Noah Beery
Noah Beery was born January 17, 1882, in Clay County,
MO, later moving to Kansas City. Because of his deep voice, several
of the performers at the Gillis Theatre in Kansas City where he
sold lemon drops suggested he try a singing career, and he spent
a summer singing at Kansas City's Electric Park. At 16, he headed
for New York. His initial work was mainly vaudeville, but he soon
was acting in melodramas. After about 12 years on the stage, he
went to Hollywood where his brother, Wallace, was already in pictures.
He soon became much in demand as a character actor and, during
the 1920's, appeared in many pictures as a villain, portraying
particularly despicable characters in such films as "The
Vanishing American" (1926) and "The Godless Girl"
(1929). His first big role was in Douglas Fairbanks' "The
Mark of Zorro" (1920" where as Sergeant Gonzales, he
was charged with capturing Zorro, but was more of a genial, bumbling
character who, in the end, sided with Zorro. Between 1916 and
1929, Beery appeared in over 100 silent films. His bass singing
voice was put to good use in some early sound musicals, and eventually
appearing in over 80 sounds films between 1929 and 1945. He was
married once, to actress Marguerite Walker Lindsay in 1920. Their
first child died in infancy, but their second child, Noah Beery,
Jr., went on to a successful acting career himself, most likely
best remembered today for his role as James Garner's father in
the TV show "The Rockford Files" in the 1970's. Noah
Beery, Sr., died of a heart attack April 1, 1946, at his brother,
Wallace's, home where they were celebrating Wallace's birthday
and rehearsing for a radio program the two were to appear in that
evening.
Selected films of this star available for viewing:
The
Mark of Zorro (1920)
Soul of
the Beast (1923)
Wild Horse Mesa (1925)
The Vanishing
American (1925)
Noah's
Ark (1929)
The
Godless Girl (1929)
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