73-699: Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler , as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as the pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won
146-774: A Husband (1914), Madame Double X (1914), Ain't It the Truth (1915), Two Hearts That Beat as Ten (1915), and The Fable of the Roistering Blades (1915). The Slim Princess (1915), with Francis X. Bushman , was one of his earliest feature-length films. Beery also did The Broken Pledge (1915) and A Dash of Courage (1916), both with Swanson. Beery played a German soldier in The Little American (1917) with Mary Pickford , directed by Cecil B. De Mille . He did some comedies for Mack Sennett , Maggie's First False Step (1917) and Teddy at
219-408: A bombastic con man, teamed him with Binnie Barnes . He did another war film, This Man's Navy (1945), then made another Western with Main, Bad Bascomb (1946), a huge hit, helped primarily by Margaret O'Brien 's casting. The Mighty McGurk (1947) put Beery with another child star of the studio, Dean Stockwell . Alias a Gentleman (1947) was the first of Beery's films to lose money during
292-762: A comedy with Raymond Hatton , Behind the Front (1926), and he was a villain in Volcano! (1926). He was a bos'n in Old Ironsides (1926) for director James Cruze, with Charles Farrell in the romantic lead. Beery had the title role in the baseball movie Casey at the Bat (1927). He was reunited with Hatton in Fireman, Save My Child (1927) and Now We're in the Air (1927). The latter also featured Louise Brooks , who
365-812: A contract with Paramount Pictures. He had a support role in Adventure (1925) directed by Victor Fleming . At First National, he was given the star role of Professor Challenger in Arthur Conan Doyle 's dinosaur epic The Lost World (1925), arguably his silent performance most frequently screened in the modern era. Beery was top billed in Paramount's The Devil's Cargo (1925) for Victor Fleming, and supported in The Night Club (1925), The Pony Express (1925) for James Cruze , and The Wanderer (1925) for Raoul Walsh . Beery starred in
438-554: A couple of his Bing Crosby two-reelers to theaters, nothing happened. Sennett did appear in front of the camera, however, in Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), itself a thinly disguised version of the Mack Sennett-Mabel Normand romance. In 1949, he provided film footage for the first full-length comedy compilation film, Down Memory Lane (1949), written and narrated by Steve Allen . Sennett made
511-802: A decline. After an abrupt European vacation, Beery was in The Bad Man of Brimstone (1938) with Dennis O'Keefe (and Noah Beery Sr. in a cameo role as a bartender), Port of Seven Seas (1938) with Maureen O'Sullivan , Stablemates (1938) with Mickey Rooney , Stand Up and Fight (1939) with Robert Taylor , Sergeant Madden (1939) with Tom Brown , Thunder Afloat (1939) with Chester Morris , The Man from Dakota (1940) with Dolores del Río , and 20 Mule Team (1940) with Marjorie Rambeau , Anne Baxter , and Noah Beery Jr. , enjoying top billing in all of them. Wyoming (1940) teamed Beery with Marjorie Main . After The Bad Man (1941), which also stars Lionel Barrymore and future President of
584-977: A dip, and during the marriage to Swanson, he relied on her as a breadwinner. According to Swanson's autobiography, Beery raped her on their wedding night, and later tricked her into swallowing an abortifacient when she was pregnant, which caused her to lose their child. Swanson filed for divorce in 1917 and it was finalized in 1918. On August 4, 1924, Beery married actress Rita Gilman (née Mary Areta Gilman; 1898–1986) in Los Angeles. The couple adopted Carol Ann Priester (1930–2013), daughter of Rita Beery's mother's half-sister, Juanita Priester (née Caplinger; 1899–1931) and her husband, Erwin William Priester (1897–1969). After 14 years of marriage, Rita filed for divorce on May 1, 1939, in Carson City , Ormsby County , Nevada . Within 20 minutes of filing, she won
657-566: A guest appearance in the film, and received a special "Mack Sennett presents" credit. Sennett wrote a memoir, King of Comedy , in collaboration with Cameron Shipp. The book was published in 1954, prompting TV producer Ralph Edwards to mount a tribute to Sennett for the television series This Is Your Life . Sennett made a cameo appearance (for $ 1,000) in Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955). Sennett's last appearance in
730-642: A leopard. Wallace Beery joined his older brother Noah in New York City in 1904, finding work in comic opera as a baritone, and appeared on Broadway and in summer stock theatre . He was in The Belle of the West in 1905. His most notable early role came in 1907 when he starred in The Yankee Tourist to good reviews. In 1913, he moved to Chicago to work for Essanay Studios . His first movie
803-399: A little kid actor needed a smile and a wink or a word of encouragement." He did concede that "not everyone loved [Beery] as much as I did." Rooney noted that Howard Strickling , MGM's head of publicity, once went to Louis B. Mayer to complain that Beery was stealing props from the studio's sets. "And that wasn't all", Rooney continued. "He went on for some minutes about the trouble that Beery
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#1732790242690876-591: A part of Echo Park – in 1912. The original main building which was the first totally enclosed film stage and studio ever constructed, is still standing, as of 2023. Many successful actors began their film careers with Sennett, including Marie Dressler , Mabel Normand , Charlie Chaplin , Harry Langdon , Roscoe Arbuckle , Harold Lloyd , Raymond Griffith , Gloria Swanson , Ford Sterling , Andy Clyde , Chester Conklin , Polly Moran , Louise Fazenda , The Keystone Cops , Bing Crosby , and W. C. Fields . "In its pre-1920s heyday [Sennett's Fun Factory] created
949-435: A secure and valued place in the history of screen comedy, it is surely not as a developer of individual talents... Chaplin, Langdon, and Lloyd were all on the lot at one point or another, but developed their styles only in spite of Sennett, and grew to their artistic peaks only away from his influence... screen comedy followed Chaplin's lead and began to focus more on personality than situation." Sennett's first female comedian
1022-781: A sequel to Robin Hood based on Sir Walter Scott 's The Talisman ; a print of Richard the Lion-Hearted is held at the Archives du Film du CNC in Bois d'Arcy. Beery was in The Drums of Jeopardy (1923) and had a supporting role in The Sea Hawk (1924) for director Frank Lloyd. He also appeared in a supporting role for Clarence Brown 's The Signal Tower (1925) starring Virginia Valli and Rockliffe Fellowes . Beery signed
1095-674: A vigorous new style of motion picture comedy founded on speed, insolence and destruction, which won them the undying affection of the French Dadaists …" —Film historian Richard Koszarski Dubbed the King of Hollywood's Fun Factory , Sennett's studios produced slapstick comedies that were noted for their hair-raising car chases and custard pie warfare, especially in the Keystone Cops series . The comic formulas, however well executed, were based on humorous situations rather than
1168-672: A well-received serious film with the tagline "Nobody loves a fat man." Beery continued his villainy cycle that year with The Last of the Mohicans , playing Magua. Beery had a supporting part in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1920) with Rudolph Valentino . He was a villainous Tong leader in A Tale of Two Worlds (1921) and was the bad guy again in Sleeping Acres (1922), Wild Honey (1922), and I Am
1241-660: Is faint. Beery attended the Chase School in Kansas City and took piano lessons as well, but showed little love for academic matters. He ran away from home twice, the first time returning after a short time, quitting school and working in the Kansas City train yards as an engine wiper . Beery ran away from home a second time at age 16 and joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant elephant trainer. He left two years later after being clawed by
1314-526: Is seen crouching, in full ape-man make-up, in the background of some of the movie's posters), and a supporting role in The Flame of Life (1923). He played another historical ruler, King Philip IV of Spain, in The Spanish Dancer (1923) with Pola Negri . Beery starred in an action melodrama, Stormswept (1923) for FBO Films alongside Noah Beery Sr. The tagline on the movie's posters
1387-475: The Academy Award for Best Actor . Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $ 1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr. For his contributions to
1460-667: The Biograph Company of New York City , and later opened Keystone Studios in Edendale, California in 1912. Keystone possessed the first fully enclosed film stage, and Sennett became famous as the originator of slapstick routines such as pie-throwing and car-chases, as seen in the Keystone Cops films. He also produced short features that displayed his Bathing Beauties , many of whom went on to develop successful acting careers. After struggling with bankruptcy and
1533-458: The 1930s, Sennett tried to come to Columbia but they wouldn't have him. He was finished, and the studio was happy with Jules." Sennett did sell some scripts and stories to Jules White, receiving screen credit as "Michael Emmes" (the "Emmes" being formed by Sennett's initials). Columbia really didn't need Sennett's services; the studio already had four producers and six directors on its short-subject payroll. Mack Sennett went into semi-retirement at
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#17327902426901606-929: The Crosby and Fields shorts, Sennett's studio did not survive the Depression. Sennett's partnership with Paramount lasted only one year and he was forced into bankruptcy in November 1933. On January 12, 1934, Sennett was injured in an automobile accident that killed blackface performer Charles Mack in Mesa, Arizona . His last work, in 1935, was as a producer-director for Educational, in which he directed Buster Keaton in The Timid Young Man and Joan Davis in Way Up Thar . The 1935 Vitaphone short subject Keystone Hotel featured several alumni from
1679-484: The Door (1919), as another villainous German; and The Life Line (1919) with Holt. Beery was the villain in five major releases in 1920: 813 ; The Virgin of Stamboul for director Tod Browning ; The Mollycoddle with Douglas Fairbanks , in which Fairbanks and Beery fist fought as they tumbled down a steep mountain; and in the noncomedic Western The Round-Up starring Roscoe Arbuckle as an obese cowboy in
1752-542: The Keystone trademark and produced a cheap series of comedy shorts that were "Keystones" in name only: they were unsuccessful, and Sennett had no connection with them. Sennett went on to produce more ambitious comedy short films and a few feature-length films. Many of Sennett's films of the early 1920s were inherited by Warner Bros. after Warner had merged with the original distributor, First National. Warner added music and commentary to several of these short subjects, and
1825-705: The Law (1922), which also featured his brother Noah Beery Sr. Beery had a large then-rare heroic part as King Richard I (Richard the Lion-Hearted) in Robin Hood (1922), starring Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood . The lavish movie was a huge success and spawned a sequel the following year starring Beery in the title role of Richard the Lion-Hearted . Beery had an important unbilled cameo as "the Ape-Man" in A Blind Bargain (1922) starring Lon Chaney (Beery
1898-533: The MGM Publicity Machine , asserts that Healy was attacked by three men: future James Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli , local mob figure Pat DiCicco (who was Broccoli's cousin as well as the former husband of Thelma Todd and the future husband of Gloria Vanderbilt ), and Wallace Beery. Fleming writes that this beating led to Healy's death a few days later. There is no documentation in contemporaneous news reports that either Beery or DiCicco
1971-512: The Mack Sennett studios: Ben Turpin, Ford Sterling, Hank Mann, and Chester Conklin. Actually, Sennett was not involved in the making of this film; it was directed by Ralph Staub . Sennett made one last attempt to continue working in the comedy field. By this time he had been supplanted as the major producer of two-reel comedies by Jules White at Columbia Pictures . White's brother, Jack White, recalled: "When Jules and I were at Columbia in
2044-494: The Oscars and demanding that March and Beery share that year's Academy Award for Best Actor since the vote was so close.) Beery's career went from strength to strength. Hell Divers (1932), a naval airplane epic also starring a young Clark Gable billed under Beery, was a big hit. So, too, was the all-star Grand Hotel (1932), in which Beery was billed fourth, under Greta Garbo , John Barrymore , and Joan Crawford , one of
2117-761: The Throttle (1917), but he gradually left that genre and specialized in portrayals of villains prior to becoming a major leading man during the sound era. In 1917, Beery portrayed Pancho Villa in Patria at a time when Villa was still active in Mexico . (Beery reprised the role 17 years later in Viva Villa! .) Beery was a villainous German in The Unpardonable Sin (1919) with Blanche Sweet . For Paramount, he did The Love Burglar (1919) with Wallace Reid ; Victory (1919), with Jack Holt ; Behind
2190-687: The United States Ronald Reagan , and was the remake of a Walter Huston picture , MGM reunited Beery and Main in Barnacle Bill (1941), The Bugle Sounds (1941), and Jackass Mail (1942). Beery appeared in a war film, a Technicolor comedy titled Salute to the Marines (1943), then was back with Main in Rationing (1944). Barbary Coast Gent (1944), an extremely broad Western comedy in which Beery played
2263-404: The age of 55, having produced more than 1,000 silent films and several dozen talkies during a 25-year career. His studio property was purchased by Mascot Pictures (later part of Republic Pictures ), and many of his former staffers found work at Columbia. In March 1938, Sennett was presented with an honorary Academy Award : "for his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the screen,
Wallace Beery - Misplaced Pages Continue
2336-515: The basic principles of which are as important today as when they were first put into practice, the Academy presents a Special Award to that master of fun, discoverer of stars, sympathetic, kindly, understanding comedy genius – Mack Sennett." Rumors abounded that Sennett would be returning to film production (a September 1938 publicity release indicated that he would be working with Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy ), but apart from Sennett reissuing
2409-470: The cartoonish silent films but ludicrous in the new, realistic atmosphere of talking pictures. Sennett was also having financial problems during the Great Depression . One of his biggest stars, Andy Clyde, left the studio after Sennett, wanting to economize, tried to cut Clyde's salary. In 1932 Sennett attempted to re-enter the feature-film market on a grand scale with Hypnotized . Remembering
2482-535: The comedy Three Ages (1923), the first feature Keaton wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. Beery was a villain in The Eternal Struggle (1923), a Mountie drama, produced by Louis B. Mayer , who eventually became crucial to Beery's career. He was reunited with Dean and Browning in White Tiger (1923), then played the title role in the aforementioned Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923),
2555-603: The day. Sennett wanted W. C. Fields to star as a carnival hypnotist, but Fields declined and the role went to Ernest Torrence , sharing the spotlight with blackface comedians Moran and Mack , "The Two Black Crows". Production was completed in August 1932, but fell far short of Sennett's grandiose predictions. The finished film ran an ordinary 70 minutes and was released through ordinary channels by World Wide Pictures (Educational's feature-film outlet) in December 1932. Sennett
2628-524: The decree. Rita remarried 15 days later, on May 16, 1939, to Jessen Albert D. Foyt (1907–1945), filing her marriage license with the same county clerk in Carson City. In December 1937, comedic actor and Three Stooges founder Ted Healy was involved in a drunken altercation at Cafe Trocadero on the Sunset Strip . E. J. Fleming, in his 2005 book, The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and
2701-541: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 973117900 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:37:22 GMT Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott ; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American producer, director, actor, and studio head who was known as the "King of Comedy" during his career. Born in Danville, Quebec , in 1908, he started acting in films in
2774-697: The direction of Raoul Walsh. The picture was a smash hit. Back at MGM, he played the title role of Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1933) and was reunited with Dressler in Tugboat Annie (1933), a massive hit. He was Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), described as a box-office "disappointment" despite being MGM's third-largest hit of the season, and remains currently viewed as featuring one of Beery's iconic performances. Beery returned to 20th Century Productions for The Mighty Barnum (1934), in which he played P. T. Barnum again. Back at MGM, he
2847-512: The dominance of sound films in the early 1930s, Sennett was presented with an honorary Academy Award in 1938 for his contributions to the film industry, with the Academy describing him as a "master of fun, discoverer of stars, sympathetic, kindly, understanding comedy genius". Born Michael Sinnott in Danville, Quebec , he was the son of Irish Catholic John Sinnott and Catherine Foy. His parents married in 1879 in Tingwick , Quebec and moved
2920-591: The film industry, Beery was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Beery was born the youngest of three boys on April 1, 1885, in Clay County, Missouri , near Smithville . The Beery family left the farm in the 1890s and moved to nearby Kansas City, Missouri , where his father was a police officer. A fourth brother, Charles, was born in 1880 but survived only a day after his birth. There might have been an older sister but information
2993-560: The film industry. Also beginning in 1915, Sennett assembled a bevy of women known as the Sennett Bathing Beauties to appear in provocative bathing costumes in comedy short subjects, in promotional material, and in promotional events such as Venice Beach beauty contests. The Sennett Bathing Beauties continued to appear through 1928. In 1917, Sennett gave up the Keystone trademark and organized his own company, Mack Sennett Comedies Corporation. Sennett's bosses retained
Wallace Beery - Misplaced Pages Continue
3066-469: The grosses for himself. Sennett told him to go to hell." Sennett left Educational and signed with Paramount Pictures . Sennett signed both Bing Crosby and W. C. Fields for two-reel comedies. Fields wrote and starred in four famous Sennett-Paramount comedies. Two other Sennett shorts were made with Fields scripts: The Singing Boxer (1933) with Donald Novis and Too Many Highballs (1933) with Lloyd Hamilton . Despite Paramount's wide distribution of
3139-525: The highly successful 1930 prison film The Big House , directed by George W. Hill ; Beery was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor . Beery's second film for MGM was also a huge success: Billy the Kid (1930), an early widescreen picture in which he played Pat Garrett . He supported John Gilbert in Way for a Sailor (1930) and Grace Moore in A Lady's Morals (1930), portraying P. T. Barnum in
3212-518: The immunity of the Shetland pony...you can have her fall into mud puddles. They will laugh at that. But the spectacle of a girl dripping with pie is unpleasing...movie fans don't like to see pretty girls smeared up with pastry. Shetland ponies and pretty girls are immune."— Max Sennett, from The Psychology of Film Comedy , November 1918 Film historian Richard Koszarski qualifies "fun factory" influence on comedic film acting: "While Mack Sennett has
3285-421: The latter. Beery was well established as a leading man and top-rank character actor. The picture that really made him one of the cinema's foremost stars was Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler and directed by George W. Hill , a sensational success. Beery made a third film with Hill, The Secret Six (1931), a gangster movie with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in key supporting roles. The picture
3358-601: The national media was in the NBC radio program Biography in Sound , relating memories of working with W.C. Fields. The program was broadcast February 28, 1956. Sennett was never married, but his tumultuous relationship with actress Mabel Normand was widely publicized in the press at the time. According to the Los Angeles Times , Sennett reportedly lived a "madcap, extravagant life", often throwing "lavish parties", and at
3431-504: The new talking-picture technology. Sennett's enthusiasm for talking pictures was such that he was the first to get a talkie short subject on the market, in 1928. His leading star at the time, Ben Turpin , was suddenly unemployed and moved to the Weiss Brothers studio. Sennett made a reasonably smooth transition to sound films , releasing them through Educational. Sennett occasionally experimented with color as well. In 1932, he
3504-429: The new versions were released to theaters between 1939 and 1945. Many of Sennett's First National films physically deteriorated due to inadequate storage. Hence, many of Sennett's films from his most productive and creative period no longer exist. In the mid-1920s, Sennett moved to Pathé Exchange distribution. In 1927, Hollywood's two most successful studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures , took note of
3577-473: The opening title card. Next Beery was in another all-star ensemble blockbuster, Dinner at Eight (1933), with Jean Harlow holding her own as Beery's comically bickering wife. This time, Beery was billed third, under Marie Dressler and John Barrymore . Beery was lent to the new 20th Century Pictures for the boisterously fast-paced comedy/drama The Bowery (1933), also starring George Raft , Jackie Cooper, and Fay Wray , and featuring Pert Kelton , under
3650-603: The peak of his career he owned three homes. On March 25, 1932, he became a United States citizen. Sennett died on November 5, 1960, in Woodland Hills, California , aged 80. He was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California . For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Sennett was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard . He
3723-484: The personal traits of the comedians; the various social types, often grotesquely portrayed by members of Sennett's troupe, were adequate to render the largely "interchangeable routines: "Having a funny moustache, or crossed-eyes, or an extra two-hundred pounds was as much individualization as was required." "It is an axiom of screen comedy that a Shetland pony must never be put in an undignified position. People don't like it...immunity of pretty girls doesn't go as far as
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#17327902426903796-405: The press he had taken the girl in from a single mother, recently divorced, but he had filed no official adoption papers. Beery was considered misanthropic and difficult to work with by many of his colleagues. Robert Young described Beery as a "shitty person". On set, he often never bothered to learn his lines and instead chose to take from other actors' characters and then resent it when his theft
3869-516: The profits being made by smaller companies such as Pathé Exchange and Earle Hammons 's Educational Pictures . MGM took over the Hal Roach comedy shorts from Pathé, and Paramount reactivated its short subjects. Hundreds of other independent exhibitors and moviehouses switched from Pathé to the new MGM or Paramount shorts, but Sennett remained loyal to Pathé and fulfilled his contract to deliver silent comedies through 1929. In 1928 Sennett canceled all of his talent contracts and retooled his studio for
3942-422: The same year to Richmond, Quebec where Sinnott was hired as a laborer. By 1883, when Sennett's brother George was born, Sinnott was working as an innkeeper, a position he held for many years. Sennett's parents had all their children and raised their family in Richmond, then a small Eastern Townships village. At that time, Sennett's grandparents were living in Danville, Quebec. Sennett moved to Connecticut when he
4015-557: The sound era. Beery received top billing for the hit A Date with Judy (1949), a popular musical featuring Elizabeth Taylor . Beery's last film, again featuring Main, Big Jack (1949), also lost money according to Mannix's reckoning. Beery died of a heart attack three days after the picture's release. On March 27, 1916, at the age of 30, Beery married 17-year-old actress Gloria Swanson in Los Angeles. The two had co-starred in Sweedie Goes to College . Although Beery had enjoyed popularity with his Sweedie shorts, his career had taken
4088-455: The stage name Mack Sennett and became an actor, singer, dancer, clown , set designer , and director for the Biograph Company . A distinction in his acting career, often overlooked, is that he played Sherlock Holmes 11 times, albeit as a parody , between 1911 and 1913. With financial backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman of the New York Motion Picture Company , Sennett founded Keystone Studios in Edendale, California – now
4161-425: The successful campaign for his very first feature-length comedy Tillie's Punctured Romance , which in 1914 was the longest comedy film ever produced, Sennett planned Hypnotized along similar lines as an epic production that would be shown first-run in select roadshow engagements. Sennett announced that Hypnotized would run 15 reels, or two-and-a-half hours, more than twice the length of a typical comedy feature of
4234-439: The technique was not used again during the silent era for another full-length feature. Beery then played in Stairs of Sand (1929), a Western also starring Jean Arthur , before being fired by Paramount. Irving Thalberg signed Beery to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as a character actor. The association began well when Beery played the savage convict Butch, a role originally intended for Lon Chaney (who died that same year), in
4307-478: The very few times he would not be top billed for the rest of his career. In 1932, his contract with MGM stipulated that he be paid a dollar more than any other contract player at the studio, making him the world's highest-paid actor. Beery was a German wrestler in Flesh (1932), a hit directed by John Ford , but Ford removed his directorial credit before the film opened, so the picture screened with no director listed despite being labeled "A John Ford Production" in
4380-404: Was "Wallace and Noah Beery – The Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen." Beery played his third royal, the Duc de Tours , in Ashes of Vengeance (1923) with Norma Talmadge , then did Drifting (1923) with Priscilla Dean for director Browning. Beery had the title role in Bavu (1923), about Bolsheviks and the Russian Revolution . He co-starred with Buster Keaton in
4453-433: Was 17 years old. He lived for a while in Northampton, Massachusetts , where, according to his autobiography, he first got the idea to become an opera singer after seeing a vaudeville show. He said that the most respected lawyer in town, Northampton mayor (and future President of the United States) Calvin Coolidge , as well as Sennett's mother, tried to talk him out of his musical ambitions. In New York City, he took on
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#17327902426904526-441: Was Beery's costar in Beggars of Life (1928), directed by William Wellman , which was Paramount's first part-talkie movie. He made a fourth comedy with Hatton, Wife Savers (1929), then Beery starred in Chinatown Nights (1929) for Wellman, produced by a young David O. Selznick . This film was shot silent with the voices dubbed in by the actors afterward, which worked spectacularly well with Beery's resonant voice, although
4599-521: Was Mabel Normand, who became a major star under his direction and with whom he embarked on a tumultuous romantic relationship. Sennett also developed the Kid Comedies , a forerunner of the Our Gang films, and in a short time, his name became synonymous with screen comedy which were called "flickers" at the time. In 1915, Keystone Studios became an autonomous production unit of the ambitious Triangle Film Corporation , as Sennett joined forces with D. W. Griffith and Thomas Ince , both powerful figures in
4672-438: Was a kindly sergeant in West Point of the Air (1935) and was in an all-star spectacular, China Seas (1935), this time billed beneath Clark Gable. O'Shaughnessy's Boy (1935) reunited Beery and Jackie Cooper. He had the lead as the drunken uncle in MGM's adaptation of Ah, Wilderness! (1936) and went back to 20th Century – now 20th Century Fox – for A Message to Garcia (1936) with Barbara Stanwyck . At MGM, he
4745-416: Was also having differences with his distributor, Earle Hammons of Educational. Jack White , Educational's leading producer, explained, "We put Mack Sennett out of business. Theaters had [our] comedies booked solid. Sennett was very temperamental and wanted the exhibitor to do certain things, but they wouldn't stand for it. Sennett wouldn't stand for Hammons not telling him how much [money] he was cutting out of
4818-577: Was always causing him ... Mayer sighed and said, 'Yes, Howard, Beery's a son of a bitch. But he's our son of a bitch.' Strickling got the point. A family has to be tolerant of its black sheep, particularly if they brought a lot of money into the family fold, which Beery certainly did." Child actors, in particular, recalled unpleasant encounters with Beery. Jackie Cooper, who made several films with him early in his career, called him "a big disappointment." Cooper accused Beery of upstaging and other attempts to undermine his performances out of what Cooper presumed
4891-471: Was in Old Hutch (1936) and The Good Old Soak (1937), then he was back at Fox for Slave Ship (1937), taking second billing under Warner Baxter , a rarity for Beery after Min and Bill catapulted his career into the stratosphere in 1931, during which he received top billing in all but six films ( Min and Bill , Grand Hotel , Tugboat Annie , Dinner at Eight , China Seas with Gable and Harlow, and Slave Ship ). The status of Beery's films went into
4964-400: Was jealousy. He recalled impulsively throwing his arms around Beery after one especially heartfelt scene, only to be gruffly pushed away. Child actress Margaret O'Brien claimed that she had to be protected by crew members from Beery's insistence on constantly pinching her. Min and Bill Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
5037-475: Was likely a comedy short, His Athletic Wife (1913). Beery was then cast as Sweedie , a Swedish maid character he played in drag in a series of short comedy films from 1914 to 1916. Sweedie Learns to Swim (1914) co-starred Ben Turpin . Sweedie Goes to College (1915) starred Gloria Swanson , whom Beery married the following year. Other Beery films (mostly shorts) from this period included In and Out (1914), The Ups and Downs (1914), Cheering
5110-558: Was nominated for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film in the comedy division for producing The Loud Mouth (with Matt McHugh , in the sports-heckler role later taken in Columbia Pictures remakes by Charley Chase and Shemp Howard ). Sennett also won an Academy Award in the novelty division for his film Wrestling Swordfish , also in 1932. Mack Sennett often clung to outmoded techniques, making his early-1930s films seem dated and quaint: he dressed some of his actors in eccentric makeups and loud costumes, which were amusing in
5183-485: Was pointed out. When prompting for another actor's close-up, Beery would read the wrong lines, making it harder for his co-stars to meet their marks. Beery was "loathed by everybody, and happily oblivious." Mickey Rooney was one of Beery's few co-stars to consistently speak highly of him in subsequent decades. In his memoir, Rooney described Beery as "... a lovable, shambling kind of guy who never seemed to know that his shirttail belonged inside his pants, but always knew when
5256-552: Was popular, but was surpassed at the box office by The Champ , which Beery made with Jackie Cooper for director King Vidor . The film, especially written for Beery, was another box-office sensation. Beery shared the Best Actor Oscar with Fredric March . Though March received one vote more than Beery, Academy rules at the time—since rescinded—defined results within one vote of each other as "ties." (An alternate account has MGM head Louis B. Mayer storming backstage at
5329-528: Was present. Broccoli admitted that he was indeed involved in a fistfight with Healy at the Trocadero. The official autopsy names Healy's cause of death as acute toxic nephritis secondary to acute and chronic alcoholism . Around December 1939, Beery, recently divorced, adopted a seven-month-old girl, Phyllis Ann Beery. Phyllis appeared in MGM publicity photos when adopted, but was never mentioned again. Beery told
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