The WILHELM Scream

"A series of short painful screams performed by an actor were recorded in 1951 for the Warner Brother's film "Distant Drums." They were used for a scene where a man is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The recording was archived into the studio's sound effects library -- and it was used in many of their films since. "Star Wars" Sound Designer Ben Burtt tracked down the scream recording - which he named "Wilhelm" from a character who let out the same scream in "Charge at Feather River (1953)." Ben has adopted the scream as sort of a personal sound signature, and has worked it into as many films as he can."

Scroll down on this page about Film Sound Cliches for the "language and voice"-section to read more and of course to HEAR IT. (via grow-a-brain)