Wallace Beery facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Wallace Beery
Beery c. 1930
Born	Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (1885-04-01)April 1, 1885 Clay County, Missouri, U.S.
Died	April 15, 1949(1949-04-15) (aged 64) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor film director
Years active	1904–1949
Spouse(s)	Gloria Swanson ​ ​ (m. 1916; div. 1918)​ Rita Gilman ​ ​ (m. 1924; div. 1939)​
Children	1
Relatives	Noah Beery Sr. (brother) Noah Beery Jr. (nephew)

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (born April 1, 1885 – died April 15, 1949) was a famous American actor who worked in both movies and on stage. He is best known for his roles in films like Min and Bill (1930) with Marie Dressler, Grand Hotel (1932), and as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934). He also played Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934).

Wallace Beery won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Champ (1931). He acted in about 250 movies over 36 years. In the early 1930s, he was the highest-paid actor in the world! His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) even said he would be paid $1 more than any other actor at the studio. Wallace Beery was the brother of actor Noah Beery and the uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr..

After he passed away, Beery was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his amazing work in movies. You can find his star at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard.

Early Life and Adventures

Wallace Beery was born in 1885 in Clay County, Missouri. He was the youngest of three boys. In the 1890s, his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where his father worked as a police officer.

Beery went to Chase School in Kansas City and took piano lessons. But he didn't really like school. He ran away from home twice! The first time, he came back quickly and started working in the train yards as an engine wiper, cleaning train engines.

He ran away again when he was 16. This time, he joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant elephant trainer. He left the circus two years later after a leopard scratched him.

Wallace Beery's Acting Journey

Wallace Beery circa 1914

Beery as Sweedie the Swedish maid (1914)

Starting Out in Theater

In 1904, Wallace Beery joined his older brother Noah in New York City. He found work in comic operas, singing as a baritone. He started performing on Broadway and in summer plays. In 1905, he appeared in a show called The Belle of the West. One of his most important early roles was in 1907 in The Yankee Tourist, where he received good reviews.

Becoming a Comedy Star

In 1913, Beery moved to Chicago to work for Essanay Studios. His first movie was probably a short comedy called His Athletic Wife (1913).

From 1914 to 1916, Beery played a funny character named Sweedie, a Swedish maid. He played this role in drag, meaning he dressed up as a woman. In Sweedie Learns to Swim (1914), he acted alongside Ben Turpin. In Sweedie Goes to College (1915), he co-starred with Gloria Swanson, whom he married the next year.

Other short films Beery made around this time include In and Out (1914) and Ain't It the Truth (1915). One of his first full-length movies was The Slim Princess (1915). He also made The Broken Pledge (1915) and A Dash of Courage (1916) with Gloria Swanson.

Beery played a German soldier in The Little American (1917) with Mary Pickford. He also made some comedies for Mack Sennett. But he slowly started to play more villain roles before becoming a major leading actor when sound movies arrived.

Playing the Bad Guy

In 1917, Beery played Pancho Villa in the film Patria. At that time, Villa was still active in Mexico. Beery played this role again 17 years later in Viva Villa!.

Beery often played evil German characters, like in The Unpardonable Sin (1919). For Paramount, he appeared in The Love Burglar (1919) and Victory (1919). He was also a villain in Behind the Door (1919).

In 1920, Beery played villains in five big movies. These included The Virgin of Stamboul and The Mollycoddle with Douglas Fairbanks. In The Mollycoddle, Fairbanks and Beery had a big fight tumbling down a mountain. He also played a villain in the Western film The Round-Up and as Magua in The Last of the Mohicans.

Beery had a supporting role in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1920) with Rudolph Valentino. He continued playing bad guys in films like A Tale of Two Worlds (1921) and I Am the Law (1922), which also featured his brother, Noah Beery Sr.

Historical and Adventure Films

Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923)

Beery took on a rare heroic role as King Richard I (Richard the Lion-Hearted) in Robin Hood (1922). Douglas Fairbanks starred as Robin Hood. This grand movie was a huge success. The next year, Beery starred in the sequel, Richard the Lion-Hearted.

He also had a small, uncredited role as "the Ape-Man" in A Blind Bargain (1922) with Lon Chaney. Beery played another historical king, King Philip IV of Spain, in The Spanish Dancer (1923).

Beery starred in an action film called Stormswept (1923) with his older brother, Noah Beery Sr.. Movie posters for the film called them "The Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen."

He played his third royal role as the Duc de Tours in Ashes of Vengeance (1923). Beery also co-starred with Buster Keaton in the comedy Three Ages (1923). This was the first full-length movie Keaton wrote, produced, directed, and starred in.

Beery was a villain in The Eternal Struggle (1923), a Mountie drama. This film was produced by Louis B. Mayer, who would later be very important to Beery's career.

Joining Paramount Pictures

As Challenger in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1925)

Wallace Beery signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. He had a supporting role in Adventure (1925).

At First National, he got the main role of Professor Challenger in Arthur Conan Doyle's dinosaur movie The Lost World (1925). This is one of his most famous silent film performances. Beery was the top-billed actor in Paramount's The Devil's Cargo (1925). He also had supporting roles in The Pony Express (1925) and The Wanderer (1925).

Beery starred in a comedy with Raymond Hatton, Behind the Front (1926). He was also a villain in Volcano! (1926). He played a boatswain in Old Ironsides (1926).

Beery had the main role in the baseball movie Casey at the Bat (1927). He made more comedies with Hatton, including Fireman, Save My Child (1927) and Now We're in the Air (1927). The latter film also featured Louise Brooks, who was Beery's co-star in Beggars of Life (1928). This was Paramount's first movie that had both silent parts and spoken dialogue.

He made another comedy with Hatton, Wife Savers (1929). Then Beery starred in Chinatown Nights (1929). This movie was filmed silently, and the actors' voices were added later. This worked very well for Beery's deep voice. Beery then appeared in Stairs of Sand (1929), a Western film, before he left Paramount.

Success at MGM

Chester Morris and Wallace Beery in The Big House (1930)

With Marie Dressler in Min and Bill (1930)

Marie Dressler in Min and Bill

Jackie Cooper, Edward Brophy, and Wallace Beery in The Champ (1931)

Tugboat Annie (1933)

Irving Thalberg signed Wallace Beery to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as a character actor. His time at MGM started well. Beery played a tough convict named Butch in the very successful 1930 prison film The Big House. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for this role.

Beery's second movie for MGM was also a big hit: Billy the Kid (1930). He played Pat Garrett in this early widescreen film. He supported John Gilbert in Way for a Sailor (1930) and Grace Moore in A Lady's Morals (1930), where he played P. T. Barnum.

Becoming a Top Star

Wallace Beery was now a well-known leading man and character actor. The movie that truly made him one of the biggest stars was Min and Bill (1930), where he starred opposite Marie Dressler. This film was a huge success.

Beery made another film, The Secret Six (1931), a gangster movie with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable. This movie was popular, but it was even more successful than The Champ. Beery made The Champ with Jackie Cooper. This film was written especially for Beery and was another box-office sensation. Beery shared the Best Actor Oscar with Fredric March.

Beery's career continued to grow stronger. Hell Divers (1932), a naval airplane movie also starring a young Clark Gable, was a big hit. So was the all-star film Grand Hotel (1932). In this movie, Beery was billed fourth, after Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, and Joan Crawford. In 1932, his contract with MGM stated he would be paid a dollar more than any other actor at the studio, making him the highest-paid actor in the world.

Beery played a German wrestler in Flesh (1932), a hit movie. Next, Beery was in another all-star blockbuster, Dinner at Eight (1933). In this film, Jean Harlow played Beery's comically arguing wife.

Beery was loaned to the new 20th Century Pictures for the lively comedy/drama The Bowery (1933). This movie also starred George Raft and Jackie Cooper and was a huge hit.

Back at MGM, he played Pancho Villa again in Viva Villa! (1933). He was reunited with Marie Dressler in Tugboat Annie (1933), which was a massive hit. He played Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934). This film is still seen as one of Beery's most famous performances.

Beery returned to 20th Century Productions for The Mighty Barnum (1934), where he played P. T. Barnum once more. Back at MGM, he was a kind sergeant in West Point of the Air (1935). He was also in the all-star movie China Seas (1935), this time billed below Clark Gable.

O'Shaughnessy's Boy (1935) brought Beery and Jackie Cooper together again. He had the lead role as the drunken uncle in MGM's film Ah, Wilderness! (1936). He then went back to 20th Century Fox for A Message to Garcia (1936) with Barbara Stanwyck.

At MGM, he was in Old Hutch (1936) and The Good Old Soak (1937). Then he was back at Fox for Slave Ship (1937).

Later Career

The popularity of Beery's films started to slow down. After a trip to Europe, Beery appeared in The Bad Man of Brimstone (1938) and Port of Seven Seas (1938). He also starred in Stablemates (1938) with Mickey Rooney and Stand Up and Fight (1939) with Robert Taylor. He continued to have top billing in all his movies.

Wyoming (1940) paired Beery with Marjorie Main. After The Bad Man (1941), MGM reunited Beery and Main in Barnacle Bill (1941), The Bugle Sounds (1941), and Jackass Mail (1942).

Beery made a war film, a Technicolor comedy called Salute to the Marines (1943). Then he was back with Main in Rationing (1944). Barbary Coast Gent (1944) was a Western comedy where Beery played a loud con man. He made another war film, This Man's Navy (1945). Then he made another Western with Main, Bad Bascomb (1946), which was a huge hit, helped by Margaret O'Brien's role.

The Mighty McGurk (1947) paired Beery with another child star, Dean Stockwell. Alias a Gentleman (1947) was the first of Beery's sound films to lose money. Beery received top billing for the smash hit A Date with Judy (1949), a very popular musical featuring Elizabeth Taylor. Beery's last film, again featuring Main, was Big Jack (1949). Beery passed away from a heart attack three days after this movie was released.

Wallace Beery's Personal Life

20 Mule Team (1940)

The Bad Man (1941)

Marriages and Family

On March 27, 1916, when he was 30, Beery married 17-year-old actress Gloria Swanson in Los Angeles. They had co-starred in Sweedie Goes to College. Swanson filed for divorce in 1917, and it was finalized in 1918.

On August 4, 1924, Beery married actress Rita Gilman. The couple adopted Carol Ann Priester (1930–2013). After 15 years of marriage, Rita filed for divorce on May 1, 1939.

Around December 1939, Beery adopted a seven-month-old girl named Phyllis Ann Beery. Phyllis appeared in MGM publicity photos when adopted, but was not mentioned again later.

Working with Others

Brother Noah Beery Sr. in 1925

Many people who worked with Beery found him difficult. He often didn't learn his lines and would sometimes try to take lines from other actors.

However, Mickey Rooney was one of the few co-stars who always spoke highly of Beery. In his book, Rooney described Beery as a "lovable, shambling kind of guy." He said Beery always knew when a young actor needed a smile or encouragement. Rooney also mentioned that Beery would sometimes take props from the studio sets.

Child actors, though, often had unpleasant experiences with Beery. Jackie Cooper, who made several films with him, said Beery was a "big disappointment." Cooper felt Beery tried to make his performances worse. He remembered hugging Beery after a scene, only to be pushed away roughly. Child actress Margaret O'Brien said crew members had to protect her from Beery, who would constantly pinch her.

Once, Beery invited 12-year-old actor Darryl Hickman to lunch. When Darryl thanked him, Beery replied, "okay, kid, you owe me 75 cents." Beery also refused to leave tips at the MGM cafeteria. He said tips were for special service, and since he was a movie star, he already got special service.

Beery met his match with co-star Marie Dressler. She refused to put up with his "nonsense." She once told him she would serve his head on a platter to MGM boss Louis B. Mayer. Beery, who everyone expected to get angry, instead acted like a little boy who got caught doing something wrong.

Hobbies and Interests

Beery loved to fly his own planes, including a Howard DGA-11. In 1933, he became a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy Reserve. One of his proudest achievements was catching the largest giant black sea bass in the world in 1916. It weighed 515 pounds (234 kg) and was a record for 35 years.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created Jackson Hole National Monument to protect land in Wyoming. Local ranchers were upset about losing grazing lands. Led by Beery, they protested by herding 500 cattle across the monument lands without permission.

Passing Away

Grave at Forest Lawn Glendale

Wallace Beery passed away from a heart attack on April 15, 1949. He was reading a newspaper at his home in Beverly Hills when he collapsed. His body was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The words on his grave say, "No man is indispensable, but some are irreplaceable."

When Mickey Rooney's father passed away less than a year later, Rooney arranged for him to be buried next to Beery. Rooney wrote, "I thought it was fitting that these two comedians should rest in peace, side by side."

Wallace Beery's Legacy

For his contributions to the film industry, Wallace Beery received a motion-picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His star is located at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard.

Wallace Beery is mentioned in the film Barton Fink. In the movie, the main character is hired to write a wrestling movie script for Beery to star in.

In the 1971 comedy The Projectionist, actor and comedian Chuck McCann pretends to be Beery and quotes a line from Min and Bill.

In the clothing world, a men's shirt with a quarter-button front is called a Wallace Beery style. This is because Beery's characters, like miners and outlaws, often wore undershirts and long underwear like that.

Selected Filmography

Box Office Success

Images for kids

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  Behind the Door (1919) with Hobart Bosworth

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  The Mollycoddle (1920) with Douglas Fairbanks

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  The Mollycoddle (1920) with Douglas Fairbanks

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  Wallace Beery in 1921

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  The Policeman and the Baby (1921)

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  The Golden Snare (1921)

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  The Golden Snare (1921) with Lewis Stone

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  The Last Trail (1921)

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  The Last Trail (1921) with Eva Novak

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  A Blind Bargain (1922) with Lon Chaney

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  Stormswept (1923) with Noah Beery

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  Stormswept (1923) with Noah Beery

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  Stormswept (1923) with Noah Beery Sr.

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  Bavu (1923)

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  Beery as Bavu (1923)

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  Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923)

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  Dynamite Smith (1924) with Bessie Love

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  Dynamite Smith (1924)

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  The Devil's Cargo (1925)

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  Adventure (1925) with Pauline Starke

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  Volcano! (1926) with Bebe Daniels
  and Ricardo Cortez

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  Casey at the Bat (1927)

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  Now We're in the Air (1927) with Louise Brooks

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  Now We're in the Air (1927) with Louise Brooks

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  Now We're in the Air (1927) with Raymond Hatton

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  Now We're in the Air (1927) with Raymond Hatton

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  Beggars of Life (1928) with Louise Brooks

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  Stairs of Sand (1929) with Jean Arthur

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  Min and Bill (1930) with Marie Dressler

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  The Secret Six (1931) with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable

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  Hell Divers (1931) with Clark Gable

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  Hell Divers (1931)

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  Hell Divers (1931)

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  Lionel Barrymore presents 1931 Oscar

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  Grand Hotel (1932)

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  Grand Hotel (1932) with Joan Crawford

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  Tugboat Annie (1933) with Marie Dressler

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  Dinner at Eight (1933) with Jean Harlow

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  The Bowery (1933) with George Raft

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  Viva Villa! (1934) with Fay Wray

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  Treasure Island (1934) with Jackie Cooper

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  Treasure Island (1934) with Jackie Cooper

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  China Seas (1935)

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  China Seas (1935) with Clark Gable

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  China Seas (1935)

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  Ah Wilderness! (1935)

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  The Good Old Soak (1937) with Ted Healy

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  The Bad Man of Brimstone (1937)

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  Stand Up and Fight (1939) with Robert Taylor

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  The Man from Dakota (1940)

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  The Man from Dakota (1940)

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  20 Mule Team (1940) with Noah Beery Jr.

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  Wyoming (1940) with Marjorie Main

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  Barnacle Bill (1941)

Awards and Nominations

Academy Awards

Venice Film Festival

See also

In Spanish: Wallace Beery para niños

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations