Wallace Fitzgerald Beery

 Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949)

He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his titular role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid actor in the world. However, after a few years the status of Beery's films went into a decline. This was possibly due to a scandal in which Beery was implicated in the death of Ted Healy, which was apparently kept out of the newspapers by the studio's "fixer" Eddie Mannix, who eventually became head of MGM. In Dinner at Eight (1933) he played a businessman trying to get into society while having trouble with his wife, Jean Harlow. After Marie Dressler died in 1934, he would not find another partner in the same vein as his early talkies until he teamed with Marjorie Main in the 1940s. He would appear opposite her in such films as Wyoming (1940) and Barnacle Bill (1941). By that time his career was slowing as he was getting up in age. He continued to work, appearing in only one or two pictures a year, until he died from a heart attack in 1949. Beery was married twice, first to Gloria Swanson, with both marriages ending in divorce.

He was the brother of actor Noah Beery Sr. and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr. Beery is buried at Forest Lawn-Glendale.