That’s one way of trying to transcribe the most famous scream in motion picture history:
THE WILHELM SCREAM!
It’s named after a character named Pvt. Wilhelm in the western The Charge At Feather River (1953), who is just filling his pipe when he is shot in the leg by an arrow, prompting him to utter the now-famous scream.
The scream went on to be used in countless Warner Brothers movies and, after it was discovered by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, in countless additional movies as well.
Burtt ran down the source of the scream and found that it was originally used in the 1951 film Distant Drums, where an unnamed character is eaten by an alligator.
After the photography on the film was done a series of voice takes was done under the title "Man being eaten by an alligator," and these became (collectively) known as the Wilhelm Scream.
Who the voice actor was doing the Wilhelm Scream is not known for certain, but Burtt has uncovered evidence that it was Sheb Wooley. best known for recording the song "Purple People Eater."
The scream has been used in innumerable movies, including all of the Star Wars films, all of the Indiana Jones films, and the second and third Lord of the Rings films.
It’s even used in TV shows and video games.
No doubt, you’ve heard it dozens of times, and now you know its name!
LISTEN TO THE WILHELM SCREAM (.wav).
(PARTIAL) LIST OF MOVIES WITH THE WILHELM SCREAM.
NPR RADIO FEATURE ABOUT THE WILHELM SCREAM (.real).
WATCH A MONTAGE OF CLIPS WITH THE WILHELM SCREAM (.mov; 48 mb!).
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WILHELM SCREAM.
BUY MOVIES WITH THE WILHELM SCREAM.
BUY WILHELM SCREAM MEMORABILIA.
How many films have you seen with the Wilhelm Scream?
(Maybe I’ll take the .wav file and use it for one of my Windows sound events. Every time my computer crashes, it could make the Wilhelm Scream.)
