My favorite ubiquitous unknown character actor of all time is probably amazing Whit Bissell, this guy….
…who appeared in many classic films and tons of TV series despite having the dramatic range of a mannequin. But Sheb Wooley is the focus of this “Duty to Remember” post. I love performers who excel in multiple realms, and while Sheb isn’t quite in Hedy Lamar’s league (but who is?), he was versatile, and has one distinction that nobody is likely to equal, ever.
Sheb was best known for his role in Westerns. He was a regular cast member in the famous TV series “Rawhide,” renowned as the show that made Clint Eastwood a star and for the memorable theme song sung by Frankie Lane (“Move em out!”). He also played the brother of the dreaded villain in “High Noon” who had vowed to kill Sheriff Gary Cooper, and was one of the three Miller accomplices gunned down by Cooper (and Grace Kelly) in the climax of one of the greatest Westerns ever made. Decades later, Sheb had a key role in another classic: he was the high school principal who hires disgraced college basketball coach Gene Hackman to take over a tiny Indiana school’s basketball team in “Hoosiers.”
That’s just the normal stuff, though. Sheb Wooley was also a successful Country music star and songwriter (often under the name “Ben Colder”) and in 1958, penned and performed one of the most memorable novelty songs in a decade filled with them. That’s Sheb singing “The Purple People Eater” in the video above. His most impressive distinction, however, was as the voice actor for the Wilhelm scream, the stock recording of a man in the process of a experiencing a violent death. Because it has been used in in nearly 750 films including the first three “Star Wars” movies and the original “Indiana Jones” films, Sheb Wooley has “appeared” in more movies than any American actor. And his scream, which you can enjoy here, is still being used in new productions (it’s a film school in-joke), so Wooley’s voice keeps acquiring new roles. The most current list is here.
I must mention that the actor who is probably Sheb’s runner up for the title of “Most Film Credits Ever” is James Hong, the actor best known, perhaps, as the annoying maitre’d at the Chinese restaurant Jerry, George, and Elaine futilely wait to dine at in a famous episode of “Seinfeld.” [Notice of Correction: I originally included Kramer as one of the group. He was omitted from the episode, and apparently that cause a bit of tension behind the scenes.] Hong, who is 97, has inflated his own list of credits with his work as a voice actor, and has over 600 credits.
No hit songs, though, and no immortal scream.
Ethics Alarms 
Wow, Jack—Whit Bissell—I remember him as the commanding General in The Time Tunnel. I credit that show (and The Rat Patrol) as catalyzing my interest in history, years later graduating with BA in History. You’ve made my day, even as the world goes to Scheiß.
Thanks! Whit was like Zelig, blending in with big stars in major films in many genres—the doctor at the end of “Invasion of the Body-Snatchers,” the undertaker who gets Steve McQueen and Yul Brenner together in the first scene of “The Magnificent Seven”…he’s sitting next to Helen Hayes on the plane in “Airport.”
And Bissell played Mr. Lurry, the manager of Space Station K-7, in the classic Trek episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles”! And I just saw him in Seven Days in May.
One of his larger roles, and also one of his few villainous ones, though he was a murderer in a Perry Mason episode.
I thought I remembered him in a Perry Mason. Funny how there were so many guys who made their careers dressing up like senior military and naval officers. All they had to do was look good in a suit and act as if they were in charge.
Whit was almost always a professional or a manager—a doctor, a druggist, military, a Congressman. Sometimes just a random white collar everyman, as in “Airport.”
When is the last time Eeyore / Luckiest Eeyore commented?
2021.
dang.
I miss him.
Indeed
There was a Urban Dictionary definition inspired by his awesome September 2108 “out-Eeyored” comment.
There were lots of good conversations with luckyesteeyoreman.
“There were lots of good conversations with luckyesteeyoreman.”
Couldn’t agree more. I miss his sardonity, a made-up word I believe he’d appreciate.
PWS
I was a skinny little buck-tooth, cross-eyed 5 1/2-year-old the summer Purple People Eater came out, and I sang along at the top of my skinny little lungs. Don’t know what made my family laugh harder.
Thanking my lucky stars for eye surgeons and orhtodontists.