The Rise and Fall of the ‘Wilhelm Scream’

Since being recorded in the 1950s, the sound effect — an overly-dramatic, desperate yelp — has become a staple in some of Hollywood biggest films. It is the choice cry of Stormtroopers falling to their death in Star Wars; it is emitted by Buzz Lightyear as he is sent careening out of a window in Toy Story; it is cried out as Jafar lifts the palace in Aladdin, and uttered by a man who’s being crushed by a monster in Avatar.