This has been supported by an interview in 2005 with Linda Dotson, Wooley's widow. Research by Ben Burtt suggests that Wooley, best known for his 1958 novelty song ' The Purple People Eater' and as Indian scout Pete Nolan on the television series Rawhide, is likely to have been the voice actor who originally performed the scream. The fifth take, which later became known as the iconic 'Wilhelm scream,' was probably voiced by actor Sheb Wooley (who played the uncredited role of Pvt. The recording was entitled: 'Man getting bit by an alligator, and he screamed.' The fifth take of the scream was used for the soldier in the alligator scene. The screams for that scene, and other scenes in the movie, were recorded later in a single take. 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 Wilhelm scream originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 movie Distant Drums.