The Wilhelm Scream is an infamous sound effect of a man screaming as he dies. It has been heard in more than 120 movies and TV shows over the past 55 years, according to a website dedicated solely to Wilhelm's last call (link below). Mysteriously, no one knows for sure who the actor is behind the disembodied howl.

Sheb Wooley's is the most likely voice. In addition to playing a bad guy in the later masterpiece High Noon, he had a bit role in the film that features the very first instance of the Wilhelm Scream: 1951's Distant Drums, starring Gary Cooper and directed by Raoul Walsh. In the course of the film a man is eaten by an alligator. His scream, and a few variants also used in the film, have been named "The Wilhelm Scream."

Wooley, who did vocal work on other films, also later became famous for recording the number one hit "Purple People Eater," recorded a half dozen years after Distant Drums. Wooley died a few years ago, although it is doubtful he screamed at that moment.

The scream was used in a dozen other films through the '50s and then usage tapered off for a while until the late '70s, when Ben Burtt, the award winning sound effects supervisor of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies among many others, revived the scream and gave it its imperial name (however not after the Prussian emperor, but after a character who dies screaming in an old movie that came out a few years after Distant Drums).

The past two decades have seen an explosion of the scream as it has become an industry inside joke and a trivial pursuit for film geeks with too much time on their hands. Yet, can any more be said about this goofy sound-bite? Is Wilhelm a mere morsel of minutia? a filmic footnote?

To me, what is fascinating about the Wilhelm Scream is that first, it has become a laugh in the face of death, at least in the way it's used now. It's not surprising to know that Quentin Tarantino and his friend Robert Rodriguez are two of the biggest users of the Wilhelm Scream; two directors famous for their gallows humor.

Secondly, it's interesting to realize that the one man's death has been reused for scores of different characters in a wide variety of situations. This recycling of materials for art is not only characteristic of the two directors mentioned above, but also of much current art and culture. And each time the scream is heard, Sheb Wooley, in a very small, but real, way, is resurrected.

Lastly, unless "Purple People Eater" has a major comeback in pop music, or the masses voluntarily start liking black and white movies, Sheb Wooley is mostly going to be immortalized by the continual reuse of his inimitable vocal squawk (if it was him, and who really cares even if it wasn't?). Ironically, Wooley never intended the scream to be his claim to cultural immortality, yet isn't it often in those moments of seemingly trivial pursuit that something magical happens?

Listen to the Wilhelm Scream and view chronological list of movies featuring the scream.

Read more by Eric David at Eric David Online.