<P> The Wilhelm scream originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 movie Distant Drums . In a scene from the film, soldiers are wading through a swamp in the Everglades, and one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator . The scream for that scene was recorded later in a single take, along with five other short, pained screams, which were labelled "man getting bit by an alligator, and he screamed ." The fifth scream was used for the soldier in the alligator scene--but the fourth, fifth, and sixth screams recorded in the session were also used earlier in the film--when three Native Americans are shot during a raid on a fort . Although takes 4, 5, and 6 are the most recognizable, all the screams are referred to as "Wilhelm" by those in the sound community . </P> <P> The Wilhelm scream's major breakout in popular culture came from motion picture sound designer Ben Burtt, who discovered the original recording (which he found as a studio reel labeled "Man being eaten by alligator") and incorporated it into a scene in Star Wars in which Luke Skywalker shoots a Stormtrooper off of a ledge, with the effect being used as the Stormtrooper is falling . Burtt is credited with naming the scream after Private Wilhelm (see The Charge at Feather River). Over the next decade, Burtt began incorporating the effect in other films on which he worked, including most projects involving George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, notably the rest of the subsequent Star Wars films, as well as the Indiana Jones movies . Other sound designers picked up on the effect, and inclusion of the sound in films became a tradition among the community of sound designers . In what is perhaps an in - joke within an in - joke, one of the scenes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom actually features a man being eaten by a crocodile (closely related to the alligator) accompanied by the scream . </P> <P> Research by Burtt suggests that Sheb Wooley, best known for his novelty song "The Purple People Eater" in 1958 and as scout Pete Nolan on the television series Rawhide, is likely to have been the voice actor who originally performed the scream . This has been supported by an interview in 2005 with Linda Dotson, Wooley's widow . Burtt discovered records at Warner Brothers 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 played the uncredited role of Private Jessup in Distant Drums, and was one of the few actors assembled for the recording of additional vocal elements for the film . Wooley performed additional vocal elements, including the screams for a man being bitten by an alligator . Dotson confirmed Wooley's scream had been in many Westerns, adding, "He always used to joke about how he was so great about screaming and dying in films ." Despite the usage of the sound, no royalties are paid . </P>

How many wilhelm screams are in star wars