Walter Brennan
Encyclopedia
Walter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.
less than two miles from his family's home in Swampscott, Walter Andrew Brennan was the second of three children born to Irish
immigrants William John Brennan and Margaret Elizabeth Flanagan. The elder Brennan was an engineer and inventor, and young Walter studied engineering
at Rindge Technical High School
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
.
While in school, Brennan became interested in acting, and began to perform in vaudeville
. While working as a bank clerk, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a private with the 101st Field Artillery Regiment
in France
during World War I
. Following the war, he moved to Guatemala
and raised pineapple
s, before settling in Los Angeles
. During the 1920s, he became involved in the real estate
market, where he made a fortune. Unfortunately, he lost most of his money when the market took a sudden downturn due to the Great Depression
.
(1933), the Three Stooges short Woman Haters
(1934), and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and also worked as a stunt man. In the 1930s, he began appearing in higher-quality films and received more substantial roles as his talent was recognized. This culminated with his receiving the very first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for his role as Swan Bostrom in the period film Come and Get It
(1936). Two years later he portrayed town drunk and accused murderer Muff Potter in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
.
Throughout his career, Brennan was frequently called upon to play characters considerably older than he was in real life. The loss of many teeth in a 1932 accident, rapidly thinning hair, thin build, and gravelly voice all made him seem older than he really was. He used these physical features to great effect. In many of his film roles, Brennan wore dentures; in Northwest Passage—a film set in the late 18th century, when most people had bad teeth—he wore a special dental prosthesis which made him appear to have rotting and broken teeth.
Director Jean Renoir
gave the character actor a leading role in 1941: Brennan played the top-billed lead in Swamp Water
, a drama directed by Renoir and featuring Walter Huston
.
In the 1941
Sergeant York
, he played a sympathetic preacher and dry goods store owner who advised the title character played by Gary Cooper
. He was particularly skilled in playing the hero's sidekick or as the "grumpy old man" in a picture. Though he was hardly ever cast as the villain, notable exceptions were his roles as Old Man Clanton in the 1946 film My Darling Clementine
opposite Henry Fonda
, the 1962 Cinerama
production How the West Was Won
as the murderous Colonel Jeb Hawkins, and as Judge Roy Bean in The Westerner, for which he won his third best supporting actor Academy Award, in 1940.
From 1957-1963, he starred in the ABC
television series The Real McCoys
, which costarred Richard Crenna
, and Kathleen Nolan
, with other roles for Tony Martinez, Michael Winkelman
, and Lydia Reed
. The comedy about a poor West Virginia
family that relocated to a farm in southern California ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962 before switching to CBS
for a final season as simply The McCoys. In the last season, Janet De Gore
and Butch Patrick
joined the cast as a widow and son; she being the new romantic interest of the recently widowed Luke McCoy, played by Richard Crenna. The revised format of The McCoys was no match in the ratings for NBC
's powerhouse western series, Bonanza
. Brennan joined with the series creator, Irving Pincus
, to form Brennan-Westgate-Marterto Productions. The series was filmed during its six-year run at Desilu Studios.
Brennan appeared in several other movies and television programs, usually, as an eccentric "old timer" or "prospector". Prior to the launching of The Real McCoys, Brennan appeared as himself as a musical judge in the 1953-1954 ABC series Jukebox Jury
. On May 30, 1957, he guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
. He also made a few recordings, the most popular being "Old Rivers
" about an eccentric but much-beloved farmer; it was released as a single in 1962 by Liberty Records with "The Epic Ride Of John H. Glenn" on the flip side, and peaked at number 5 in the U.S. Billboard
charts. In his music, Brennan sometimes worked with Allen "Puddler" Harris
, a Louisiana
native who was a member of the original Ricky Nelson
Band. He also co-starred with James Garner
in the 1969 Support Your Local Sheriff!
, playing the head of the Danby Family.
Brennan starred as wealthy executive Walter Andrews in the short-lived 1964-1965 series The Tycoon
, with Van Williams
. In 1967, he starred in another series, The Guns of Will Sonnett
, in which he played a man in search of his gunfighter son, James, with his grandson, Jeff, played by Dack Rambo
. After the series went off the air in 1969, Brennan continued working in both television and feature films. He received top billing over Pat O'Brien
in the TV-movie The Over-the-Hill Gang
in 1969 and Fred Astaire
in The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again
the following year. From 1970 to 1971, he was a regular on the show To Rome With Love
, which was his last TV show as a member of the permanent cast.
. He was the first actor to win three Academy Awards
. He remains the only person to have won three Best Supporting Actor
awards. However, even he remained somewhat embarrassed as to how he won the awards. In the early years of the Academy Awards
, extras were given the right to vote. Brennan was extremely popular with the Union of Film Extras and since their numbers were overwhelming, each time he was nominated, he won. Though never described as undeserving of the awards he won, his third win was one of the catalysts leading to the disenfranchisement of the Extras Union from Oscar voting.
Unlike many actors, Brennan's career never really went into decline. As the years went on, he was able to find work in dozens of high quality films, and later television appearances throughout the 1950s and 60s. As he grew older, he simply became a more familiar, almost comforting film figure whose performances continued to endear him to new generations of fans. In all, he would appear in more than 230 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly five decades.
For his contribution to the television industry, Walter Brennan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6501 Hollywood Blvd. In 1970, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
, where his photograph adorns a wall.
. In 1963 and 1964, Brennan joined fellow actors William Lundigan
, Chill Wills
, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
, in making appearances on behalf of U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater, the Republican
nominee in the campaign against U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson
. Brennan thereafter supported American Independent Party
candidate (and former governor of Alabama
) George C. Wallace, Jr.
, over GOP
nominee and former Vice President
Richard M. Nixon in the 1968 presidential campaign because he felt Nixon was too liberal
. He also supported Ronald W. Reagan for governor
of California in 1966.
In one of his films, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band
(1968), Brennan portrayed a Democratic
supporter of U.S. President Grover Cleveland
. Buddy Ebsen
, who played Brennan's son in the film, was depicted as a supporter of Cleveland's 1888 rival, Benjamin Harrison
. In the comedy film, Brennan disparaged Ebsen's character as "never too bright for he was a gol-dern Republican". Both Brennan and Ebsen were outspoken Hollywood Republicans.
Upon his death from emphysema
at the age of eighty in Oxnard
in Ventura County
, Brennan's remains were interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery
in Los Angeles. Brennan was married to the former Ruth Wells (December 8, 1897 – January 12, 1997), whom he married in 1920. The Brennans had a daughter and two sons.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.
Early life
Born in Lynn, MassachusettsLynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
less than two miles from his family's home in Swampscott, Walter Andrew Brennan was the second of three children born to Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrants William John Brennan and Margaret Elizabeth Flanagan. The elder Brennan was an engineer and inventor, and young Walter studied engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
at Rindge Technical High School
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School is a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.The school, serving grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Cambridge Public Schools....
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
.
While in school, Brennan became interested in acting, and began to perform in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
. While working as a bank clerk, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a private with the 101st Field Artillery Regiment
101st Field Artillery Regiment
The 101st Field Artillery regiment is the oldest field artillery regiment in the United States Army with a lineage dating to December 13, 1636 when it was organized as the South Regiment...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Following the war, he moved to Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
and raised pineapple
Pineapple
Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
s, before settling in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. During the 1920s, he became involved in the real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
market, where he made a fortune. Unfortunately, he lost most of his money when the market took a sudden downturn due to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Career
Finding himself broke, he began taking extra parts in 1929 and then bit parts in as many films as he could, including The Invisible ManThe Invisible Man (1933 film)
The Invisible Man is a 1933 science fiction film based on H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The Invisible Man, published in 1897, as adapted by R. C. Sherriff, Philip Wylie and Preston Sturges, whose work was considered unsatisfactory and who was taken off the project...
(1933), the Three Stooges short Woman Haters
Woman Haters
Woman Haters is the first short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
(1934), and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and also worked as a stunt man. In the 1930s, he began appearing in higher-quality films and received more substantial roles as his talent was recognized. This culminated with his receiving the very first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for his role as Swan Bostrom in the period film Come and Get It
Come and Get It (film)
Come and Get It is a 1936 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Jules Furthman is based on the 1935 novel of the same title by Edna Ferber.-Plot:...
(1936). Two years later he portrayed town drunk and accused murderer Muff Potter in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938 film)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 American drama film directed by Norman Taurog. The screenplay by John V.A. Weaver was based on the classic 1876 novel by Mark Twain.-Plot:...
.
Throughout his career, Brennan was frequently called upon to play characters considerably older than he was in real life. The loss of many teeth in a 1932 accident, rapidly thinning hair, thin build, and gravelly voice all made him seem older than he really was. He used these physical features to great effect. In many of his film roles, Brennan wore dentures; in Northwest Passage—a film set in the late 18th century, when most people had bad teeth—he wore a special dental prosthesis which made him appear to have rotting and broken teeth.
Director Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
gave the character actor a leading role in 1941: Brennan played the top-billed lead in Swamp Water
Swamp Water
Swamp Water is a 1941 film directed by Jean Renoir, starring Walter Brennan, produced at 20th Century Fox, and based on the novel by Vereen Bell. The drama was shot on location at Okefenokee Swamp, Waycross, Georgia, USA. This was Renoir's first American film...
, a drama directed by Renoir and featuring Walter Huston
Walter Huston
Walter Thomas Huston was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.-Life and career:...
.
In the 1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
Sergeant York
Sergeant York
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
, he played a sympathetic preacher and dry goods store owner who advised the title character played by Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
. He was particularly skilled in playing the hero's sidekick or as the "grumpy old man" in a picture. Though he was hardly ever cast as the villain, notable exceptions were his roles as Old Man Clanton in the 1946 film My Darling Clementine
My Darling Clementine
My Darling Clementine is a 1946 western movie. It was directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, and others.The movie...
opposite Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, the 1962 Cinerama
Cinerama
Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...
production How the West Was Won
How the West Was Won (film)
How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film. The picture was one of the last "old-fashioned" epic films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to enjoy great success. It follows four generations of a family as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean...
as the murderous Colonel Jeb Hawkins, and as Judge Roy Bean in The Westerner, for which he won his third best supporting actor Academy Award, in 1940.
From 1957-1963, he starred in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...
, which costarred Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
, and Kathleen Nolan
Kathleen Nolan
Kathleen Nolan is an American actress. She is sometimes confused with actress Jeanette Nolan. From 1957 to 1962, she played the role of Kate McCoy, a housewife in her late twenties, in the Walter Brennan series The Real McCoys....
, with other roles for Tony Martinez, Michael Winkelman
Michael Winkelman
Michael L. Winkelman was an American child actor best known for his role as Little Luke McCoy from 1957 to 1963 in 157 episodes of the situation comedy television series, The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan in the title role of Grandpa Amos McCoy, with Richard Crenna as Luke McCoy, older...
, and Lydia Reed
Lydia Reed
Lydia Reed is an American former child actress best known for her role as Tallahassee "Hassie" McCoy from 1957 to 1963 in 145 episodes of the ABC situation comedy The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan in the title role of Grandpa Amos McCoy...
. The comedy about a poor West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
family that relocated to a farm in southern California ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962 before switching to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
for a final season as simply The McCoys. In the last season, Janet De Gore
Janet De Gore
Janet De Gore is a former actress best known for her supporting roles on two television series, The Law and Mr. Jones on ABC and The Real McCoys, renamed The McCoys in its last season on CBS . In The Law and Mr...
and Butch Patrick
Butch Patrick
Butch Patrick is a former American child actor. He is widely known for his role on the TV show The Munsters where he played Eddie Munster, the son of Herman and Lily Munster...
joined the cast as a widow and son; she being the new romantic interest of the recently widowed Luke McCoy, played by Richard Crenna. The revised format of The McCoys was no match in the ratings for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's powerhouse western series, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
. Brennan joined with the series creator, Irving Pincus
Irving Pincus
Irving Pincus was a film and television writer and producer who created the ABC and CBS situation comedy, The Real McCoys, which aired in prime time from 1957 to 1963 and subsequently in rebroadcasts over many years....
, to form Brennan-Westgate-Marterto Productions. The series was filmed during its six-year run at Desilu Studios.
Brennan appeared in several other movies and television programs, usually, as an eccentric "old timer" or "prospector". Prior to the launching of The Real McCoys, Brennan appeared as himself as a musical judge in the 1953-1954 ABC series Jukebox Jury
Jukebox Jury
Jukebox Jury was an hour-long television series hosted by disc jockey Peter Potter which aired in the 1953-54 season on the American Broadcasting Company. It was thereafter syndicated in 1959....
. On May 30, 1957, he guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Ford Show
The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....
. He also made a few recordings, the most popular being "Old Rivers
Old Rivers
Old Rivers is a country music song written by Cliff Crofford which tells the story of a man recalling a childhood friendship with an elderly farmer...
" about an eccentric but much-beloved farmer; it was released as a single in 1962 by Liberty Records with "The Epic Ride Of John H. Glenn" on the flip side, and peaked at number 5 in the U.S. Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts. In his music, Brennan sometimes worked with Allen "Puddler" Harris
Allen "Puddler" Harris
Allen W. "Puddler" Harris is a rock and roll and country musician who played piano in the original Ricky Nelson Band in Hollywood, California, and the last Jimmie Davis band in Louisiana...
, a Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
native who was a member of the original Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
Band. He also co-starred with James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
in the 1969 Support Your Local Sheriff!
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Support Your Local Sheriff! is a 1969 American comic western film which parodies the often-filmed scenario of an iconoclastic new arrival who tames a lawless frontier town...
, playing the head of the Danby Family.
Brennan starred as wealthy executive Walter Andrews in the short-lived 1964-1965 series The Tycoon
The Tycoon (TV series)
The Tycoon is a 32-episode American situation comedy television series broadcast by ABC. It starred Walter Brennan as the fictitious businessman Walter Andrews...
, with Van Williams
Van Williams
Van Zandt Williams is a former actor best known for his television role as Britt Reid/the Green Hornet. He teamed for one season with the late Bruce Lee as his partner Kato, in the television series The Green Hornet, broadcast on ABC during the 1966-67 season.Williams was also known for his...
. In 1967, he starred in another series, The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Guns of Will Sonnett is a Western television series set in the 1870s which ran on the ABC television network from 1967 to 1969. The series was the first production collaboration between Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, who would later go on to produce one of ABC's most-memorable hits, The Mod...
, in which he played a man in search of his gunfighter son, James, with his grandson, Jeff, played by Dack Rambo
Dack Rambo
Norman Jay Rambeau , professionally known as Dack Rambo, was an American actor, most notable for appearing as Walter Brennan's grandson Jeff in the ABC series The Guns of Will Sonnett, as Steve Jacobi in All My Children, as cousin Jack Ewing on CBS's Dallas, and as Grant Harrison on the NBC soap...
. After the series went off the air in 1969, Brennan continued working in both television and feature films. He received top billing over Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
in the TV-movie The Over-the-Hill Gang
The Over-the-Hill Gang
The Over-the-Hill Gang is a 1969 TV-movie Western comedy about aging Texas Rangers starring Walter Brennan and Pat O'Brien. Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Andy Devine, and Jack Elam play supporting roles...
in 1969 and Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
in The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again
The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again
The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again starring Walter Brennan and Fred Astaire is a 1970 ABC Movie of the Week sequel to the Western comedy The Over-the-Hill Gang. The supporting cast includes Edgar Buchanan, Andy Devine, Chill Wills, Lana Wood, and Burt Mustin...
the following year. From 1970 to 1971, he was a regular on the show To Rome With Love
To Rome With Love
To Rome With Love is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 1969 to September 1971.-Synopsis:To Rome With Love is the story of a widowed college professor, Michael Endicott, who decided to leave his native Iowa following the death of his wife and accept a new position as an instructor...
, which was his last TV show as a member of the permanent cast.
Legacy
Film historians and critics have long regarded Brennan as one of the finest character actors in motion picture history. While the roles he was adept at playing were extremely diverse, he is probably best remembered for his portrayals in movie Westerns, such as trail hand Nadine Groot in Red River and Deputy Stumpy in Rio Bravo both directed by Howard HawksHoward Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
. He was the first actor to win three Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. He remains the only person to have won three Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
awards. However, even he remained somewhat embarrassed as to how he won the awards. In the early years of the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, extras were given the right to vote. Brennan was extremely popular with the Union of Film Extras and since their numbers were overwhelming, each time he was nominated, he won. Though never described as undeserving of the awards he won, his third win was one of the catalysts leading to the disenfranchisement of the Extras Union from Oscar voting.
Unlike many actors, Brennan's career never really went into decline. As the years went on, he was able to find work in dozens of high quality films, and later television appearances throughout the 1950s and 60s. As he grew older, he simply became a more familiar, almost comforting film figure whose performances continued to endear him to new generations of fans. In all, he would appear in more than 230 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly five decades.
For his contribution to the television industry, Walter Brennan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6501 Hollywood Blvd. In 1970, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of American rodeo, photographs, barbed wire, saddlery, and early rodeo trophies...
in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...
, where his photograph adorns a wall.
Private life
Brennan was politically conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
. In 1963 and 1964, Brennan joined fellow actors William Lundigan
William Lundigan
William Lundigan was an American film actor. His films include Dodge City , The Fighting 69th , The Sea Hawk , Santa Fe Trail , Dishonored Lady , Pinky , Love Nest with Marilyn Monroe, The House on Telegraph Hill , I'd Climb the Highest Mountain and Inferno...
, Chill Wills
Chill Wills
Chill Theodore Wills was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.-Biography:Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas in 1902. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s...
, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is an American actor known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. He is also known as recurring character "Dandy Jim Buckley" in the series Maverick and as the voice behind the character Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series...
, in making appearances on behalf of U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater, the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nominee in the campaign against U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. Brennan thereafter supported American Independent Party
American Independent Party
The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...
candidate (and former governor of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
) George C. Wallace, Jr.
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
, over GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nominee and former Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Richard M. Nixon in the 1968 presidential campaign because he felt Nixon was too liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
. He also supported Ronald W. Reagan for governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of California in 1966.
In one of his films, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band is a 1968 musical film based on a biography by Laura Bower Van Nuys, directed by Michael O'Herlihy, with original music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers...
(1968), Brennan portrayed a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
supporter of U.S. President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
. Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
, who played Brennan's son in the film, was depicted as a supporter of Cleveland's 1888 rival, Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
. In the comedy film, Brennan disparaged Ebsen's character as "never too bright for he was a gol-dern Republican". Both Brennan and Ebsen were outspoken Hollywood Republicans.
Upon his death from emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
at the age of eighty in Oxnard
Oxnard, California
Oxnard is the 113th largest city in the United States, 19th largest city in California and largest city in Ventura County, California, by way of population. It is located at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, and is an important agricultural center, with its distinction as the...
in Ventura County
Ventura County, California
Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...
, Brennan's remains were interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery
San Fernando Mission Cemetery
The San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located at 11160 Stranwood Avenue in the Mission Hills community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, near the San Fernando Mission....
in Los Angeles. Brennan was married to the former Ruth Wells (December 8, 1897 – January 12, 1997), whom he married in 1920. The Brennans had a daughter and two sons.
Albums
| Year | Album | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Dutchman's Gold | — | Dot |
| 1962 | Old Rivers | 54 | Liberty |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US AC Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
|||
| 1960 | "Dutchman's Gold" | 30 | — | — | Dutchman's Gold |
| 1962 | "Old Rivers Old Rivers Old Rivers is a country music song written by Cliff Crofford which tells the story of a man recalling a childhood friendship with an elderly farmer... " |
5 | 2 | 3 | Old Rivers |
Academy Awards
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 9th Academy Awards The 9th Academy Awards were held on March 4, 1937 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by George Jessel. This ceremony marked the first time in which the categories of Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were awarded.My Man Godfrey became the first film... |
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
Come and Get It Come and Get It (film) Come and Get It is a 1936 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Jules Furthman is based on the 1935 novel of the same title by Edna Ferber.-Plot:... |
|
| 1938 11th Academy Awards The 11th Academy Awards were held on February 23, 1939 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. It was the first Academy Awards show without any official host, as well as the first to have a foreign language film nominated for Best Picture.This was the first of only two times in Oscar... |
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
Kentucky Kentucky (film) Kentucky is a 1938 Technicolor film with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan. It was directed by David Butler. It is a Romeo and Juliet story of lovers Jack and Sally, set amidst Kentucky horseracing, in which a family feud goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by Sally's Uncle... |
|
| 1940 13th Academy Awards The 13th Academy Awards honored American film achievements in 1940. This was the first year that sealed envelopes were used to keep secret the names of the winners which led to the famous phrase: "May I have the Envelope, please." The accounting firm of Price Waterhouse was hired to count the... |
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
The Westerner | |
| 1941 14th Academy Awards The 14th Academy Awards honored American film achievements in 1941 and was held in the Biltmore Bowl at the Biltmore Hotel. The ceremony is now considered notable, in retrospect, as the year in which Citizen Kane failed to win Best Picture. Best Picture of the year was awarded to How Green Was My... |
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
Sergeant York Sergeant York Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year.... |
|
Partial filmography
- Lorraine of the Lions (1925) (uncredited)
- Blake of Scotland YardBlake of Scotland Yard (1927 serial)Blake of Scotland Yard is a 1927 action film serial directed by Robert F. Hill. It is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Hayden Stevenson - Angus Blake* Grace Cunard - Queen of Diamonds* Gloria Grey - Lady Diane Blanton* Herbert Prior - Lord Blanton...
(1927) (uncredited) - One Hysterical NightOne Hysterical NightOne Hysterical Night is an American comedy film directed by William James Craft and starring Reginald Denny, Nora Lane, Walter Brennan and Peter Gawthorne.-Plot:...
(1929) - King of JazzKing of JazzKing of Jazz is a 1930 motion picture starring Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. The film's title was taken from Whiteman's controversial, self-conferred appellation...
(1930) - Scratch-As-Catch-CanScratch-As-Catch-CanScratch-As-Catch-Can is a 1932 short comedy film directed by Mark Sandrich. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1932 for Best Short Subject .-Cast:* Bobby Clark* Paul McCullough* James Finlayson* Phil Dunham* Charlotte Ogden...
(1931) - Texas CycloneTexas Cyclone (film)Texas Cyclone is a 1932 American western film directed by D. Ross Lederman. The film stars Tim McCoy as "Texas Grant", Shirley Grey, Wheeler Oakman and John Wayne, and features an early appearance by Walter Brennan.-Plot:...
(1932) - Law and OrderLaw and Order (1932 film)Law And Order is a 1932 film. The film starred Walter Huston, Harry Carey, Andy Devine, Russell Hopton and Russell Simpson.The film retells the story of the OK Corral shootout in Tombstone, AZ. It is based on the novel Saint Johnson by W. R. Burnett...
(1932) - Two-Fisted LawTwo-Fisted LawTwo-Fisted Law is a 1932 American B romantic western film directed by D. Ross Lederman. The film stars Tim McCoy, Alice Day, Wheeler Oakman, Tully Marshall, Wallace MacDonald and John Wayne.-Plot:...
(1932) - The Invisible ManThe Invisible Man (1933 film)The Invisible Man is a 1933 science fiction film based on H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The Invisible Man, published in 1897, as adapted by R. C. Sherriff, Philip Wylie and Preston Sturges, whose work was considered unsatisfactory and who was taken off the project...
(1933) (uncredited) - Woman HatersWoman HatersWoman Haters is the first short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
(1934) (uncredited) - Restless KnightsRestless KnightsRestless Knights is the sixth short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
(1935) (uncredited) - Party WireParty WireParty Wire is a 1935 drama film starring Jean Arthur and Victor Jory. It was based on the novel of the same name by Bruce Manning. In a small town, an overhead conversation on a telephone party line results in gossip that causes a great deal of trouble for a young woman and a wealthy...
(1935) (uncredited) - Bride of FrankensteinBride of FrankensteinBride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
(1935) (uncredited) - Man on the Flying TrapezeMan on the Flying TrapezeMan on the Flying Trapeze is a 1935 comedy film starring W. C. Fields as a henpecked husband. As with his other roles of this nature, Fields is put-upon throughout the film, but triumphs in the end.-Plot:...
(1935) - Barbary CoastBarbary Coast (film)Barbary Coast is a period film directed by Howard Hawks. Shot in black-and-white and set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era, the film combines elements of crime, Western, melodrama and adventure genres, features a wide range of actors, from good-guy Joel McCrea to bad-boy Edward G...
(1935) - MetropolitanMetropolitan (1935 film)Metropolitan is a 1935 back-stage drama film interlaced with songs and musical segments from opera.Directed by Ryszard Bolesławski , it featured the famous baritone Lawrence Tibbett , with Virginia Bruce as his leading lady...
(1935) - Banjo on My KneeBanjo on My Knee (film)Banjo on My Knee is a 1936 American comedy film directed by John Cromwell. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Sound Recording Banjo on My Knee is a 1936 American comedy film directed by John Cromwell. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Sound...
(1936) - Three GodfathersThree Godfathers (1936 film)Three Godfathers is a 1936 western film, adapted from the novel of the same name by Peter B. Kyne. Three bank robbers find a newborn baby and his dying mother in the desert...
(1936) - These ThreeThese ThreeThese Three is a 1936 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1934 play The Children's Hour....
(1936) - The Moon's Our HomeThe Moon's Our Home-Plot summary:A comedy about marriage and everything relating to it. A New York novelist Henry Fonda meets up with an actress, Margaret Sullavan, and the two date and later marry, though neither knows of the other's fame...
(1936) - Fury (1936)
- Come and Get ItCome and Get It (film)Come and Get It is a 1936 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Jules Furthman is based on the 1935 novel of the same title by Edna Ferber.-Plot:...
(1936) - The BuccaneerThe Buccaneer (1938 film)The Buccaneer is a 1938 American adventure film made by Paramount Pictures based on Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. It was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Harold Lamb, Edwin Justus Mayer and C. Gardner Sullivan adapted by Jeanie...
(1938) - The Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938 film)The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 American drama film directed by Norman Taurog. The screenplay by John V.A. Weaver was based on the classic 1876 novel by Mark Twain.-Plot:...
(1938) - The Cowboy and the LadyThe Cowboy and the Lady (1938 film)The Cowboy and the Lady is a 1938 American western romantic comedy film directed by H.C. Potter, and starring Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon. The film was written by S.N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, based on a story by Frank R. Adams and veteran film director Leo McCarey...
(1938) - KentuckyKentucky (film)Kentucky is a 1938 Technicolor film with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan. It was directed by David Butler. It is a Romeo and Juliet story of lovers Jack and Sally, set amidst Kentucky horseracing, in which a family feud goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by Sally's Uncle...
(1938) - The Story of Vernon and Irene CastleThe Story of Vernon and Irene CastleThe Story of Vernon and Irene Castle is an American biographical musical comedy, released in 1939 and directed by H.C. Potter. The film stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edna May Oliver, and Walter Brennan....
(1939) - They Shall Have MusicThey Shall Have MusicThey Shall Have Music is a 1939 musical film starring famed violinist Jascha Heifetz , Joel McCrea, Andrea Leeds, and Gene Reynolds...
(1939) - Stanley and LivingstoneStanley and LivingstoneStanley and Livingstone is a movie about reporter Sir Henry M. Stanley's quest for Dr. David Livingstone, a missionary presumed lost in Africa. Spencer Tracy played Stanley, Sir Cedric Hardwicke portrayed Livingstone, and other cast members included Nancy Kelly, Walter Brennan, Charles Coburn,...
(1939) - Northwest Passage (1940)
- The Westerner (1940)
- Meet John DoeMeet John DoeMeet John Doe is a 1941 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist and pursued by a wealthy businessman. It became a box office hit...
(1941) - Sergeant YorkSergeant YorkSergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
(1941) - This Woman is Mine (1941)
- Swamp WaterSwamp WaterSwamp Water is a 1941 film directed by Jean Renoir, starring Walter Brennan, produced at 20th Century Fox, and based on the novel by Vereen Bell. The drama was shot on location at Okefenokee Swamp, Waycross, Georgia, USA. This was Renoir's first American film...
(1941)
- The Pride of the YankeesThe Pride of the YankeesThe Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. The film is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before the film's release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral...
(1942) - Stand by for ActionStand by for ActionStand by for Action is a 1942 war film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy and Charles Laughton and featuring Walter Brennan. Suggested by a story by Laurence Kirk, and with an original story by Captain Harvey Haislip and R. C. Sherriff, the film's screenplay was...
(1942) - Slightly DangerousSlightly DangerousSlightly Dangerous is a 1943 American romantic comedy film starring Lana Turner and Robert Young. A bored young woman in a dead-end job runs away to New York City and ends up impersonating the long-lost daughter of a millionaire. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles and written by Charles...
(1943) - The North StarThe North Star (1943 film)The North Star is a 1943 war film produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Lewis Milestone and written by Lillian Hellman. The film starred Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan and Erich von Stroheim...
(1943) - To Have and Have NotTo Have and Have Not (film)To Have and Have Not is a 1944 romance-war-adventure film. The movie was directed by Howard Hawks and stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, and Lauren Bacall in her first film...
(1944) - The Princess and the PirateThe Princess and the PirateThe Princess and the Pirate is a 1944 American comedy film released by Samuel Goldwyn, starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo. This was the only appearance in a Goldwyn film by Paramount Pictures star Hope.-Plot:...
(1944) - DakotaDakota (film)Dakota is a 1945 Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring John Wayne.-Cast:* John Wayne - John Devlin* Vera Ralston - Sandy Poli * Walter Brennan - Capt. Bounce of the Riverbird* Ward Bond - Jim Bender* Mike Mazurki - Bigtree Collins...
(1945) - A Stolen Life (1946)
- Centennial SummerCentennial SummerCentennial Summer is a 1946 film directed by Otto Preminger. The musical, that stars Jeanne Crain and Cornel Wilde, is based on a novel by Albert E. Idell.It was produced in response to the hugely successful MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis...
(1946) - Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
- My Darling ClementineMy Darling ClementineMy Darling Clementine is a 1946 western movie. It was directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, and others.The movie...
(1946) - Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! is a 1948 comedy film which is known for being one of Marilyn Monroe's earliest films ....
(1948) - Red River (1948)
- Blood on the MoonBlood on the MoonBlood on the Moon is an RKO black-and-white "psychological" western directed by Robert Wise with cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca. The film, starring Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Robert Preston has many film noir elements. It was shot in California and some of the more scenic shots...
(1948) - Task ForceTask Force (film)Task Force is a war film filmed in black and white with some Technicolor sequences about the development of U.S. aircraft carriers from the USS Langley to the USS Franklin . The film stars Gary Cooper, Jane Wyatt, Walter Brennan, Wayne Morris, Julie London, and Jack Holt.-Plot:Depicted as a 1917...
(1949) - A Ticket to TomahawkA Ticket to TomahawkA Ticket to Tomahawk is a 1950 comedy/western film directed by Richard Sale and starring Dan Dailey and Anne Baxter.-Plot:In 1876 Dawson wants to prevent a train from getting to Tomahawk, Colorado on time, so to keep it from competing with his stage coach line. Kit Dodge Jr...
(1950) - Along the Great DivideAlong the Great DivideAlong the Great Divide is a 1951 American western film directed by Raoul Walsh. The movie stars Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, John Agar, and Walter Brennan.-Plot:...
(1951) - Lure of the WildernessLure of the WildernessLure of the Wilderness is a 1952 romantic adventure film directed by Jean Negulesco. The film, which was shot in Technicolor, is based on the 1941 novel Swamp Water by Vereen Bell, and is a remake of the Jean Renoir's 1941 adaption of the novel featuring Walter Brennan in a smaller version of his...
(1952) - The Far CountryThe Far CountryThe Far Country is a 1954 American western movie directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their fourth western collaboration...
(1954) - Drums Across the River (1954)
- Bad Day at Black RockBad Day at Black RockBad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 thriller film directed by John Sturges that combines elements of Westerns and film noir. It tells the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a tiny isolated town in a desert of the southwest United States in search of a man...
(1955) - Come Next SpringCome Next SpringCome Next Spring is a drama film made in Trucolor for Republic Pictures starring Steve Cochran as a former alcoholic who returns to the wife he deserted years ago, played by Ann Sheridan, and their children....
(1956) - Good-bye, My LadyGood-bye, My Lady (film)Good-bye, My Lady is a 1956 American film adaptation of the novel Good-bye, My Lady by James H. Street. The book had been inspired by Street's original story appearing in The Saturday Evening Post. As written, the story takes place in Mississippi, but was Hollywood changed to the state of Georgia,...
(1956) - The Proud OnesThe Proud OnesThe Proud Ones is a 1956 western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo.-Plot synopsis:Cass Silver , marshal of a small Kansas town, is expecting trouble with the arrival of the first Texas trail herds on the newly completed railroad...
(1956) - Tammy and the BachelorTammy and the BachelorTammy and the Bachelor is a 1957 romantic comedy film and is the first of the four Tammy films. It stars Debbie Reynolds as Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree, Walter Brennan as Grandpa Dinwitty and Leslie Nielsen as Peter Brent...
(1957) - Rio Bravo (1959)
- How the West Was WonHow the West Was Won (film)How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film. The picture was one of the last "old-fashioned" epic films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to enjoy great success. It follows four generations of a family as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean...
(1962) - The Gnome-MobileThe Gnome-MobileThe Gnome-Mobile is a 1967 Disney musical film, directed by Robert Stevenson. It was one of the last films personally produced by Walt Disney....
(1967) - Who's Minding the Mint?Who's Minding the Mint?Who's Minding the Mint? is a comedy movie from 1967 with elements of a caper film. Howard Morris directed a cast that included Jim Hutton, Dorothy Provine, Walter Brennan and Milton Berle. It was produced by Norman Maurer for Columbia Pictures....
(1967) - Support Your Local Sheriff!Support Your Local Sheriff!Support Your Local Sheriff! is a 1969 American comic western film which parodies the often-filmed scenario of an iconoclastic new arrival who tames a lawless frontier town...
(1969) - The Over-the-Hill GangThe Over-the-Hill GangThe Over-the-Hill Gang is a 1969 TV-movie Western comedy about aging Texas Rangers starring Walter Brennan and Pat O'Brien. Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Andy Devine, and Jack Elam play supporting roles...
(1969) - The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides AgainThe Over-the-Hill Gang Rides AgainThe Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again starring Walter Brennan and Fred Astaire is a 1970 ABC Movie of the Week sequel to the Western comedy The Over-the-Hill Gang. The supporting cast includes Edgar Buchanan, Andy Devine, Chill Wills, Lana Wood, and Burt Mustin...
(1970)