Noah Beery, Sr.

Noah Beery
Born	Noah Nicholas Beery January 17, 1882(1882-01-17) Kansas City, Missouri‹See Tfd›, U.S.
Died	April 1, 1946 (aged 64) Beverly Hills, California‹See Tfd›, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Spouse(s)	Marguerite Lindsay (1910 – 1946)

Noah Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor, who appeared in films from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Early life

Beery was born Noah Nicholas Beery in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery (1879 –1949) and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors. The Beery brothers were the children of Noah Webster Beery and his wife Frances Margaret Fitzgerald, which made them full brothers (contrary to many sources).^[1]

Career

Noah Beery started in the theatre in 1898, and by 1905 he was appearing on Broadway. After a dozen years on the stage, he joined his brother in Hollywood in 1915 to make motion pictures. He became a respected character actor, adept at playing the villain. One of his most memorable characterizations was as Sergeant Gonzales in The Mark of Zorro (1920) opposite Douglas Fairbanks. The tagline on the poster for 1923's Stormswept proclaimed "Wallace and Noah Beery, The Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen."

Beery acted through the silent film era, and successfully made the transition to "talkies". He appeared in lavish early Technicolor musicals, such as The Show of Shows (1929), Song of the Flame (1930), Bright Lights (1930), Under A Texas Moon (1930) and Golden Dawn (1930), (in which he wore blackface as an African native). He reached his peak in popularity in 1930, even recording a phonograph record for Brunswick Records with songs from two of his films. His popularity gradually declined, however, while his brother Wallace became the highest paid actor in the world, winning an Oscar).

Noah Beery appeared in nearly 200 films. In 1945 he returned to New York City to star in the Mike Todd Broadway production of Up in Central Park.

Beery died in 1946 (on his brother Wallace's birthday) in Beverly Hills of a heart attack. He was buried at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Noah Beery, Jr.

Noah Beery's son, Noah Beery, Jr., also became an extremely successful character actor, with a career spanning several decades. He appeared as "Rocky," the father of James Garner's character in the television series The Rockford Files (1974 – 1980).

At the height of his career, Noah Beery began billing himself as "Noah Beery, Sr." in anticipation of his son's presence in films. After his death, his son dropped the "Junior" and became simply Noah Beery.

Partial filmography of Noah Beery

• The Influence of a Child (1913)
• The Whispering Chorus (1918)
• Old Wives for New (1918)
• The Squaw Man (1918)
• The Mark of Zorro (1920) - Sergeant Pedro Gonzales
• I Am the Law (1922) with Wallace Beery
• Omar the Tentmaker (1922) with Boris Karloff
• Stormswept (1923) with Wallace Beery
• The Spoilers (1923) with Milton Sills and Anna Q. Nilsson
• To The Last Man (1923)
• The Thundering Herd (1925) with Jack Holt, Charles Ogle, and Tim McCoy
• Lord Jim (1925) with Raymond Hatton
• Beau Geste (1926) with Ronald Colman, William Powell, and Victor McLaglen
• The Rough Riders (1927) with George Bancroft and Mary Astor
• The Love Mart (1927) with Boris Karloff
• The Godless Girl (1929)
• The Show of Shows (1929) with John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Myrna Loy, Sally Blane, and Loretta Young
• The Four Feathers (1929)
• The Millionaire (1931)
• Riders of the Purple Sage (1931) with George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill
• The Thundering Herd (1933) with Randolph Scott, Buster Crabbe, and Harry Carey
• She Done Him Wrong (1933) with Mae West and Cary Grant
• The Trail Beyond (1934) with John Wayne and Noah Beery, Jr.
• Zorro Rides Again (1937) with John Carroll and Duncan Renaldo
• The Bad Man of Brimstone (1937) with Wallace Beery
• Adventures of Red Ryder (1940) with Don 'Red' Barry
• Overland Mail (1942) with Lon Chaney, Jr. and Noah Beery, Jr.
• Salute to the Marines (1943, in color) with Wallace Beery
• Barbary Coast Gent (1944) with Wallace Beery and Chill Wills
• This Man's Navy (1945) with Wallace Beery
• Sing Me a Song of Texas (1945) with Tom Tyler

Mystery Liner, by Monogram, 1934, Directed by William Nigh, also starring Astrid Allyn, Edwin Maxwell, Ralph Lewis.

References

External links

• Noah Beery, Sr. at the Internet Movie Database
• Noah Beery, Sr. at Allmovie
• Noah Beery, Sr. at Find a Grave