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 titular 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.
James Oliver Curwood was an American action-adventure writer and conservationist. His books were often based on adventures set in the Hudson Bay area, the Yukon or Alaska and ranked among the top-ten best sellers in the United States in the early and mid 1920s, according to Publishers Weekly. At least one hundred and eighty motion pictures have been based on or directly inspired by his novels and short stories; one was produced in three versions from 1919 to 1953. At the time of his death, Curwood was the highest paid author in the world.
Richard Thorpe was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominent character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.
The Secret Six is a 1931 American pre-Code crime film starring Wallace Beery as "Slaughterhouse Scorpio", a character very loosely based on Al Capone, and featuring Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Marjorie Rambeau and Ralph Bellamy. The film was written by Frances Marion and directed by George W. Hill for MGM.
Billy the Kid is a 1930 American pre-Code Western film directed in widescreen by King Vidor about the relationship between frontier outlaw Billy the Kid and lawman Pat Garrett. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.
The Mollycoddle is a 1920 American film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery, and directed by Victor Fleming. Beery plays an ice-cold villain brawling with Fairbanks' character all the way down the side of a steep mountain in one sequence. A copy of the film is in the Museum of Modern Art and in other film collections.
Slave Ship is a 1937 film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Warner Baxter and Wallace Beery. The supporting cast features Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Jane Darwell, and Joseph Schildkraut. It is one of very few films out of the forty-eight that Beery made during the sound era for which he did not receive top billing.
Richard the Lion-Hearted is a 1923 American silent historical adventure film directed by Chester Withey and starring Wallace Beery, Charles K. Gerrard and Kathleen Clifford. It is the sequel to Robin Hood, with Beery returning as Richard the Lion-Hearted. The film was written by Frank E. Woods and based on the 1825 Sir Walter Scott novel The Talisman.
DeWitt Clarke Jennings was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in 17 Broadway plays between 1906 and 1920, and in more than 150 films between 1915 and 1937.
Flesh and Blood is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Irving Cummings and starring Lon Chaney, Noah Beery, Edith Roberts and De Witt Jennings. The film originally had a color flashback scene with Chinese actors, but the color footage is no longer in any of the available prints. The film's working titles were Prison and Fires of Vengeance. Interior scenes were shot at Universal Studios.
Willet Melbourne MacDowell was an American stage and screen actor. He began on the legitimate stage in the 1870s and first appeared on the silent screen in 1917. He used the stage name Virginia Drew Prescott.
Behind the Front is a 1926 American silent comedy war film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was based on the novel The Spoils of War by Hugh Wiley.
Soldiers of Fortune is a lost 1919 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Wallace Beery. The film is based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Richard Harding Davis. The film was produced by the Mayflower Photoplay Company Richard Harding Davis's novel that inspired the film had already been brought to the screen in 1914 by William F. Haddock; Soldiers of Fortune had her starring Dustin Farnum. The subject of both the 1914 and 1919 films are based on the Spanish–American War. The 1919 film was shot in San Diego Fairgrounds at Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Distributed by Realart Pictures, the film was released in American theaters on November 22, 1919.
The Shield of Honor is a 1927 American silent crime drama film directed by Emory Johnson based on the original story by Emilie Johnson. It starred Neil Hamilton, Dorothy Gulliver, and Ralph Lewis. This film explores a new branch of law enforcement - the Sky Cops. We follow the story of Jack MacDowell, the department's first pilot. During his new duties, Jack acquires a love interest and enlists the help of his retired father. They all work together, attempting to solve a series of diamond heists. Jack and his father deal with burning buildings, exchanging gunfire with jewel thieves, and a spectacular aerial battle. They finally arrest the perpetrators. Following its New York City premiere on December 10, 1927, the film was released on February 18, 1928, by Universal Pictures.
Roi Cooper Megrue was an American playwright, producer, and director active on Broadway from 1914 to 1921.
Ruth Renick was an American actress on stage and in films. She made her debut in film in 1919, in a silent film. Her career spanned the shift to "talkies", and Renick had her last role in a Western film in 1932. She had started acting in theatre in high school in Phoenix, Arizona. Later she moved to California where she had more stage roles, and ultimately expanded her career in film.
The Rosary is a 1922 American drama film directed by Jerome Storm and written by Bernard McConville. It is based on the 1910 play The Rosary by Edward Everett Rose. The film stars Lewis Stone, Jane Novak, Wallace Beery, Robert Gordon, Eugenie Besserer and Dore Davidson. The film was released on January 16, 1922, by Associated First National Pictures.
Desire is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Marguerite De La Motte, John Bowers, and Estelle Taylor. The film's sets were designed by art director John Hughes.
