Beery, Wallace
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Wikipedia-Article "Wallace Beery"
Wallace Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American actor, best known for his many cinema appearances.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he was the younger brother of Noah Beery who also would have a career in motion pictures. Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers circus at the age of sixteen as an assistant elephant trainer. He left two years later after being clawed by a leopard. He found work in New York City in musical variety and began to appear on Broadway. In 1913, he moved to California, where he began to appear in a series of comedy silent films for Essanay Studios, cast against gender as a Swedish maid.
In 1915, Beery starred with his wife Gloria Swanson in Sweedie Goes to College. The marriage did not survive his drinking and abuse. In the following years, he began to play villains in several movies.
His notable silent films include The Lost World, Robin Hood, Last of the Mohicans, Old Ironsides, Now We're in the Air, and Beggars of Life.
With the transition to sound film he was for a time put out of work, but Irving Thalberg had no objection to Beery's gruff slow speech as a character actor, and hired him under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Beery appeared in the highly-successful 1930 prison film The Big House (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor). He followed that up with The Champ in 1931 and the role of Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934). He received a gold medal from the Venice Film Festival for his performance in Viva Villa! (1934) Other notables Beery films include Min and Bill (1930), Grand Hotel (1932), Tugboat Annie (1933), Dinner at Eight (1933), China Seas (1935), and Ah! Wilderness (1935). At one point, his contract with MGM stipulated that he be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio, making him the highest paid actor in the world.
He made several comedies with Marie Dressler (Min and Bill and Tugboat Annie) and Marjorie Main, but his career began to slow down in his last decade.
His second wife was Rita Gorman. Together they adopted a daughter Carol Ann, daughter of Rita Gorman Beery's cousin. The marriage ended in divorce.
He died at his Beverly Hills, California home of a heart attack at the age of 64, and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California.
Academy Awards and Nominations
- 1932 Won The Champ (tied with Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
- 1930 Nominated The Big House
For his contribution to the film industry, Wallace Beery has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.