Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Creator / WallaceBeery

Go To

1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wallace_beery_publicity.JPG]]
2
3Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film actor, best known for his portrayal of Long John Silver in the 1934 screen adaptation of ''Film/{{Treasure Island|1934}}''.
4
5Born and raised in Missouri, Beery began his career on stage and in silent movies before transitioning to sound films. In 1930 he had been cut loose by Paramount and was looking for work when he landed a role in ''Film/TheBigHouse'' that had originally been intended for Creator/LonChaney before Chaney's sudden death from throat cancer. The movie was a huge hit and Beery became a star. In 1931 he starred in ''Film/TheChamp'', which won him the first and only tied UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor to date (Creator/FredricMarch was the other winner that year, for ''[[Film/DrJekyllAndMrHyde1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]''). He had the occasional leading role but most of his best-remembered films had him in supporting parts.
6
7Beery's brother Noah was also an actor and the two of them had already been performing together long before becoming movie actors, singing comic opera. (His nephew, [[Creator/NoahBeeryJr Noah Jr]]., would follow their footsteps in the acting profession, most notably playing Jim Rockford's father Rocky in ''Series/TheRockfordFiles''.) Although Beery's career slowly dimmed, none of his films were box office bombs and he was always top-billed with the rest of the main stars. His last few roles were primarily in Westerns.
8
9He died of a heart attack at 64 years of age. Notably, Creator/MickeyRooney's father died a month later and was buried next to Beery's grave.
10
11Fun fact: Beery's name is also UsefulNotes/CockneyRhymingSlang for "query", and his appearance and mannerisms inspired those of the animated character WesternAnimation/BarneyBear as well as the dragon Elliot in ''Film/PetesDragon1977''.
12
13----
14!!Selected filmography
15
16* ''Film/TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse'' (1921)
17* ''Film/ThreeAges'' (1923)
18* ''Film/TheLostWorld'' (1925)
19* ''Film/TheBigHouse'' (1930)
20* ''Film/MinAndBill'' (1930)
21* ''Film/WayForASailor'' (1930)
22* ''Film/TheChamp'' (1931)
23* ''Film/TheSecretSix'' (1931)
24* ''Film/GrandHotel'' (1932)
25* ''Film/DinnerAtEight'' (1933)
26* ''Film/TheBowery'' (1933)
27* ''Film/{{Treasure Island|1934}}'' (1934)
28* ''Film/VivaVilla'' (1934)
29* ''Film/OShaughnessysBoy'' (1935)
30* ''Film/ChinaSeas'' (1935)

Top