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ABOUT WALLACE BEERY (1886 - 1949)
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was born April 1, 1885 in
Kansas City, Missouri. At sixteen, Beery joined the
Ringling Brothers Circus as an elephant trainer’s
assistant. He traveled the country for two years with
the group until he left to begin a career on Broadway
in New York.
After several years of success in the theater, Beery
made his way to Hollywood in 1913 where he would land
the role as the Swedish maid in the Essanay comic
series “Sweedie”. In 1915’s “Sweedie Goes to College”
Beery would work alongside future wife, Gloria Swanson.
But their marriage depicted the typical Hollywood
relationships of fame and fortune, drinking and abuse,
and quickly ended.
In 1917 he would star in “Patria” which would typecast
him as the ‘Hun” for several following films. He would
also star in the adventure films “The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse”(1921), “Robin Hood”(1922), “The
Sea Hawk”(1924), and “The Pony Express”(1925).
In 1926 Beery found his way back to comedies in the
Paramount production “Behind the Front”. As auditory
films made their debut that same decade, many producers
feared Beery’s slow drawly speech would be a hindrance
to the recording studio. Nevertheless he was cast
in 1930’s “The Big House” where his performance landed
him an Academy Award nomination. Critics remained
silent thereafter. The same year he would attain super-star
status after his performance in “Min and Bill”(1930),
which became one of the year’s top grossing films.
He followed his achievements of 1930 with an even
more successful year in 1931; landing the Oscar for
Best Actor for his performance in “The Champ”.
In 1934 he played the memorable role of Long John
Silver in “Treasure Island”, and in 1932 he would
star as the dim-witted wrestler in “Flesh”. Having
been typecast for his stellar performances as the
rather dim-witted character, in reality Beery was
anything but; he simply capitalized on the opportunity
to give audiences more of what they loved. But in
1933 he switched to a slightly more serious role in
“Dinner at Eight”. Around 1939 his second marriage
to Rita Gilman was beginning to dissolve. But Beery
poured his energy into his career and teamed with
starlet Marjorie Main to film the hits “Wyoming”(1940)
and “Barnacle Bill”(1941).
In his spare time Beery loved to both fly and fish.
In 1916 Beery landed the world’s title for the largest
sea bass on record after a fishing trip off Catalina
Island. He held the record for thirty-five years.
But before he was dethroned of his sea bass title,
Beery took up flying and became a pilot around 1925.
Beery worked until his death in 1949, accrediting
his success to his looks; "Like my dear old friend
Marie Dressler, my ugly mug has been my fortune."
He is the brother of actor William Beery, half-brother
of actor Noah Beery, and uncle of actor Noah Beery
Jr.
Berry's notable silent credits include:
ROBIN HOOD (as King Richard) (1922)
RICHARD THE LION-HEARTERED (1923)
BEGGARS OF LIFE (1928)
Wallace Beery's notable sound credits include:
GRAND HOTEL (1932)
TUGBOAT ANNIE (1933)
THE BOWERY (1933)
VIVA VILLA (1934)
AH, WILDERNESS (1935)
SLAVE SHIP (1937)
BARBARY COAST GENT (1944)
A DATE WITH JUDY (1948)
BIG JACK (1949)
Wallace Beery
in DINNER
AT EIGHT (1933)
 
 
Wallace Beery in GRAND
HOTEL (1932) |
