Trivia

He was notoriously abusive towards the juvenile performers he supposedly adored onscreen. For one scene in Slave Ship (1937), he had to slap his 16 year-old co-star Mickey Rooney across the face. Beery didn't fake the action and, without warning, slapped Rooney so hard he was knocked to the floor, spoiling the take and causing outrage among the crew. Director Tay Garnett took Beery aside and told him that everyone on the set loved Rooney, and that it would be most unfortunate if some lighting equipment were to "accidentally" fall on Beery's head. Beery got the message and behaved himself for the rest of the shoot. Interestingly, Rooney was one of the very few actors to work with Beery who later expressed no resentment towards him. He said, "Not everyone loved him the way I did". When Dickie Moore interviewed former child stars for his 1984 book "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" Wallace Beery and W.C. Fields were the two actors the child stars disliked working with the most. Jackie Cooper said about Beery "We did four long films together" and "They couldn't find eight guys to carry his casket.".

At MGM his public image was carefully crafted by studio publicity chief Howard Strickling as that of a big lovable slob with a heart of gold. In reality, however, Beery was anything but that. Co-star Jackie Cooper said that Beery treated him like an unwanted dog the second the cameras stopped.

When the Academy Awards were first presented, the winners were announced ahead of the ceremony, partly with the hope the recipients would show up to collect their award. When it was announced that the winner of the 1931 prize for best actor went to Fredric March, Beery reportedly stormed into the office of MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, demanding he be given the award instead. The result was a "tie" for Best Actor that year. From then on the Oscar votes were tabulated by Price Waterhouse, and the winners announced at the ceremony.

He took up flying in 1925, and from then until 1941 he accumulated 14,000 hours of flight time as a pilot. While making Treasure Island (1934) on Santa Catalina Island, he commuted daily by plane from his Beverly Hills home.

In December of 1939, right after divorcing his second wife, Beery adopted a seven-month-old girl, Phyllis Anne, as a single father. She appears in the 1940 United States census listed as a foster daughter in the Beery household under the name Phyllis Riley. Nevada is named as her birthplace.

Reportedly extremely difficult to get along with and completely lacking in any sort of manners or refinement. Beery's ex-wife, Gloria Swanson, once remarked that he had been invited to every fashionable home in Beverly Hills - once!.

Had a cabin on a very small island at Silver Lake, in June Lake, California. The cabin was destroyed by an avalanche. Some of the foundation can still be seen. Island became known as Beery Island.

Before he was signed by MGM after leaving Paramount, Beery lost $750,000 when Trans-America crashed, $165,000 on two bank failures, his house burned down, his new plane crashed, killing his mechanic and two passengers, and ultimately a third bank failed.

When Paramount dropped Beery's (and other actors') contracts at the end of the silent era in 1929, the actor was off the screen for a year before making a triumphant comeback at MGM with an Oscar-nominated performance in The Big House (1930). The role had been intended for Lon Chaney, who had recently died from cancer.

In the summer of 1941, he was billed by MGM as the "champion movie location commuter," the studio estimating that he had journeyed more than 100,000 miles to make pictures. According to studio records, Beery covered 15,000 miles in Mexico alone while filming Viva Villa! (1934).

His first show business job was as "chambermaid to the elephants" in Ringling Brothers Circus for three seasons. He quit after a leopard clawed his arm.

Although Beery's win for The Champ (1931) is generally considered the first Oscar tie, he actually finished one vote behind Fredric March (for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)). However, under the Academy rules then in effect, that was considered a tie.

In the negotiations for his 1932 MGM contract, Beery insisted on being paid $1 more than any other Metro star. At $10,001 a week this made him the highest-salaried actor in the world at the time.

Starred in four Oscar Best Picture nominees: The Big House (1930), The Champ (1931), Grand Hotel (1932) and Viva Villa! (1934). Grand Hotel is the only winner.

Brother of actor Noah Beery. Uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.. Reports that Wallace and Noah were half-brothers are false; all three brothers were born to Noah W. Beery and Marguerite Fitzgerald Beery, according to U.S. census records.

Besides his official 1885 birth date and place, Beery's birth year has variously been listed as 1881, 1886, and 1889.

He later claimed that he had directed some of Charles Chaplin's Essanay comedies shot at Niles Studios, but there never was any record of anything like this happening.

Before entering films, Beery was a stage actor and before that he worked as an actor in circuses.

At the time of his death, he was involved in a paternity suit. Actress Gloria Schumm claimed that he had fathered her then 13-month old son.

He got a big break while appearing in the Raymond Hitchcock musical farce "A Yankee Tourist", which opened on August 12, 1907. Beery had a featured role and as understudy to the star stepped into the lead role when Hitchcock reportedly had emergency surgery. An alternative to that story had Hitchcock charged with criminal conduct involving a 15 year-old girl. When Hitchcock returned to the production, he explained away his absence as a nervous breakdown. Beery was disappointed as his mother was en route to see her son's first starring performance. Although Hitchcock was later cleared, Beery played the lead in the road version of the hit.

After Jackie Cooper nearly stole The Champ (1931) from him, Beery had a clause added to his MGM contract stipulating that no juvenile performer would be allowed a close-up in his films.

Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, in the Vale of Memory section, lot #2157-9808.

His marriage to Gloria Swanson lasted 21 days.

Although he was an Oscar-winning Hollywood superstar of the 1930s and several of his films are considered classics, Beery has never been the subject of a book-length biography.