Sheb Wooley
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Sheb Wooley
Wooley in 1971
Wooley in 1971
Background information
Birth name Shelby Fredrick Wooley
Also known as Ben Colder
Born April 10, 1921
Erick, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died September 16, 2003 (aged 82)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres
Country[1]hillbilly[1]novelty[2]
Occupation(s) Actor, singer
Years active 1946–1999
Labels MGM
Shelby Fredrick "Sheb" Wooley (April 10, 1921 – September 16, 2003) was an American actor and singer. He recorded a series of novelty songs including the 1958 novelty song "The Purple People Eater"[2] and under the name Ben Colder the country hit "Almost Persuaded No. 2". He portrayed Cletus Summers, the principal of Hickory High School & assistant coach in the 1986 film Hoosiers; Ben Miller, brother of Frank Miller in the film High Noon; Travis Cobb in The Outlaw Josey Wales, and also had a co-starring role as scout Pete Nolan in the television series Rawhide. Wooley is also credited as the voice actor who produced the Wilhelm scream sound effect.


Contents
1 Early life
2 Acting career
2.1 TV Westerns
2.2 Films
2.3 The "Wilhelm scream"
3 Singing career
4 Personal life
5 Awards
6 Discography
6.1 Albums
6.2 Singles
7 Filmography
8 References
9 External links
Early life
Sheb Wooley was born in 1921 in Erick, Oklahoma, the third son of William C. Wooley and Ora E. Wooley.[3] He had two older brothers, Logan and Hubert, as well as a younger brother, William.[4][3] Federal census records for 1930 and 1940 identify Sheb's father only as a "Farmer", although the family's livestock holdings apparently included horses, for Sheb learned to ride at an early age and became a working cowboy and later an accomplished rodeo rider. At the age of 15, with a talent for music, he formed and played in a country-western band, the "Plainview Melody Boys", that periodically performed on radio at station KASA in Elk City, Oklahoma.[5]

Wooley married for the first time in 1940, wedding 17-year-old Melva Miller, a cousin of Roger Miller who would later become a successful song writer and actor himself.[5] Wooley became friends with Miller when he lived in Oklahoma. He taught the boy how to play guitar chords and bought him his first fiddle.

When the United States entered World War II, Wooley tried to enlist in the military but was unsuccessful due to his numerous rodeo injuries. Instead, in the early 1940s he worked in the oil industry and as a welder. In 1946 he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he earned a living as a country-western musician recording songs and traveling for three years with a band throughout the South and Southwest.[5] In Fort Worth he also married for the second time, to Edna Talbott Bunt, a young widow with an infant son named Gary.[6] The three of them left Texas in 1950 and moved to Hollywood, where Wooley hoped to establish himself as an actor or singer in film or in the rapidly expanding medium of television.[5]

Acting career
TV Westerns
Wooley's work in syndicated TV series included appearances on The Range Rider, portraying outlaw Jim Younger on Stories of the Century (1954), and five appearances on The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951-1955).

He appeared in The Lone Ranger episodes "Wake of War" (1953); "Message to Fort Apache" (1954), and "Wanted: The Lone Ranger" (1955). He portrayed Bill Bronson on The Cisco Kid, Harry Runyon in "The Unmasking" on My Friend Flicka, and Shev Jones in "The Iron Trail" on Cheyenne. He appeared twice on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

Wooley's big break professionally came when he was cast as the drover Pete Nolan on Rawhide (1959–1966). Wooley also wrote and directed some of the episodes.

Films
Wooley appeared in dozens of Western films from the 1950s through the 1990s. He was in Rocky Mountain (1950), and he portrayed outlaw Ben Miller in High Noon (1952) and Baxter in Terror in a Texas Town (1958).

He also acted in major films, including Giant, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Silverado, and in Hoosiers.

The "Wilhelm scream"
Sheb Wooley is also credited as the voice actor for the Wilhelm scream, having appeared on a memo as a voice extra for Distant Drums in which he had an acting role. This was later confirmed by his widow Linda Dotson-Wooley.[7][8] The stock recording of the distinctive scream has been u

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