The Champ is a 1931 American pre-Code film starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper and directed by King Vidor from a screenplay by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock. The picture tells the story of a washed-up alcoholic boxer (Beery) attempting to put his life back together for the sake of his young son (Cooper).
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery 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 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 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.
Min and Bill is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-drama film, directed by George W. Hill and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson from Lorna Moon's 1929 novel Dark Star, the film tells the story of dockside innkeeper Min's tribulations as she tries to protect the innocence of her adopted daughter, Nancy, while loving and fighting with boozy fisherman Bill, who resides at the inn. The picture was a runaway hit. In 1931, the studio released a Spanish-language version of Min and Bill, La fruta amarga, directed by Arthur Gregor and starring Virginia Fábregas and Juan de Landa.
Richard Thorpe was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Hell Divers is a 1932 American pre-Code black-and-white film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers in early naval aviation. The film, made with the cooperation of the United States Navy, features considerable footage of flight operations aboard the Navy's second aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga, including dramatic shots of takeoffs and landings filmed from the Curtiss F8C-4 Helldiver dive bombers after which the movie was named.
Noah Lindsey Beery was an American actor often specializing in warm, friendly character roles similar to many portrayed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Wallace Beery. Unlike his more famous uncle, however, Beery Jr. seldom broke away from playing supporting roles. Active as an actor in films or television for well over half a century, he was best known for playing James Garner's character's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, in the NBC television series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). His father, Noah Nicholas Beery enjoyed a similarly lengthy film career as an extremely prominent supporting actor in major films, although the elder Beery was also frequently a leading man during the silent film era.
Marjorie Burnet Rambeau was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, Her Man (1930). She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Primrose Path (1940) and Torch Song (1953), and received the 1955 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in A Man Called Peter and The View from Pompey's Head.
Raymond William Hatton was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
"The Wife Aquatic" is the tenth episode of the eighteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 7, 2007. 13.9 million viewers watched this episode, making it the highest rated of seasons 17–20.
20 Mule Team is a 1940 American Western film about Death Valley, and Daggett, California borax miners, directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Wallace Beery, Marjorie Rambeau and Anne Baxter. The film provides an extremely rare opportunity to see Beery act opposite his nephew Noah Beery Jr., best known for playing Joseph "Rocky" Rockford on television's The Rockford Files starring James Garner during the 1970s. The film was originally released in Sepiatone, a brown and white process used by the studio the previous year for the Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz.
Barbary Coast Gent is a 1944 American Western comedy film set in 1880s San Francisco's Barbary Coast and Nevada starring Wallace Beery. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and features Binnie Barnes, Beery's brother Noah Beery, Sr., John Carradine, and Chill Wills. It is also known as Gold Town, Honest Plush Brannon and The Honest Thief.
Thunder Afloat is a 1939 World War I naval film starring Wallace Beery and Chester Morris. The movie was directed by George B. Seitz.
Rationing is a 1944 American comedy film about governmental restrictions on the sale of food, fuel, and other consumer items and services in the United States during World War II. Directed by Willis Goldbeck and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the production stars Wallace Beery and features Marjorie Main.
A Date with Judy is a 1948 American comedy musical film starring Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, and Elizabeth Taylor. Directed by Richard Thorpe, the film was based on the radio series of the same name.
Big Jack is a 1949 American Western film starring Wallace Beery, Richard Conte and Marjorie Main. The movie was directed by Richard Thorpe, and the screenplay was written by Gene Fowler and Otto Eis from the novel by Robert Thoeren. The picture is a comedy-drama, set on the American frontier in the early 1800s, about outlaws who befriend a young doctor in legal trouble for acquiring corpses for anatomical research.
Stormswept is a 1923 silent film starring brothers Wallace Beery and Noah Beery. The advertising phrase used for the movie was "Wallace and Noah Beery, The Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen." The film was written by Winifred Dunn from the H. H. Van Loan story, and directed by Robert Thornby. A print of the film survives in London's BFI National Archive.
Happy Land is a 1943 film directed by Irving Pichel and starring Don Ameche. A World War II home front drama, it was based on the 1943 novel of the same name by MacKinlay Kantor.
“The End of Something” is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway, published in the 1925 New York edition of In Our Time, by Boni & Liveright. The story is the third in the collection to feature Nick Adams, Hemingway's autobiographical alter ego.
Piracy on Falcon Lake refers to an increase in crime at the border between the United States and Mexico on Falcon Lake. The lake is a 60-mile (97 km) long reservoir of the Rio Grande that was constructed in 1954 and is a known drug smuggling route.
Behind the Door is a surviving 1919 silent war drama film produced by Thomas Ince, directed by Irvin Willat and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The picture is a starring vehicle for veteran actor Hobart Bosworth and the supporting cast features Jane Novak and Wallace Beery. The film's source is a short story by Gouverneur Morris, also titled "Behind the Door," published in McClure's Magazine in July 1917. The film is extant at the Library of Congress and the Gosfilmofond Russian State Archive. In 2016, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, working with the Library of Congress and Godfilmofond, created a more fully-restored print of the film.
