The “Wilhelm Scream” is a popular Hollywood stock sound. Originally recorded for Warner Bros. Westerns, the scream achieved cult status with its appearance in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies and continues to be used extensively today.
Here is the Wilhelm 4―the most classic of the Wilhelms.
There is a lesser known sister satellite scream―the “Billy Dee Wilhelm Scream”. This soundbite is heard in the same scene as the Wilhelm from Return of the Jedi, but it is no stock sound, for this scream is issued from the lips of actor Billy Dee Williams.
Where as the Wilhelm is more of a classic “Ahhhhh” kinda scream, the Billy Dee Wilhelm is like an “Eeeeeyaaaah” which contains all the Wilhelmic horror, mixed with a little soulful disgust.
It sounds like Billy Dee was really going for something—the all-new stock screambite monopoly. That’ll be the day, when Wilhelm becomes Williams.
Ya freakin’ pirate…
