironsides (1926), Now We're in the Air
Now We're in the Air
Now We're in the Air is a silent film starring the unofficial late-1920s comedy team of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton, and Louise Brooks. The movie was directed by Frank R...
(1927), The Usual Way (1913), Casey at the Bat
Casey at the Bat (1927 film)
Casey at the Bat is a 1927 silent film starring Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, Zasu Pitts, and Sterling Holloway. The film was directed by Monte Brice and loosely based on the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" written by Ernest Thayer.-Cast:...
(1927), and Beggars of Life
Beggars of Life
Beggars of Life is an early sound film with talking sequences starring Wallace Beery as a rail-riding hobo and Louise Brooks as a girl on the run. Based on a novel called Beggars of Life by Jim Tully, the film is often regarded as Brooks's best American movie...
(1928) with Louise Brooks
Louise Brooks
Mary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...
.
Transition to sound
Beery's powerful basso voice and gruff, deliberate drawl soon became assets when Irving ThalbergIrving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff and make very profitable films.-Life and...
hired him under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
as a character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
during the dawn of the sound film era.
Beery played the savage convict "Butch," a role originally intended for Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
, in the highly successful 1930 prison film The Big House, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. The same year, he made Min and Bill
Min and Bill
Min and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson....
(opposite Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
), the movie that vaulted him into the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
first rank. He followed with The Champ
The Champ
The Champ is a 1931 American film written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper , and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who tries to put his life together for the sake of his young son.The...
in 1931, this time winning the Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, and the role of Long John Silver
Long John Silver
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
in Treasure Island
Treasure Island (1934 film)
Treasure Island is a 1934 movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous 1883 novel Treasure Island. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but pirates led by Long John Silver threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and...
(1934). He received a gold medal from the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
for his second performance as Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
in Viva Villa!
Viva Villa!
Viva Villa! is a 1934 American film starring Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa and was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from a biography by Edgecumb Pinchon and Odo B. Stade. The picture was directed by Jack Conway. There was special, uncredited help with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin...
(1934) with Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
. (Lee Tracy
Lee Tracy
William Lee Tracy was an American actor.- Early life :Tracy was born in Atlanta, Georgia.After graduating from Western Military Academy in 1918 he studied electrical engineering at Union College, and then served as a 2nd lieutenant in World War I. In the early 1920s he decided to work as an actor...
was originally to appear in the film until he drunkenly urinated off the balcony into a crowd of Mexicans standing below; Tracy's career never recovered from the incident.) Other Beery films include Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid (1930 film)
Billy the Kid is a 1930 American film directed in widescreen by King Vidor about the relationship between frontier outlaw Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett , the man who later killed him.-Cast:...
(1930) with Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.-Early life:...
, The Secret Six
The Secret Six
For the DC comic book see Secret Six .The Secret Six is a fast-paced 1931 Pre-Code crime film starring Wallace Beery as "Slaughterhouse Scorpio", a character very loosely based on Al Capone, and featuring Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Marjorie Rambeau and Ralph Bellamy. ...
(1931) with Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
and Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Hell Divers
Hell Divers
Hell Divers is a 1931 movie starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers on board the USS Saratoga...
(1931) with Gable, Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel (film)
Grand Hotel is a 1932 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum...
(1932) with Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, Tugboat Annie
Tugboat Annie
For the 1957 syndicated television series, see The Adventures of Tugboat Annie.Tugboat Annie is a 1933 movie starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat...
(1933) with Dressler, Dinner at Eight (1933) opposite Harlow, The Bowery
The Bowery (1933 film)
The Bowery is a 1933 historical film about the Lower East Side of Manhattan at the turn of the century. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh and features Wallace Beery as saloon owner Chuck Connors, George Raft as Steve Brodie, the first man to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and live, Jackie Cooper...
with George Raft
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
, Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
, and Pert Kelton
Pert Kelton
Pert Kelton was an American vaudeville, movie, radio and television actress. She was the first actress who played Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason and was a prominent comedic supporting film actress in the 1930s...
that same year, China Seas (1935) with Gable and Harlow, and Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness! (film)
Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 screen adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same name starring Wallace Beery. The movie was filmed in Grafton, Massachusetts and directed by Clarence Brown. Beery plays the drunken uncle later portrayed on Broadway by Jackie Gleason, and the film features Lionel...
(1935) in the role of a drunken uncle later played on Broadway by Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
in a musical comedy version. During the 1930s Beery was one of Hollywood's Top 10 box office stars, and at one point his contract with MGM stipulated that he be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio, making him the highest paid actor in the world.
He starred in several comedies with Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
and Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
, but his career began to decline in his last decade. In 1943 his brother Noah Beery, Sr.
Noah Beery, Sr.
Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors...
appeared with him in the war-time propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
film Salute to the Marines
Salute to the Marines
Salute to the Marines is a 1943 World War II war film starring Wallace Beery. The movie, set in the Philippines and shot in Technicolor , was directed by S...
, followed by Bad Bascomb
Bad Bascomb (1946 film)
Bad Bascomb is a 1946 western film starring Wallace Beery and Margaret O'Brien. The movie was directed by S. Sylvan Simon.-Plot:"Bad" Bascomb is a notorious outlaw wanted by federal marshals after outwitting every group sent to capture him. He and fellow bandit Bart Ramsay , a cold-blooded...
(1946) and The Mighty McGurk
The Mighty McGurk
The Mighty McGurk is a 1947 film starring Wallace Beery as a boozing ex-boxer working as a bouncer in a Bowery saloon. The movie was directed by John Waters, although not the same John Waters who directed Pink Flamingos and Hairspray .-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Slag McGurk*Dean Stockwell as...
(1947). He remained top-billed and none of Beery's films during the sound era lost money at the box office; his movies were particularly popular in the Southern regions of the United States, especially small towns and cities.
Personal life
Beery's first wife was actress Gloria SwansonGloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
; the two performed onscreen together. Although Beery had enjoyed popularity with his Sweedie shorts, his career had taken a dip, and during the marriage to Swanson, he relied on her as a breadwinner. According to Swanson's autobiography, Beery tricked her into swallowing an abortifacient when she became pregnant, and caused her to lose their child. Beery's second wife was Rita Gilman. They adopted Carol Ann, daughter of Rita Beery's cousin. Like his first, this marriage also ended in divorce.
According to E.J. Fleming's book The Fixers (about MGM's legendary "fixers" Eddie Mannix
Eddie Mannix
Edgar Joseph "Eddie" Mannix was an American film studio executive....
and Howard Strickling
Howard Strickling
Howard Strickling served as head of publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures from the late 1920s into the early 1950s....
), Beery, gangster Pat DiCicco, and Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
(who was also DiCicco's cousin and eventual producer of the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films) allegedly beat comedian Ted Healy
Ted Healy
Ted Healy was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. He is chiefly remembered today as the original creator of the Three Stooges, but had a successful stage and film career of his own.- Early life :...
to death in the parking lot of the Trocadero
Trocadero
The stylish connotations of the name "Trocadero" derive from the Battle of Trocadero in southern Spain, a citadel held by liberal Spanish forces that was taken by the French troops sent by Charles X, in 1823...
nightclub in 1937. The book claims that Beery was sent to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
by the studio for a few months, while a story was concocted that three college students had killed Healy. Immigration records confirm a four-month-long trip to Europe on Beery's part immediately after Healy's death, ending April 17, 1938. A pencil drawing of Beery survives that was done on a film set by Healy, an amateur artist as well as movie actor and the organizer and original leader of the Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
.
Beery owned and flew his own planes, one a Howard DGA-11
Howard DGA-11
|-See also:-Notes and references:*...
. On April 15, 1933 he was commissioned a lieutenant commander in A-V(S), USNR at NRAB Long Beach.
In December, 1939, the unmarried Beery adopted a seven-month old infant girl Phyllis Anne. No further information on the child appears to exist, and she is not mentioned in Beery's obituary.
Beery left an impression of being misanthropic and difficult to work with on many of his colleagues. Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
, who made several films as a child with Beery, called Beery "a big disappointment," and accused him of upstaging and other attempts to undermine the boy's performances out of what Cooper presumed was jealousy. Child actress Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
also worked with Beery, and she ultimately had to be protected by crew members from Beery's insistence on constantly pinching her. Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
remains an exception to this attitude among child actors, however, and has frequently stated that he enjoyed working with Beery.
Black sea bass
The black sea bass is an exclusively marine fish. It is a type of Grouper found more commonly in northern than in southern ranges.It inhabits the coasts from Maine to NE Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico....
in the world off Santa Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
in 1916. It was a record that stood for 35 years.
A noteworthy episode in Beery's life is chronicled in the 5th episode of Ken Burns' documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
The National Parks: America's Best Idea is a 2009 documentary film for television, DVD and companion book by director/producer Ken Burns and producer/writer Dayton Duncan which features the United States National Park system and traces the system's history...
: In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
signed an executive order creating Jackson Hole National Monument
Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park located in northwestern Wyoming, U.S. The Park consists of approximately and includes the major peaks of the long Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Only south of Yellowstone...
to protect the land adjoining the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Local ranchers, outraged at loss of lands they wanted to graze and comparing this action of FDR's to Hitler's taking of Austria, were led by the aging Beery as they protested by herding 500 cattle across the monument lands without a permit.
Death
Wallace Beery died at his Beverly Hills, CaliforniaBeverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
home of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 1949. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
.
For his contributions to the film industry, Wallace Beery has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.
Selected filmography
- His Athletic Wife (1913)
- A series of SweedieSweedieSweedie or Sweedie, The Swedish Maid is a fictional manly character in drag portrayed by Wallace Beery in a series of comedy films 1914-1916. The series is notable as the means by which Beery, a particularly masculine actor , first made his name in the film industry...
-films starting with Sweedie the Swatter released 13 July 1914 - In and Out (1914)
- The Ups and Downs (1914)
- Cheering a Husband (1914)
- Madame Double X (1914)
- Ain't It the Truth (1915)
- Two Hearts That Beat as Ten (1915) with Ben TurpinBen TurpinBen Turpin was a cross-eyed American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films.-Personal life:...
- The Fable of the Roistering Blades (1915)
- The Broken PledgeThe Broken PledgeThe Broken Pledge is a 1915 silent comedy film starring Wallace Beery and Gloria Swanson. Off screen, Beery and Swanson were briefly married.-Cast:* Wallace Beery* Virginia Bowker* Harry Dunkinson* Gloria Swanson -...
(1915) with Gloria SwansonGloria SwansonGloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the... - A Dash of CourageA Dash of CourageA Dash of Courage is a 1916 silent comedy film directed by Charley Chase, starring Gloria Swanson, and featuring Wallace Beery, to whom she was briefly married.-Cast:* Harry Gribbon as Police Commissioner* Guy Woodward* Gloria Swanson* Bobby Vernon...
(1916) with Gloria Swanson - Are Waitresses Safe? (1917) with Ben Turpin
- The Little AmericanThe Little AmericanThe Little American is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film stars Mary Pickford as an American woman who is in love with both a German and a French soldier during World War I.-Plot:...
(1917) with Mary PickfordMary PickfordMary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences... - Maggie's First False Step (1917)
- Teddy at the Throttle (1917)
- PatriaPatria (1917 film)Patria is a 1917 15-chapter serial film starring Irene Castle, Milton Sills, and Warner Oland based on the novel The Last of the Fighting Channings by Louis Joseph Vance. The film is notable for the first time that Wallace Beery portrays Pancho Villa, a role that he would repeat in Viva Villa! in...
(1917; as Pancho VillaPancho VillaJosé Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
in a supporting role) with Irene Castle, Milton SillsMilton SillsMilton Sills was a highly successful American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century....
, and Warner OlandWarner OlandWarner Oland was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:He was born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality,... - VictoryVictory (1919 film)Victory is a 1919 American film directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Jack Holt, Seena Owen, Lon Chaney and Wallace Beery. The movie is an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Joseph Conrad. The screenplay was written by Jules Furthman.-Cast:...
(1919) with Jack HoltJack Holt (actor)Jack Holt was an American motion picture actor. He was a leading man of silent and sound films, and was known for his many roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
and Lon Chaney, Sr.Lon Chaney, Sr.Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema... - 813 (1920)
- The Virgin of StamboulThe Virgin of StamboulThe Virgin of Stamboul is a 1920 drama film directed by Tod Browning and starring husband and wife team Priscilla Dean and Wheeler Oakman and featuring Wallace Beery in a supporting role.-Cast:* Priscilla Dean - Sari...
(1920; directed by Tod BrowningTod BrowningTod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
) - The MollycoddleThe MollycoddleThe Mollycoddle is a 1920 film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery, and directed by Victor Fleming.- Cast :*Douglas Fairbanks ... Richard Marshall III, IV and V*Ruth Renick ... Virginia Hale...
(1920) with Douglas FairbanksDouglas FairbanksDouglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro.... - The Round-Up (1920) with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
- The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
- The Four Horsemen of the ApocalypseThe Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (film)The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a 1921 silent movie produced by Metro Pictures Corporation, adapted by June Mathis, directed by Rex Ingram and starring Rudolph Valentino, Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard, Wallace Beery, and Alice Terry...
(1921) with Rudolph ValentinoRudolph ValentinoRudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik... - I Am the Law (1922) with Noah Beery
- Robin HoodRobin Hood (1922 film)Robin Hood is the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, is Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, as shown in the illustration at right...
(1922) with Douglas Fairbanks - A Blind BargainA Blind BargainA Blind Bargain is a silent horror film starring Lon Chaney and Raymond McKee, released through Goldwyn Pictures. The movie was directed by Wallace Worsley and is based on Barry Pain's 1897 novel, The Octave of Claudius...
(1922) with Lon Chaney, Sr. - The Flame of LifeThe Flame of LifeThe Flame of Life is a 1923 film starring Priscilla Dean, Robert Ellis, Kathryn McGuire, and Wallace Beery. The movie was written by Elliott J...
(1923) - The Spanish DancerThe Spanish Dancer (1923 film)The Spanish Dancer is a 1923 silent costume epic starring Pola Negri as a gypsy fortune teller, Antonio Moreno as a romantic count, and Wallace Beery as the king of Spain...
(1923) with Pola NegriPola NegriPola Negri was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She... - StormsweptStormsweptStormswept is a 1923 silent film starring brothers Wallace Beery and Noah Beery. The advertising phrase used for the movie was "Wallace and Noah Beery, The Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen." The movie was written by Winifred Dunn from the H.H...
(1923) with Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors... - DriftingDrifting (film)Drifting is a 1923 drama film directed by Tod Browning and featuring Wallace Beery in a supporting role. The movie was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. Priscilla Dean is the main female antagonist....
(1923) - Three AgesThree Ages (1923 film)Three Ages is a 1923 black-and-white American feature-length silent comedy film starring comedian Buster Keaton and Wallace Beery. The first feature Keaton wrote, directed, produced, and starred in , Keaton structured the film like three inter-cut short films. The structure also worked as a...
(1923) with Buster KeatonBuster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the... - White TigerWhite Tiger (film)White Tiger is a 1923 crime film directed by Tod Browning and featuring Wallace Beery in a supporting role.- Cast :* Priscilla Dean - Sylvia Donovan* Matt Moore - Dick Longworth* Raymond Griffith - Roy Donovan* Wallace Beery - Count Donelli / Hawkes...
(1923; directed by Tod Browning) - Richard the Lion-HeartedRichard the Lion-Hearted (1923 film)Richard the Lion-Hearted is a 1923 sequel to Robin Hood , with Wallace Beery returning as Richard the Lion-Hearted. The movie was written by Frank E. Woods from the Sir Walter Scott novel The Talisman and directed by Chester Withey.The film is lost.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Richard the...
(1923; sequel to 1922's Robin HoodRobin Hood (1922 film)Robin Hood is the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, is Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, as shown in the illustration at right...
) - The Drums of JeopardyThe Drums of Jeopardy (1923 film)The Drums of Jeopardy is a 1923 American film directed by Edward Dillon and featuring Wallace Beery.-Cast:*Elaine Hammerstein as Dorothy Burrows*Jack Mulhall as Jerome Hawksley*Wallace Beery as Gregor Karlov*David Torrence as Cutty...
(1923) - The Lost WorldThe Lost World (1925 film)The Lost World is a 1925 silent film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name. The movie was produced by First National Pictures, a large Hollywood studio at the time, and stars Wallace Beery as Professor Challenger. This version was directed by Harry O...
(1925; Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan DoyleSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
dinosaur epic in which Beery portrayed Professor ChallengerProfessor ChallengerGeorge Edward Challenger, better known as Professor Challenger, is a fictional character in a series of science fiction stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...
) with Lewis StoneLewis StoneLewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting...
(and Doyle himself in a frontispiece) - Pony ExpressPony Express (1925 film)Pony Express is a 1925 western movie starring Betty Compson, Ricardo Cortez, Ernest Torrence, Wallace Beery, and George Bancroft. The film was directed by James Cruze.-Cast:Betty Compson ... Molly JonesRicardo Cortez ... Jack Weston...
(1925) with Betty CompsonBetty CompsonBetty Compson was an American actress. Born Eleanor Luicime Compson in Beaver, Utah, she had an extensive film career. Her father died when she was young, and she was forced to drop out of school and earn a living for herself and her mother...
and George BancroftGeorge BancroftGeorge Bancroft was an American historian and statesman who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state and at the national level. During his tenure as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, he established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845... - Old IronsidesOld Ironsides (1926 film)Old Ironsides is a silent film starring Charles Farrell, Esther Ralston, Wallace Beery, and George Bancroft.-Production background:The movie was directed by James Cruze in a widescreen process that Paramount promoted as "Magnascope"....
(1926) with Charles FarrellCharles FarrellCharles Farrell was an American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor...
and George BancroftGeorge Bancroft (actor)George Bancroft was an American Hollywood film actor of the 1920s and '30s.-Biography:Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. During his early days as a sailor he staged plays on board ship. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, but left the Navy to become a "black... - Casey at the BatCasey at the Bat (1927 film)Casey at the Bat is a 1927 silent film starring Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, Zasu Pitts, and Sterling Holloway. The film was directed by Monte Brice and loosely based on the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" written by Ernest Thayer.-Cast:...
(1927) with Ford SterlingFord SterlingFord Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:...
and Zasu PittsZaSu PittsZaSu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas and comedies, transitioning to comedy sound films.-Early life:ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas to Rulandus and Nellie Pitts; she was the third of four children... - Fireman, Save My ChildFireman, Save My ChildFireman, Save My Child is a 1927 film featuring the part-time screen comedy team of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton. The film was written by Monte Brice and Thomas J. Geraghty, and directed by A. Edward Sutherland...
(1927) with Raymond HattonRaymond HattonRaymond William Hatton was an American movie actor who appeared in almost five hundred movies, including a stint of being paired in 1920s comedies with Wallace Beery.... - Now We're in the AirNow We're in the AirNow We're in the Air is a silent film starring the unofficial late-1920s comedy team of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton, and Louise Brooks. The movie was directed by Frank R...
(1927) with Louise BrooksLouise BrooksMary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...
(lost film) - Beggars of LifeBeggars of LifeBeggars of Life is an early sound film with talking sequences starring Wallace Beery as a rail-riding hobo and Louise Brooks as a girl on the run. Based on a novel called Beggars of Life by Jim Tully, the film is often regarded as Brooks's best American movie...
(1928) with Louise BrooksLouise BrooksMary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...
and Richard ArlenRichard Arlen-Biography:Born Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club... - Chinatown Nights (1929) with Warner OlandWarner OlandWarner Oland was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:He was born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality,...
and Jack OakieJack OakieJack Oakie was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television.-Early life:... - The Big House (1930) with Chester MorrisChester MorrisChester Morris was an American actor, who starred in the Boston Blackie detective series of the 1940s.-Career:...
, Lewis StoneLewis StoneLewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting...
, and Robert MontgomeryRobert Montgomery (actor)Robert Montgomery was an American actor and director.- Early life :Montgomery was born Henry Montgomery, Jr. in Beacon, New York, then known as "Fishkill Landing", the son of Mary Weed and Henry Montgomery, Sr. His early childhood was one of privilege, since his father was president of the New... - Billy the KidBilly the Kid (1930 film)Billy the Kid is a 1930 American film directed in widescreen by King Vidor about the relationship between frontier outlaw Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett , the man who later killed him.-Cast:...
(1930; widescreen) with Johnny Mack BrownJohnny Mack BrownJohnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.-Early life:...
(billed as "John Mack Brown") - Way for a SailorWay for a SailorWay for a Sailor is a film starring John Gilbert. The supporting cast includes Wallace Beery, Jim Tully, Leila Hyams, and Polly Moran. The film was directed by Sam Wood, who insisted on no screen credit...
(1930) with John GilbertJohn Gilbert (actor)John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw... - A Lady's MoralsA Lady's MoralsA Lady's Morals is a 1930 film offering a highly fictionalized account of singer Jenny Lind. The movie features Grace Moore as Lind, Reginald Denny as a lover, and Wallace Beery as P. T. Barnum; Beery would play Barnum again four years later in The Mighty Barnum...
(1930; as P.T. Barnum) - Min and BillMin and BillMin and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson....
(1930) with Marie DresslerMarie DresslerMarie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:... - The Stolen JoolsThe Stolen JoolsThe Stolen Jools is a short comedy film produced by the Masquers Club of Hollywood, featuring many cameo appearances by the film stars of the day...
(1931; 20-minute ensemble short) with Edward G. RobinsonEdward G. RobinsonEdward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
and Buster KeatonBuster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the... - The Secret SixThe Secret SixFor the DC comic book see Secret Six .The Secret Six is a fast-paced 1931 Pre-Code crime film starring Wallace Beery as "Slaughterhouse Scorpio", a character very loosely based on Al Capone, and featuring Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Marjorie Rambeau and Ralph Bellamy. ...
(1931) with Jean HarlowJean HarlowJean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
and Clark GableClark GableWilliam Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh... - The ChampThe ChampThe Champ is a 1931 American film written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper , and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who tries to put his life together for the sake of his young son.The...
(1931; OscarAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
-winning performance) with Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination... - Hell DiversHell DiversHell Divers is a 1931 movie starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers on board the USS Saratoga...
(1931; early military planes) with Clark GableClark GableWilliam Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh... - Grand HotelGrand Hotel (film)Grand Hotel is a 1932 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum...
(1932) with Greta GarboGreta GarboGreta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, John BarrymoreJohn BarrymoreJohn Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
, and Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre.... - FleshFlesh (1932 film)Flesh is a 1932 black-and-white drama film directed by John Ford and starring Wallace Beery as a German wrestler. Some of the script was written by Moss Hart and an uncredited William Faulkner.-Cast :...
(1932; as a wrestler, directed by an uncredited John FordJohn FordJohn Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
) - The Choices of Andy Purcell (1933) with Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
- The BoweryThe Bowery (1933 film)The Bowery is a 1933 historical film about the Lower East Side of Manhattan at the turn of the century. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh and features Wallace Beery as saloon owner Chuck Connors, George Raft as Steve Brodie, the first man to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and live, Jackie Cooper...
(1933) with George RaftGeorge RaftGeorge Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
, Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
, Fay WrayFay WrayFay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
, and Pert KeltonPert KeltonPert Kelton was an American vaudeville, movie, radio and television actress. She was the first actress who played Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason and was a prominent comedic supporting film actress in the 1930s... - Viva Villa!Viva Villa!Viva Villa! is a 1934 American film starring Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa and was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from a biography by Edgecumb Pinchon and Odo B. Stade. The picture was directed by Jack Conway. There was special, uncredited help with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin...
(1934; as Pancho VillaPancho VillaJosé Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
again) with Fay WrayFay WrayFay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
(shot on location in MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
) - Treasure IslandTreasure Island (1934 film)Treasure Island is a 1934 movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous 1883 novel Treasure Island. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but pirates led by Long John Silver threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and...
(1934; as Long John SilverLong John SilverLong John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
) with Lionel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
and Lewis StoneLewis StoneLewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting... - The Mighty BarnumThe Mighty BarnumThe Mighty Barnum is a 1934 film starring Wallace Beery as P.T. Barnum. The movie was written by Gene Fowler and Bess Meredyth, and directed by Walter Lang. Beery had played Barnum four years earlier in A Lady's Morals, a highly fictionalized biography of singer Jenny Lind.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as...
(1934; as P.T. Barnum again) - West Point of the AirWest Point of the AirWest Point of the Air is a 1935 film starring Wallace Beery about pilot training in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the early 1930's. The supporting cast includes Robert Young, Lewis Stone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Rosalind Russell, and Robert Taylor. The movie was directed by Richard Rosson...
(1935) with Robert YoungRobert Young (actor)Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father...
, Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'SullivanMaureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
, Rosalind RussellRosalind RussellRosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
, and Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (actor)Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor... - China Seas (1935) with Clark GableClark GableWilliam Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
and Jean HarlowJean HarlowJean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute... - O'Shaughnessy's BoyO'Shaughnessy's BoyO'Shaughnessy's Boy is a 1935 film starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper. The movie was directed by Richard Boleslawski.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Windy O'Shaughnessy*Jackie Cooper as Stubby O'Shaughnessy...
(1935) with Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination... - Ah, Wilderness! (1935) with Lionel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
and Mickey RooneyMickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... - A Message to GarciaA Message to Garcia (1936 film)A Message to Garcia is a 1936 movie starring Wallace Beery and Barbara Stanwyck, and directed by George Marshall. The supporting cast includes John Boles and Alan Hale, Sr.. The film is loosely based on an incident during the Spanish-American War. Dell Henderson plays William McKinley but with a...
(1936) with Barbara StanwyckBarbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
and Alan Hale, Sr.Alan Hale, Sr.Alan Hale, Sr. was an American movie actor and director, most widely remembered for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartman , a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children... - Old HutchOld HutchOld Hutch is a 1936 American romantic comedy film directed by J. Walter Ruben and starring Wallace Beery as a man who finds $100,000 in the depths of the Depression.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Hutch Hutchins*Eric Linden as Dave Jolly...
(1936) - The Good Old SoakThe Good Old SoakThe Good Old Soak is a 1937 drama film directed by J. Walter Ruben, with a screenplay by A. E. Thomas based upon the stage play of the same name by Don Marquis. The film stars Wallace Beery with a supporting cast of Una Merkel, Eric Linden, Betty Furness, and Ted Healy.According to E.J...
(1937) with Betty FurnessBetty FurnessElizabeth Mary Furness was an American actress, consumer advocate and current affairs commentator.-Early years:...
and Ted HealyTed HealyTed Healy was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. He is chiefly remembered today as the original creator of the Three Stooges, but had a successful stage and film career of his own.- Early life :... - Slave ShipSlave Ship (1937 film)Slave Ship is a 1937 film directed by Tay Garnett, starring Warner Baxter and Wallace Beery. The supporting cast includes Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Jane Darwell, and Joseph Schildkraut...
(1937) with Warner BaxterWarner BaxterWarner Leroy Baxter was an American actor, known for his role as The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona , for which he won the second Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1928–1929 Academy Awards. Warner Baxter started his movie career in silent movies...
(first-billed) and Mickey RooneyMickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... - The Bad Man of BrimstoneThe Bad Man of BrimstoneThe Bad Man of Brimstone is a 1937 Western film starring Wallace Beery and Virginia Bruce, and directed by J. Walter Ruben. Beery's brother Noah Beery, Sr...
(1937) with Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors... - Port of Seven SeasPort of Seven SeasPort of Seven Seas is a 1938 drama film starring Wallace Beery and featuring Frank Morgan and Maureen O'Sullivan. The movie was written by Preston Sturges based on the plays of Marcel Pagnol and the films based on them, and was directed by James Whale...
(1938; written by Preston SturgesPreston SturgesPreston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
and directed by James WhaleJames WhaleJames Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
) with Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'SullivanMaureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War... - StablematesStablematesStablemates is a 1938 film starring Wallace Beery and Mickey Rooney. The movie was directed by Sam Wood.-Plot:Wallace Beery plays eternally inebriated ex-veterinarian Tom Terry. An aspiring jockey Mickey idolizes Tom, who reciprocates by passing along horsemanship advice to the kid...
(1938) with Mickey RooneyMickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... - Stand Up and FightStand Up and FightStand Up and Fight is a 1939 film starring Wallace Beery and Robert Taylor. The supporting cast includes Florence Rice, Helen Broderick, Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Charley Grapewin, and John Qualen, and the movie was directed by W.S. Van Dyke...
(1939) with Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (actor)Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
and Charles BickfordCharles BickfordCharles Bickford was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette , The Farmer's Daughter , and Johnny Belinda... - Sergeant MaddenSergeant MaddenSergeant Madden is a 1939 film noir forerunner directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Wallace Beery. The supporting cast in this dark police movie, noted for its imaginative and evocative cinematography, includes Laraine Day, Alan Curtis, and Marc Lawrence.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Sergeant...
(1939; directed by Josef von SternbergJosef von SternbergJosef von Sternberg — born Jonas Sternberg — was an Austrian-American film director. He is particularly noted for his distinctive mise en scène, use of lighting and soft lens, and seven-film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich.-Youth:Von Sternberg was born Jonas Sternberg to a Jewish...
) with Laraine DayLaraine DayLaraine Day was an American actress and a former MGM contract star.-Career:Born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, to an affluent Mormon family, she later moved to California where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players... - Thunder AfloatThunder AfloatThunder Afloat is a 1939 World War I naval film starring Wallace Beery and Chester Morris. The movie was directed by George B. Seitz.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Pop Thorson*Chester Morris as Rocky Blake*Douglass Dumbrille as District Commander...
(1939) with Chester MorrisChester MorrisChester Morris was an American actor, who starred in the Boston Blackie detective series of the 1940s.-Career:... - The Man from DakotaThe Man from DakotaThe Man from Dakota is a 1940 film directed by Leslie Fenton and starring Wallace Beery. The movie was adapted by Laurence Stallings from the novel by MacKinlay Kantor.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Bar Barstow*John Howard as Oliver Clark...
(1940) with Dolores del RíoDolores del RíoDolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood... - 20 Mule Team20 Mule Team (1940 film)20 Mule Team is a 1940 American Western film about Death Valley, and Daggett, California borax miners starring Wallace Beery and Anne Baxter, and remains an extremely rare opportunity to watch Beery work with his similar-looking nephew Noah Beery, Jr., who played "Rocky" on television's The...
(1940) with Anne BaxterAnne BaxterAnne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:...
and Noah Beery, Jr.Noah Beery, Jr.Noah Lindsey Beery , known professionally as Noah Beery, Jr. or just Noah Beery, was an American actor specializing in warm, friendly character parts similar to the ones played by his uncle Wallace Beery, although Noah Beery, Jr., unlike his uncle, seldom broke away from playing supporting... - WyomingWyoming (1940 film)Wyoming is a 1940 Western film starring Wallace Beery. The movie was directed by Richard Thorpe.-Cast:* Wallace Beery as "Reb" Harkness* Leo Carillo as Pete Marillo* Ann Rutherford as Lucy Kincaid* Lee Bowman as Sgt...
(1940) with Ann RutherfordAnn RutherfordAnn Rutherford is a Canadian-American actress in film, radio, and television. She has had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict on the big screen of the 1930s and 1940s in the Andy Hardy series, and on The Bob Newhart Show as Newhart's character's... - The Bad ManThe Bad ManThe Bad Man is a 1941 Western film starring Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, and Ronald Reagan. The movie was written by Wells Root from the Porter Emerson Browne play, and directed by Richard Thorpe...
(1941) with Lionel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
, Laraine DayLaraine DayLaraine Day was an American actress and a former MGM contract star.-Career:Born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, to an affluent Mormon family, she later moved to California where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players...
, and Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor.... - Barnacle BillBarnacle Bill (1941 film)Barnacle Bill is a 1941 feature film starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main. The screen comedy was directed by Richard Thorpe.-Cast:* Wallace Beery as Bill Johansen* Marjorie Main as Marge Cavendish* Leo Carillo as Pico Rodriguez...
(1941) with Marjorie MainMarjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:... - The Bugle SoundsThe Bugle SoundsThe Bugle Sounds is a 1942 World War II movie starring Wallace Beery as a cavalry sergeant resistant to replacing horses with tanks. The supporting cast includes Marjorie Main, Lewis Stone, George Bancroft, Donna Reed, and Chill Wills. The film was directed by S...
(1942) with Marjorie MainMarjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
, Lewis StoneLewis StoneLewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting...
, and George BancroftGeorge Bancroft (actor)George Bancroft was an American Hollywood film actor of the 1920s and '30s.-Biography:Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. During his early days as a sailor he staged plays on board ship. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, but left the Navy to become a "black... - Jackass MailJackass MailJackass Mail is a 1942 Western comedy film starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main. The movie was directed by Norman Z. McLeod.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Just Baggot*Marjorie Main as Tina Tucker*J...
(1942) with Marjorie MainMarjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:... - Salute to the MarinesSalute to the MarinesSalute to the Marines is a 1943 World War II war film starring Wallace Beery. The movie, set in the Philippines and shot in Technicolor , was directed by S...
(1943, in color) with Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors... - RationingRationing (1944 film)Rationing is a 1944 film starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main. The screen comedy was directed by Willis Goldbeck.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Ben Barton*Marjorie Main as Iris Tuttle*Donald Meek as Wilfred Ball*Dorothy Morris as Dorothy Tuttle...
(1944) with Marjorie MainMarjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:... - Barbary Coast GentBarbary Coast GentBarbary Coast Gent is a 1944 film set in 1880s San Francisco's Barbary Coast and Nevada starring Wallace Beery. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and features Beery's brother Noah Beery, Sr., John Carradine, and Chill Wills.-Cast:...
(1944) with Chill WillsChill WillsChill Theodore Wills was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.-Biography:Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas in 1902. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s...
and Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors... - This Man's NavyThis Man's NavyThis Man's Navy is a World War II film about U.S. Navy airships starring Wallace Beery, Tom Drake, and James Gleason, and directed by William A. Wellman.-Plot:...
(1945) with Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Beery, Sr.Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors... - Bad BascombBad Bascomb (1946 film)Bad Bascomb is a 1946 western film starring Wallace Beery and Margaret O'Brien. The movie was directed by S. Sylvan Simon.-Plot:"Bad" Bascomb is a notorious outlaw wanted by federal marshals after outwitting every group sent to capture him. He and fellow bandit Bart Ramsay , a cold-blooded...
(1946) with Marjorie MainMarjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:... - The Mighty McGurkThe Mighty McGurkThe Mighty McGurk is a 1947 film starring Wallace Beery as a boozing ex-boxer working as a bouncer in a Bowery saloon. The movie was directed by John Waters, although not the same John Waters who directed Pink Flamingos and Hairspray .-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Slag McGurk*Dean Stockwell as...
(1947) with Dean StockwellDean StockwellDean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
and Edward ArnoldEdward Arnold (actor)Edward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:... - Alias a GentlemanAlias a GentlemanAlias a Gentleman is a 1948 film starring Wallace Beery. The supporting cast includes Gladys George and Sheldon Leonard and the movie was directed by Harry Beaumont.-Cast:* Wallace Beery as Jim Breedin* Tom Drake as Johnny Lorgen...
(1948) with Gladys GeorgeGladys GeorgeGladys George was an American actress.-Early life:She was born as Gladys Clare Evans on September 13, 1904 in Patten, Maine to English parents.-Career:...
and Sheldon LeonardSheldon LeonardSheldon Leonard was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.-Biography:... - A Date With JudyA Date with JudyA Date with Judy was a comedy radio series aimed at a teenage audience which had a long run from 1941 to 1950.The show began as a summer replacement for Bob Hope's show, sponsored by Pepsodent and airing on NBC from June 24 to September 16, 1941, with 14-year-old Ann Gillis in the title role...
(1948) with Jane PowellJane PowellJane Powell is an American singer, dancer and actress.After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens...
and Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age... - Big Jack (1949) with Richard ConteRichard ConteRichard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...
, Marjorie MainMarjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
, and Edward ArnoldEdward Arnold (actor)Edward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:...
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... |
The Big House | Nominated |
| 1932 | Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... |
The Champ | Won ("Tied" with Fredric March Fredric March Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr... for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March. The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , the Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of... although in reality March received one more vote than Beery.) |
| 1934 | Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor | Viva Villa! | Won |