The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect that has been used in many films and TV series, beginning in 1951 with the film Distant Drums. The scream is usually used when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion. The sound is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 Western in which the character gets shot in the thigh with an arrow. This was its first use following its inclusion in the Warner Bros. stock sound library, although The Charge at Feather River was the third film to use the effect. The scream is believed to be voiced by actor Sheb Wooley. It was featured in all of the original Star Wars films.
The Wilhelm scream originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 movie Distant Drums.[1][2] In a scene from the film, soldiers fleeing Seminole Indians are wading through a swamp in the Everglades, and one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The screams for that scene, and other scenes in the movie, were recorded later in a single take. The recording was titled "Man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams." The fifth take of the scream was used for the soldier in the alligator scene.[2][3][a] That take, which later became known as the "Wilhelm scream", is thought to have been voiced by actor Sheb Wooley (who also played the uncredited role of Pvt. Jessup in Distant Drums).[4]
Because of the costs of creating sound effects was expensive at that time, the scream was reused in a number of other Warner Bros. films in that era.[5] In addition to The Charge at Feather River (1953),[6] other films using the scream include A Star Is Born (1954),[3] Them! (1954), Land of the Pharaohs (1955), The Sea Chase (1955), Sergeant Rutledge (1960), PT 109 (1963), The Wild Bunch (1969),[7] and The Green Berets (1968).[3]
The Wilhelm scream became iconic in popular culture when motion picture sound designer Ben Burtt, who had come across the original recording on a studio archive sound reel, incorporated it into the scene in Star Wars (1977) in which Luke Skywalker shoots a Stormtrooper off a ledge. The effect is heard as the Stormtrooper is falling.[1][8] Burtt named the scream after Pvt. Wilhelm, a minor character from The Charge in Feather River who appears to emit the scream, and adopted it as his personal sound signature.[3] Burtt also found use for the effect in More American Graffiti (1979); and over the next decades he incorporated it into other films that he worked on, such as Willow (1988),[3] Gremlins, Anchorman, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Lethal Weapon 4, The Fifth Element[5] and several George Lucas and Steven Spielberg films. Notably, the rest of the Star Wars films made under Lucas,[1] as well as all the Indiana Jones movies included the effect.[9][1][b]
Following its use in Star Wars, other sound designers have picked up and used the sound effect in works. Inclusion of the sound in films became a tradition among a certain community of sound designers.[12]
As of mid 2023, the scream had not been made available in any commercial sound effects library.[9] The entire collection of original sources of the sound effects made by Sunset Editorial, which includes the Wilhelm scream, was donated to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1990.[13] In 2023, Craig Smith released a copy of the complete recording from the original session on Freesound on behalf of the USC under the CC0 license, along with the rest of Sunset Editorial sound effects.[13] On May 20, 2023, the entire collection of Sunset Editorial SFX was mirrored in the Internet Archive (also under the CC0 license) for the purpose of enabling a wider distribution, especially thanks to its BitTorrent support.[14]
Research by Burtt suggests that Wooley, best known for his 1958 novelty song "The Purple People Eater" and his character of American Indian scout Pete Nolan on the television series Rawhide, is likely to have been the voice actor who originally performed the scream. This has been supported by an interview in 2005 with Linda Dotson, Wooley's widow.[4] Burtt discovered records at Warner Bros. from the editor of Distant Drums, including a short list of names of actors scheduled to record lines of dialogue for miscellaneous roles in the movie. Wooley was one of a few actors assembled for the recording of additional "pick-up" vocal elements for the film. Dotson confirmed Wooley's scream had been in many Westerns, adding that he "always used to joke about how he was so great about screaming and dying in films."[2][9]
Since the late 20th century, the Wilhelm scream had been used in numerous films. The National Science and Media Museum says the yell has been featured in more than 400 films.[15]
Sound designer Gary Rydstrom included the effect in his 2006 directorial debut, the Pixar short film Lifted,[1][16] as well as Toy Story (1995), Hercules (1997), and Pirates of the Caribbean (2003).[3] The sound effect is heard in Reservoir Dogs (1992),[3] Super Mario Bros. (1993), Ice Age (2002), Avatar (2009), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003),[3] Inglorious Basterds (2009),[17] Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019),[18] Troy (2004), Django Unchained (2012), Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), Flushed Away (2006), Twilight: New Moon (2009),Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Kung Fu Panda (2008), The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), F9 (2021), Venom (2018), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Lightyear (2022), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023),[19][20] and throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Transformers and The Hobbit franchises.[1] The effect has appeared in many animated Disney and Pixar films, such as Toy Story,[1] Cars franchises, and A Goofy Movie (1995).[1] Weddington Productions—that employs such sound directors as Mark Mangini, David Whittaker, Steve Lee and George Simpson—and is owned by Burtt's friend and colleague, Richard Anderson, have used the effect in productions of Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), Broken Arrow (1996), The Fifth Element (1997), The Majestic (2001), Just Visiting (2001), A Man Apart (2003), and Tears of the Sun (2003).[citation needed] Anderson also incorporated the sound effect in to Poltergeist (1982), Batman Returns (1992), Planet of the Apes (2001), Agent Cody Banks (2003), and Madagascar (2005). Director Joe Dante, beginning with his first major film, Hollywood Boulevard (1976), included it in his later films Explorers (1985), Spaceballs (1987), Gremlins 2 (1990), The Second Civil War (1997), Matinée (1993), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).[3]
The Wilhelm scream has made its way into television series, such as The Boys, Chuck (TV series), Maverick, The X-Files, Angel, Family Guy,[3] Naked City, Game of Thrones, Once Upon A Time, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Littlest Pet Shop (2012), Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, The 100, Clarence, Lizzie McGuire, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, SpongeBob SquarePants, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, The Loud House, The Casagrandes, The Fairly OddParents, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Wander Over Yonder, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero, Amphibia, The Simpsons, Futurama, Invader Zim, The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, The Powerpuff Girls (2016), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Star Trek: Enterprise, The Venture Bros., American Dad!,[3] Glitch Techs, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Monster High, Transformers: EarthSpark, Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Omniverse, Hailey's On It!, Stand Up and Away with Brian Regan, One Piece (2023), LazyTown, What We Do in the Shadows, The Righteous Gemstones, Psych and every episode in the first season of Killer Karaoke.[citation needed]
Video games have made use of the scream, as it is heard in video games such as Red Dead Redemption (during gunfights),[21] The First Templar, Rayman Origins, LittleBigPlanet, Riders Republic, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V, The Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2 (during a cutscene of the DLC Zaeed - The Price of Revenge), Midnight Club, Mechwarrior 3 (during the intro cinematic), Baldur's Gate 3, Borderlands 3, Bendy And The Dark Revival,[citation needed] Song of Nunu, and Star Wars Battlefront II.[12] The scream can be found in commercials for Dell Computers and the Comcast streaming service.[3] "The Star Trek Adventure" at Universal Studios, "The Batman Adventure" at Warner Brothers Movie World, and "Golden Dreams" (playing at Disney's California Adventure) all use the sound effect.[3]