Voice of the Wilhelm Scream
There is no definitive information identifying the original performer of the Wilhelm Scream.
However, research by Ben Burtt suggested that Sheb Wooley, best known for his 1958 novelty song “The Purple People Eater” and his character of American Indian scout Pete Nolan on the television series Rawhide, is likely to have been the voice actor who initially performed the scream.
Wooley’s widow, Linda Dotson, supported the view that it was Wooley’s voice in a 2005 interview.B urtt discovered records at Warner Bros. from the editor of Distant Drums, including a short list of names of actors scheduled to record lines of dialogue for miscellaneous roles in the movie.
Wooley was one of a few actors assembled for the recording of additional “pick-up” vocal elements for the film.
Dotson confirmed Wooley’s scream had been in many Westerns, adding that he “always used to joke about how he was so great about screaming and dying in films”.