In 1951 a movie starring Gary Cooper was released called 'Distant Drums'. In it a man screamed whilst being eaten by an alligator.
During production of the 1977 movie 'Star Wars', sound designer Ben Burtt was searching archives for sound effects and came across the original recording of the screams from Distant Drums. Two of these screams, the 3rd and 4th screams from the recording session, were used by Burtt in Star Wars, the most famous of which is when a storm trooper falls from a ledge (see my earlier post about Star Wars to hear it).
Burtt continued to use the scream in many of his movies, and as other sound designers realised the scream was being recycled, a new trend began. It was something of an in-joke amongst Hollywood sound engineers, an average moveigoer wouldn't notice the same scream being used in most of the movies they watched, but the sound designers would.
The scream was named 'The Wilhelm Scream' after the character Wilhelm who uses the scream in the 1953 movie 'The Charge at Feather River'.
Sheb Wooley, a singer and actor, is thought to be the most likely person to have supplied the original scream. No definitive evidence has been found, but Ben Burtt's research into the subject certainly points to Wooley as the prime candidate.
With the Wilhelm Scream being more well-known by the general public than before, the scream is being used more and more and is now arguably easier to identify. If you spot the scream, please email me at wilhelmenthusiast AT gmail DOT com
During production of the 1977 movie 'Star Wars', sound designer Ben Burtt was searching archives for sound effects and came across the original recording of the screams from Distant Drums. Two of these screams, the 3rd and 4th screams from the recording session, were used by Burtt in Star Wars, the most famous of which is when a storm trooper falls from a ledge (see my earlier post about Star Wars to hear it).
Burtt continued to use the scream in many of his movies, and as other sound designers realised the scream was being recycled, a new trend began. It was something of an in-joke amongst Hollywood sound engineers, an average moveigoer wouldn't notice the same scream being used in most of the movies they watched, but the sound designers would.
The scream was named 'The Wilhelm Scream' after the character Wilhelm who uses the scream in the 1953 movie 'The Charge at Feather River'.
Sheb Wooley, a singer and actor, is thought to be the most likely person to have supplied the original scream. No definitive evidence has been found, but Ben Burtt's research into the subject certainly points to Wooley as the prime candidate.
With the Wilhelm Scream being more well-known by the general public than before, the scream is being used more and more and is now arguably easier to identify. If you spot the scream, please email me at wilhelmenthusiast AT gmail DOT com
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