COP11 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri on April 1, 1885. He was an American actor.Wallace joined the Ringling Brothers Circus at 16 as an assistant elephant trainer. He quit 2 years later after being clawed by a leopard.He then went to New York City and performed on Broadway until he moved to Hollywood and signed with MGM.Beery married actress Gloria Swanson but she later divorced him due to his drinking and his abuse. He was known to be a puncher even in films. He would actually punch his collegues while filming a scene and at times, knocked them out.Although he was extremely difficult to work with, he remained top billed and none of his films lost money at the box office.According to E.J. Fleming, Beery along with two gangsters beat comedian Ted Healy to death in a brawl. Fleming claimed that Beery was sent to Europe for several months while studioheads concocted a story claiming that 3 college students were responsible for Healy's death.In 1939, an unmarried Beery adopted a 7 month old girl named Phyllis Anne. No futher information has been known about the girl. She wasn't even mentioned in his obituary.One of his proudest achievements was catching the largest black sea bass in the world off of the coast of Santa Catalina in 1916. That record stood for 35 years.He appeared in over 200 films during his 36 years in films.He won an Oscar in 1931 for his role in "The Champ". Probably his most popular role.He died from a heart attack in Beverly Hills on April 15, 1949. Quote
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