Buzz
What do Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Toy Story, Titanic, Anchorman, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and over 350 other films and TV series have in common? The answer: the iconic Wilhelm Scream.
The Wilhelm Scream has become a cherished gem for movie enthusiasts—a seemingly insignificant sound bite with humble origins, which was elevated into a beloved easter egg for film buffs after its resurgence in the 1970s.
So, what exactly is it? You’ve probably heard it at some point without realizing it. The Wilhelm Scream is a stock sound effect that has appeared in both major blockbuster films and the most obscure indie movies and TV shows for over seven decades, typically marking moments when a character is shot or falls from a great height.
The unmistakable cry, first introduced in the 1951 Gary Cooper western Distant Drums, was featured during a scene where soldiers march through a swamp. One soldier lets out a dramatic scream as an alligator pulls him underwater.
Like many iconic movie sound effects, the Wilhelm Scream wasn’t recorded during the production of a film but was instead captured later in a sound booth. The only direction given to the actor was to make it sound like 'a man getting bitten by an alligator and screaming.' Six screams were recorded in one take, and the fifth scream became the now-famous Wilhelm, with the others used in various parts of the movie.
After its debut in 1951, the Wilhelm Scream became a staple of the Warner Bros. sound library, appearing regularly in the studio's films. In the early 1970s, a group of budding sound designers from USC’s film school—including Ben Burtt, who would later win an Academy Award for sound design—noticed the recurring scream in several films. They dubbed it the 'Wilhelm Scream' after a character in the 1963 western The Charge at Feather River, where Private Wilhelm lets out a similar scream after being shot in the leg by an arrow.
As a playful joke, the students began incorporating the sound effect into the student films they were working on. After graduation, Burtt was approached by fellow USC alum George Lucas to work on the sound design for a film called Star Wars. In a nod to his friends, Burtt included the original scream from Warner Bros.'s library in the film, most notably when a Stormtrooper is shot by Luke Skywalker and falls into a chasm on the Death Star. Burtt continued using the Wilhelm Scream in every Star Wars and Indiana Jones film, which caught the attention of fans and filmmakers alike.
Directors such as Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino, along with many other sound designers, sought out the Wilhelm Scream, adding it to their own films as a playful homage to Burtt. It became a secret joke among filmmakers, and soon the scream appeared in countless movies, making it an unofficial symbol of honor. The name 'Wilhelm Scream' transcended just being a sound effect, even becoming the name of a band, a beer, a song title, and much more.
But who is the voice behind the famous scream? Burtt spent a significant amount of time researching, as the identity of the screamer had been a mystery for decades. His search led him to a Warner Bros. call sheet from Distant Drums, which listed actors scheduled to record additional dialogue. One of those names, and the most likely candidate for the Wilhelm screamer, was actor and musician Sheb Wooley, known for appearances in classics like High Noon, Giant, and the TV show Rawhide. Wooley was also the musician behind the popular 1958 novelty song “Purple People Eater.”
In early 2023, it was reported that the original recording of the dialogue session that led to the creation of the legendary Wilhelm Scream was discovered among a collection of sound effects donated to the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The collection had been provided by Sunset Editorial, a sound effects company active between 1964 and 1987, which accumulated nearly 600 credits during its run. The full recording session is available for listening above.
