Noah Beery Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Noah Beery
Beery in 1930
Born	Noah Nicholas Beery (1882-01-17)January 17, 1882 Clay County, Missouri, U.S.
Died	April 1, 1946(1946-04-01) (aged 64) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1898–1946
Spouse(s)	Marguerite Lindsay (m. 1910)
Children	Noah Beery Jr.
Relatives	Wallace Beery (brother)

Noah Nicholas Beery (born January 17, 1882 – died April 1, 1946) was a famous American actor. He appeared in many films from 1913 until he passed away in 1946. He was the older brother of Wallace Beery, who won an Academy Award for acting. Noah Beery was also the father of another well-known actor, Noah Beery Jr.. Sometimes he was called Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. in his movies.

Early Life and Dreams
Becoming an Actor
Family Life
His Final Years
Selected Films
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Dreams

Noah Nicholas Beery was born on a farm in Clay County, Missouri. His family moved to Kansas City, Missouri in the 1890s. There, his father worked as a police officer. Young Noah first experienced theater by selling lemon drops at the Gillis Theater in Kansas City.

When he was a teenager, Noah had a deep, rich voice. Actors at the Gillis Theater encouraged him to take singing lessons. They thought he should become a performer. After singing for a summer at Electric Park, he moved to New York City at age 16. Noah was three years older than his brother, Wallace, who also became an actor.

Becoming an Actor

Beery in 1925

Beery and his son Noah Beery Jr. in 1922

In his early years in New York, Noah Beery worked in vaudeville shows. He also sang in the choruses of musical comedies. Soon, he started acting in melodramas, which were popular plays at the time. He often worked with director William A. Brady.

After about 12 years on stage, he moved to Hollywood in 1915. He joined his brother Wallace to make movies. Noah became a respected character actor. He was very good at playing villains, but sometimes he played heroes too. One of his most famous roles was Sergeant Gonzales in The Mark of Zorro (1920). In this movie, he acted alongside Douglas Fairbanks. A poster for the movie Stormswept (1923) even called him and his brother "the Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen."

Noah Beery acted during the silent film era. He successfully moved into making movies with sound. He appeared in early Technicolor musicals like The Show of Shows (1929). He was also in the widescreen musical Song of the Flame (1930). The movie's poster proudly stated that "Noah Beery will thrill you with his wonderful bass voice." He also appeared in Bright Lights (1930), Under a Texas Moon (1930), and Golden Dawn (1930).

His popularity was highest around 1930. He even recorded songs from two of his films for Brunswick Records. However, his fame slowly decreased. Meanwhile, his brother Wallace became one of the highest-paid actors in the world. Wallace won an Oscar and got a special contract with MGM. Noah Beery Sr. played a lively supporting role in She Done Him Wrong (1933). In this film, he was Mae West's bar-owning boyfriend before she left him for Cary Grant.

As his career grew, Noah Beery started calling himself Noah Beery Sr. This was because his son, Noah Beery Jr., was also starting to act in films. After Noah Sr. passed away, his son dropped "Junior" and became known simply as Noah Beery. Noah Beery Sr. and Noah Beery Jr. acted together in movies like The Trail Beyond (1934). In that film, Noah Jr. played John Wayne's sidekick. Later, Noah Jr. became very famous as "Rocky," James Garner's character's father, in the 1970s TV show The Rockford Files. Noah Beery Sr. acted in almost 200 films during his career. In 1945, he returned to New York City to star in a Broadway play called Up in Central Park.

Family Life

Noah Beery married actress Marguerite Walker Lindsey in 1910. Their first child sadly passed away as a baby. Their second child, Noah Lindsey Beery, was born in 1913. He was very sick when he was young. Doctors advised the family to move to Florida for a short time to help him.

His Final Years

Noah Beery died on April 1, 1946. He was 64 years old. He had a heart attack at his brother Wallace Beery's home in Beverly Hills. It was Wallace's birthday, and the brothers were getting ready to perform a radio play together that evening.

He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.

Selected Films

Noah Beery appeared in nearly 200 films. Here are a few notable ones:

The Mark of Zorro (1920)
The Sea Wolf (1920)
Stormswept (1923)
Beau Geste (1926)
The Show of Shows (1929)
Song of the Flame (1930)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
The Trail Beyond (1934)
Zorro Rides Again (1937)
Salute to the Marines (1943)

Images for kids

Isle of Lost Ships (1929) with Jason Robards Sr. and Beery
The Coming of Amos (1925)
The Red Lantern (1919) with Alla Nazimova and Beery
The Red Lantern (1919) with Nazimova and Beery
The Red Lantern (1919) with Nazimova and Beery
The Mark of Zorro (1920) with Douglas Fairbanks and Beery
The Sea Wolf (1920) with Beery as Wolf Larsen
The Call of the North (1921)
Belle of Alaska (1922)
Stormswept (1923) with Wallace and Noah Beery
Stormswept (1923) with Noah and Wallace Beery
The Fighting Coward (1924)
The Fighting Coward (1924) with Beery and Cullen Landis
Betty Compson and Beery in The Female (1924)
Beery, Raymond Hatton, Lois Wilson, and Jack Holt in The Thundering Herd (1925)
Paradise (1926)
The Love Trader (1930)
Beery and Tom Kennedy in Man of the Forest (1933)
Beery and Harry Carey in Man of the Forest

Noah Beery facts for kids

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