Noah Beery
Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.
Early life
Noah Nicholas Beery was born on a farm in Clay County, Missouri, not far from Smithville. The Beery family left the farm in the 1890s and moved to nearby Kansas City, Missouri, where the father was employed as a police officer. While still a young boy Beery got his first exposure to theatre, and at the same time showed budding entrepreneurship by selling lemon drops at the Gillis Theater in Kansas City.
Beery's deep, rich voice in his early teens led several actors at the Gillis Theater to encourage him to take singing lessons and consider a career as a performer. A summer of singing at Kansas City's Electric Park amusement park led to his leaving for New York City at age 16. Beery was three years older than his brother Wallace, who also became an actor as quickly as he could.
Career
Beery worked in vaudeville and in the choruses of musical comedies during his early years in New York. Soon, though, he turned to acting in melodramas of the period, often under the direction of William A. Brady.
After a dozen years on the stage, he joined his brother Wallace in Hollywood in 1915 to make motion pictures. He became a respected character actor, adept at playing the villain but sometimes portraying the hero. One of his most memorable characterizations was as Sergeant Gonzales in The Mark of Zorro opposite Douglas Fairbanks. The tagline on the poster for Stormswept proclaimed "Wallace and Noah Beery, the Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen".
Beery acted through the silent film era, and made the transition to sound films. He appeared in early Technicolor musicals, such as The Show of Shows, the widescreen musical Song of the Flame, Bright Lights, Under a Texas Moon and Golden Dawn.
He reached his peak in popularity in 1930, recording a phonograph record for Brunswick Records with songs from two of his films. However, his popularity gradually declined while his brother Wallace became the highest-paid actor in the world, winning an Oscar and arranging a contract with MGM in which he would be paid $1 more than any other actor on their roster. Noah Beery Sr. played the flamboyant supporting role of Mae West's bar-owning lover until she leaves him for Cary Grant in She Done Him Wrong, and his brother Wallace performed in an extremely similar part, as the top-billed lead, later the same year in Raoul Walsh's The Bowery.
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. Among other films, Noah Beery Sr. and Noah Beery Jr. appeared together in The Trail Beyond with John Wayne, in which Noah Jr. played Wayne's sidekick throughout the picture. Four decades later, Noah Jr. became best known as James Garner's character's father "Rocky" in the 1970s television series The Rockford Files. Noah Beery Sr. appeared in nearly 200 films during his career and in 1945 returned to New York City to star in the Mike Todd Broadway production of Up in Central Park.
Personal life
Beery married actress Marguerite Walker Lindsey in 1910. Their first child died in infancy. Their second child, actor Noah Lindsey Beery (stage name Noah Beery Jr.), was born in 1913 and was seriously ill in early childhood, prompting a brief move to Florida on the advice of doctors.
Death
Beery died on April 1, 1946, aged 64, after suffering a heart attack at the home of his brother Wallace Beery in Beverly Hills. It was Wallace's birthday, and in addition to celebrating the event, the brothers were rehearsing a radio drama they were scheduled to perform later in the evening.
He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.
Selected filmography
The Influence of a Child as Jim Cooper - a CrookThe Social Highwayman as Hugh JaffrayThe Human Orchid The Spirit of '76 as George WashingtonA Mormon Maid as Darius BurrSacrifice as Count WenzelThe Chosen Prince, or The Friendship of David and Jonathan as SaulThe Hostage as BoyadiThe Clever Mrs. Carfax as Adrian GrawMolly Entangled as Shawn, the SmithyHis Robe of Honor as 'Boss' NordhoffThe Hidden Pearls as TearikiThe Whispering Chorus as LongshoremanThe White Man's Law as Dr. RobinsonOld Wives for New as Doctor Social Ambition as Big Dan JohnsonBelieve Me, Xantippe as Sheriff KammanLess Than Kin as Senor CortezThe Source as John NordThe Goat as Cowboy Too Many Millions as R.A. BassThe Squaw Man as TabywanaUnder the Top as Prof. De ComoJohnny Get Your Gun as Town MarshalThe Red Lantern as Dr. Sam WangThe Woman Next Door as Randolph SchuylerA Very Good Young Man as BloodLouisiana as Lem RogersThe Valley of the Giants as Black MinorcaIn Mizzoura as Jo VernonEverywoman as BluffThe Sagebrusher as Sim GageThe Fighting Shepherdess as Mormon JoeThe Sea Wolf as 'Wolf' Larsen, the Sea WolfGo and Get It as Dr. OrdLove Madness as Jack FrostThe Scoffer as BoormanThe Mutiny of the Elsinore as Andreas MellzireDinty as Wong TaiThe Mark of Zorro as Sergeant Pedro GonzalesWhy Tell? Bob Hampton of Placer as Red SlavinBeach of Dreams as Jack RaftBits of Life as HindooThe Call of the North as Galen AlbretLotus Blossom as Tartar ChiefTillie as Jacob GetzWild Honey as Henry PorthenBelle of Alaska as Wade HarkinThe Lying Truth as Lawrence De MuiddeThe Heart Specialist as Dr. Thomas FitchThe Crossroads of New York as James FlintI Am the Law as Sgt. Georges MordeauxFlesh and Blood as Li Fang The Power of Love as Don AlmedaYouth to Youth as Brutus TawneyGood Men and True as S.S. ThorpeEbb Tide as Richard AttwaterOmar the Tentmaker as The shah of shahsDangerous Trails as Insp. CriswellThe Spider and the Rose as Maître RenaudStormswept as Shark MoranQuicksands as 'Silent' KrupzMain Street as Adolph ValborgSoul of the Beast as Caesar DurandWandering Daughters as Charle HortonThe Spoilers as Alex McNamaraTipped Off as Chang WoHollywood as himselfThe Destroying Angel as Curtis DrummondTo the Last Man as ColterHis Last Race as Packy SloaneWhen Law Comes to Hades Desire as Hop LeeStephen Steps Out as Muley PashaThe Call of the Canyon as Haze RuffThe Heritage of the Desert as HoldernessThe Fighting Coward as Capt. BlackieWanderer of the Wasteland as DismukesWelcome Stranger as Icabod WhitsonLily of the Dust as Col. MertzbachThe Female as Barend de BeerNorth of 36 as Slim RudabaughThe Spaniard as GómezEast of Suez as British ConsulFolly of Youth as Lee HaynesContraband as Deputy JenneyThe Thundering Herd as Randall JettOld Shoes as The StepfatherThe Light of Western Stars as BrandWild Horse Mesa as Bud McPhersonThe Coming of Amos as Ramón GarciaThe Vanishing American as BookerLord Jim as Captain BrownThe Enchanted Hill as Jake DortThe Crown of Lies as Count MirkoPadlocked as Henry GilbertBeau Geste as Sgt. LejauneParadise as QuexEvening Clothes as LazarreThe Rough Riders as Hell's BellsThe Love Mart as Capt. RemyThe Dove as Don José María y SandovalBeau Sabreur as Sheikh El HammelTwo Lovers as The Duke of AzarHellship Bronson as Capt. Ira BronsonThe Godless Girl as The BruteThe Passion Song as John Van RynNoah's Ark as Nickoloff / King NephiliuDreary House Love in the Desert as AbdullahLinda as Armstrong DeckerFalse Fathers as ParsonCareers as The PresidentThe Four Feathers as Slave TraderThe Isle of Lost Ships as Captain Peter ForbesTwo O'Clock in the Morning The Show of Shows as Performer in "The Pirate" Number / Soldier Glorifying the American Girl as himself Isle of Escape as ShaneUnder a Texas Moon as Jed ParkerMurder Will Out as Lt. ConconShow Girl in Hollywood as himself at Premiere Song of the Flame as KonstantinGolden Dawn as Shep KeyesOh, Sailor Behave! as Romanian GeneralThe Way of All Men as StrattonBig Boy as BagbyBright Lights as Miguel ParadaThe Love Trader as Captain MortonRenegades as Thurman MachwurthA Soldier's Plaything as Capt. PloverTol'able David as LukeThe Millionaire as PetersonHoneymoon Lane as Tom BaggottThe Homicide Squad as Captain BuckleyShanghaied Love as Captain 'Black Yankee' angus SwopeRiders of the Purple Sage as Judge DyerIn Line of Duty as Jean DucheneThe Drifter as John McNaryThe Stoker as SantiniStranger in Town as J.B. HillikerCornered as Laughing Red SlavensNo Living Witness as Clyde CorbinOut of Singapore as 1st Mate Woolf BarstowThe Big Stampede as Sam CrewThe Devil Horse as CanfieldThe Kid from Spain as Alonzo GomezLong Loop Laramie She Done Him Wrong as Gus JordanThe Thundering Herd as Randall JettThe Flaming Signal as Otto Von KrantzSunset Pass as Marshal BlakeThe Woman I Stole as Gen. RayonEasy Millions with Richard "Skeets" GallagherFighting with Kit Carson as Cyrus KraftLaughing at Life as HausemanMan of the Forest as Clint BeasleyTo the Last Man as Jed ColbyCaravan as InnkeeperMadame Spy as General PhilipowDavid Harum as General WoolseyMystery Liner as Capt. John HollingCockeyed Cavaliers as Baron MoxfordHappy Landing as Capt. TerrisThe Trail Beyond as George NewsonKentucky Kernels as Colonel WakefieldSweet Adeline as Sultan in the Show King of the Damned as MoocheThe Crimson Circle as Felix MarlThe Avenging Hand as Lee BarwellSomeone at the Door as Harry CapelThe Prisoner of Corbal as The SergeantStrangers on a Honeymoon as RedbeardI Live Again as Morton MeredithThe Frog as Joshua BroadOur Fighting Navy as The Presidente of BiancoZorro Rides Again as J. A. MarsdenThe Bad Man of Brimstone as Ambrose CrockerThe Girl of the Golden West as The GeneralPanamint's Bad Man as King GormanMexicali Rose as Pedro ValdezMutiny on the Blackhawk as Captain of the 'Blackhawk'Pioneers of the West as Judge PlattGrandpa Goes to Town as SamAdventures of Red Ryder as Ace HanlonThe Tulsa Kid as Montana SmithA Little Bit of Heaven as Uncle ShermA Missouri Outlaw as Sheriff Ben DixonThe Devil's Trail as Bull McQuadeIsle of Missing Men as Capt. Sanchez Overland Mail as Frank ChadwickOutlaws of Pine Ridge as Honest John HollisterPardon My Gun as Judge W. B. Hackett Tennessee Johnson as Sheriff CassCarson City Cyclone as Judge PhalenClancy Street Boys as Pete MonahanSalute to the Marines as AdjutantMr. Muggs Steps Out as JudgeMillion Dollar Kid as Captain MathewsBlock Busters as JudgeBarbary Coast Gent as Pete HanibalGentle Annie as HansenThis Man's Navy as Joe HodumSing Me a Song of Texas as Charley Bronson