Wilhelm scream facts for kids
The Wilhelm scream is a famous sound effect. It's used in many movies, TV shows, and video games. This special scream first appeared in a 1951 movie called Distant Drums. It became very popular after being used in Star Wars. You often hear it when a character is shot, falls from high up, or is thrown by an explosion. It's like a secret sound that many filmmakers enjoy adding.
The scream got its name from Private Wilhelm. He was a character in a 1953 western movie, The Charge at Feather River. In that movie, Private Wilhelm is shot with an arrow and screams. This was one of the first times the sound was used from the Warner Brothers sound library.
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Where Did the Scream Come From?
The Wilhelm scream was first created for the 1951 movie Distant Drums. In one part of the movie, soldiers are walking through a swamp. An alligator bites one soldier and pulls him underwater. The scream for this scene was recorded in just one try. The sound was saved with the label "man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams."
How the Scream Became Famous
The Wilhelm scream started to become very popular because of Benjamin Burtt Jr.. He is a sound designer. Burtt found the original recording and used it in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He is the one who named the scream after Private Wilhelm. This was after the soldier in The Charge at Feather River who screamed when shot by an arrow.
Over the next ten years, Burtt used the scream in many other movies. These included most projects with George Lucas or Steven Spielberg. You can hear it in all the Indiana Jones movies. Other sound designers also started using it. It became a fun tradition in the world of movie sound.
Who Made the Scream?
Research by Ben Burtt suggests that actor and singer Sheb Wooley was the voice actor who first performed the scream. Wooley is famous for his 1958 song "Flying Purple People Eater". This idea was supported by an interview in 2005 with Linda Dotson, Wooley's wife.
Burtt found old records at Warner Brothers. These records showed a list of actors who recorded lines for Distant Drums. Wooley played a small, uncredited role in that movie. He was one of the few actors who recorded extra vocal sounds for the film. Wooley performed many sound effects, including the screams for a man being bitten by an alligator. Dotson confirmed that it was Wooley's scream. She said he often joked about how good he was at screaming and dying in movies.
Where You Can Hear It
The Wilhelm scream has become a very common sound in movies. By 2008, it had been used in over 216 movies, TV shows, and video games. Some directors, like George Lucas, often put it in almost all their films. It's a fun "inside joke" for people who know about it.
See also
In Spanish: Grito Wilhelm para niños
