Walter Brennan
Age: 80 | From: Lynn, Massachusetts, USA
Person Details
Birthday: 1894-07-25 17:12:08
Death: 1974-09-21 17:12:08
Aliases: Walter Andrew Brennan
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Lynn, Massachusetts, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 135
TV Involvements: 9
Most Famous Work
Biography
In many ways the most successful and familiar character actor of American sound films and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying engineering. While in school he became interested in acting and performed in school plays. He worked some in vaudeville and also in various jobs such as clerking in a bank and as a lumberjack. He toured in small musical comedy companies before entering the military in 1917. After his war service he went to Guatemala and raised pineapples, then migrated to Los Angeles, where he speculated in real estate. A few jobs as a film extra came his way beginning in 1923, then some work as a stuntman. He eventually achieved speaking roles, going from bit parts to substantial supporting parts in scores of features and short subjects between 1927 and 1938. In 1936 his role in Come and Get It (1936) won him the very first Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. He would win it twice more in the decade, and be nominated for a fourth. His range was enormous. He could play sophisticated businessmen, con artists, local yokels, cowhands and military officers with apparent equal ease. An accident in 1932 cost him most of his teeth, and he most often was seen in eccentric rural parts, often playing characters much older than his actual age. His career never really declined, and in the 1950s he became an even more endearing and familiar figure in several television series, most famously The Real McCoys (1957). He died in 1974 of emphysema, a beloved figure in movies and TV, the target of countless comic impressionists, and one of the best and most prolific actors of his time.
Most Famous Work
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
(1956) Sheriff John Larson
What's My Line?
(1950) Self - Mystery Guest
Cavalcade of America
(1952) Link Morley
This Is Your Life
(1952) Self
The Oscars
(1953) Self
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
(1956) Self
Rio Bravo
(1959) Stumpy
The Bride of Frankenstein
(1935) Peasant (uncredited)Acting
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 2000 | (archive footage) | |
| 1997 | Self (archive footage) | |
| Self (archive footage) | ||
| 1993 | 'Stumpy' (archive footage) | |
| 1975 | H. P. Kingman | |
| 1974 | Benjamin Morgan | |
| 1973 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 1972 | Cody Guilford | |
| 1971 | N/A | |
| 1970 | Nash Crawford | |
| Sheriff Matt Fenley | ||
| 1969 | Nash Crawford | |
| Pa Danby | ||
| Self | ||
| 1968 | Grandpa Bower | |
| Self (archive footage) | ||
| 1967 | Pop Gillis | |
| N/A | ||
| D.J. Mulrooney / Knobby | ||
| 1966 | Quentin | |
| 1965 | Alf Simes | |
| 1962 | Col. Jeb Hawkins | |
| Self | ||
| 'Preacher' Hawker | ||
| 1959 | Stumpy | |
| 1957 | Grandpa Amos McCoy | |
| Dr. Charles Grayson | ||
| John Dinwitty | ||
| Uncle George Williams | ||
| Karp | ||
| 1956 | Self | |
| Joe | ||
| Sheriff John Larson | ||
| Self | ||
| Jake | ||
| Uncle Jesse Jackson | ||
| Jeffrey Storys | ||
| Ned Otis | ||
| 1955 | Doc Lacy | |
| Saul | ||
| Doc T.R. Velie Jr. | ||
| 1954 | Simon Bhumer | |
| Self | ||
| Sam Brannon | ||
| Ben Tatum | ||
| 1953 | C.P.O 'Chief' O'Malley | |
| Self | ||
| 1952 | Link Morley | |
| Self | ||
| Jim Harper | ||
| Grandpa Firth Crockett | ||
| Duffy | ||
| 1951 | Maj. Gen. Wolfe | |
| Ezra Jenkins | ||
| Simmons AKA Mr. Ears | ||
| N/A | ||
| 'Doc' Butcher | ||
| Timothy 'Pop' Keith | ||
| 1950 | Sheriff Bill Howard | |
| Cap MacKellar | ||
| Rimrock | ||
| Terence Sweeny | ||
| Dr. Jonathan Mark | ||
| Self - Mystery Guest | ||
| 1949 | Pete Richard | |
| Pop Courteen | ||
| Mr. Matthews | ||
| 1948 | Kris Barden | |
| 'Groot' Nadine | ||
| Tony Maule | ||
| 1947 | Murph | |
| 1946 | Pop Gruber | |
| Old Man Clanton | ||
| Jesse Rogers | ||
| Eben Folger | ||
| 1945 | Capt. Bounce of the Riverbird | |
| Eddie | ||
| 1944 | Featherhead | |
| J. F. 'Thunder' Bolt | ||
| 1943 | Karp | |
| George, Mailman | ||
| Prof. Stephen Novotny | ||
| Cornelius Burden | ||
| 1942 | Chief Yeoman Henry Johnson | |
| Sam Blake | ||
| 1941 | Grandpa | |
| Tom Keefer | ||
| Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | ||
| Pastor Rosier Pile | ||
| Captain Jonathan Thorne | ||
| The Colonel | ||
| Hector Titus | ||
| 1940 | Judge Roy Bean | |
| William P. Stewart | ||
| 'Hunk' Marriner | ||
| 1939 | Jim | |
| Jeff Slocum | ||
| Professor Lawson | ||
| Ezra Peavey (edited from 'The Buccaneer') | ||
| Walter | ||
| 1938 | Peter Goodwin | |
| Sugar | ||
| Chuckawalla | ||
| Ossian Popham | ||
| Muff Potter | ||
| Ezra Peavey | ||
| 1937 | Gramp 'Hercules' Flynn | |
| Cappy Ricks | ||
| Uncle Hugo | ||
| 'Oats' | ||
| 1936 | Newt Holley | |
| Swan Bostrom | ||
| Bugs Meyers | ||
| Lem | ||
| Taxi Driver | ||
| Samuel 'Gus' Barton | ||
| 1935 | Station Agent | |
| Grandpa | ||
| Old Atrocity | ||
| Peddler | ||
| Wedding Witness (uncredited) | ||
| Stone Cutter (uncredited) | ||
| 'Legs' Garnett | ||
| Joseph | ||
| Paul - Railroad Telegrapher (uncredited) | ||
| Peasant (uncredited) | ||
| Soldier at Kelly's Wreckage | ||
| Bill Jenkins | ||
| Father (uncredited) | ||
| Abner | ||
| First Gossip | ||
| Stuttering Cook | ||
| Lem | ||
| Pete | ||
| Reporter on Ship (uncredited) | ||
| 1934 | Zeke - Stage Driver | |
| Auto mechanic | ||
| Prisoner on Ship | ||
| Proprietor of Java Joe's | ||
| Hot Dog Vendor (uncredited) | ||
| Clifford (uncredited) | ||
| Switchman (uncredited) | ||
| Roscoe (uncredited) | ||
| Radio Announcer | ||
| Train Conductor (uncredited) | ||
| Otto - Bicycle Repair Man | ||
| Chauffeur (uncredited) | ||
| Elmer Spicer | ||
| Hick (uncredited) | ||
| Dr. Johnson the Coroner (uncredited) | ||
| Drunk Customer (uncredited) | ||
| Stuttering Boarder | ||
| Niagara Falls Boatman (Uncredited) | ||
| 2nd Bus Driver (uncredited) | ||
| 1933 | Soda Jerk | |
| Bicycle Owner (uncredited) | ||
| Auditioning Man Who Does Animal Sounds (Uncredited) | ||
| Backstage Detective [extra] | ||
| Reporter | ||
| Farmhand at Wedding (uncredited) | ||
| Stuttering Thief | ||
| Stuttering Waiter | ||
| Man Chuckling at Train Station | ||
| The Radio Repairman | ||
| 'Skid' (uncredited) | ||
| Ticket Taker | ||
| Drunk #2 | ||
| Walt (uncredited) | ||
| Joe, Garage Attendant (Uncredited) | ||
| Counterman at Jewel Diner (uncredited) | ||
| Stuttering Waiter | ||
| Cashier Summers | ||
| 1932 | Mechanic (uncredited) | |
| Protester Sign Carrier (uncredited) | ||
| Man in Junkyard | ||
| Lighting Technician (uncredited) | ||
| News Commentator at Game (uncredited) | ||
| Officer Dugan | ||
| Court Bailiff (uncredited) | ||
| Joe | ||
| Bendix the Deputy Sheriff | ||
| Police Dispatcher (uncredited) | ||
| Newspaperman | ||
| Holly | ||
| Cigar Stand Proprietor (uncredited) | ||
| Sheriff Lew Collins | ||
| Lanky Smith (uncredited) | ||
| Sailor (uncredited) | ||
| 1931 | Musician (uncredited) | |
| N/A | ||
| Hector | ||
| Walt | ||
| Driver | ||
| Minor Role (uncredited) | ||
| 1930 | Spumoni Bodyguard (uncredited) | |
| Milkman (uncredited) | ||
| Desk Sergeant ('Springtime') / Soldier ('All Noisy on the Eastern Front') / Waiter ('Oh! Forevermore!') / Front End of Horse / Quartet Member ('Nellie') | ||
| Side Show Barker | ||
| 1929 | Skinny Rawlins | |
| Clown (uncredited) | ||
| Paul Revere | ||
| Marine Pilot | ||
| Road House Thug (uncredited) | ||
| Pat O'Shea | ||
| Ranch Foreman | ||
| 1928 | Minor Role (uncredited) | |
| N/A | ||
| 1927 | Henchman (uncredited) | |
| N/A | ||
| Below Deck Yacht Crewman | ||
| Billy Martin | ||
| Hula Hula Hut Customer | ||
| 1926 | Lunch Counterman (uncredited) | |
| 1925 | Racing Spectator in Grandstand at Rodeo (uncredited) | |
| Minor Role (uncredited) | ||
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
