WALTER BRENNAN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Walter Andrew Brennan was born in Lynn, Massachusetts to parents of Irish decent on July 25th, 1894.  His father was a very intelligent man and worked as an inventor and a engineer.  While Brennan was in school, he too studied engineering at Rindge Technical High School but also became involved with the drama department and acting.  He was partly involved in working vaudeville.
 
He went on to college at Cambridge, Massachusetts continuing to study engineering.  While in school he continued to show an interest in acting, and also held some side jobs such as a bank attendant and a lumberjack.  
 
After school he proceeded to work part time at the bank job and then briefly held a job as a newspaper reporter in Boston.  In 1914 Brennan decided to join the US Army during World War I.  After the war he moved to Guatemala and raised pineapples and then decided he was now ready to relocate to Los Angeles, California.
 
Walter did not take a chance at acting right away.  He began with investing in real estate and made quite a decent income until the Great Depression hit and then he lost his fortune.  He also married Ruth Wells and together they had one daughter and two sons. 
 
It was this financial loss that made him to now decide to take his chance at acting.  He began with taking some extra jobs in 1923 with his first appearance being on a film under Universal.  Due to a accident in 1932 while working as a stuntman which caused him to lose many teeth in combination with his thinning hair, Brennan now had a different appearance and character look.  Therefore, when he did begin getting cast for bit parts it was normally portraying characters much older then his true age.  He was also injured during World War 1, when he was caught in a gas attack and this took a permanent affect on his vocal chords and the way his voice sounded. 
 
By the early 30's he was getting cast in various movies with some small roles in such films as, "The Invisible Man" (1933) and "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935).  He then began to get more roles in some better quality films and Hollywood was beginning to recognize he had a decent talent for acting.
 
He actually received his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for a role in, "Come and Get It" (1936).  He was also cast in, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1938) portraying a town drunk.  He accumulated two more Academy Awards for his roles on, "Kentucky" (1938) and "The Westerner" (1940) starring alongside of Gary Cooper.  This made Brennan the only actor to ever win three Supporting Actor Oscars.  Then in 1941, Brennan was cast in a leading role in, "Swamp Water" followed by another Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in, "Sergeant York" (1941) again teaming with Gary Cooper.    

He teamed up with Gary Cooper again in a comedy "Meet John Doe" which also starred James Gleason and Barbara Stanwick in 1941.
 
Majority of the time he portrayed the same type of character, however a couple films he worked on, he did play the villain character in, "My Darling Clementine" (1946) starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell and Victor Mature, as a horse thief and "How the West Was Won" (1962).  Whatever type of role Brennan took on, it was always films of the highest quality and working with the best directors of the era.  
 
Brennan was not limited to film acting, he was also involved in television and music.  He starred in the ABC series, "The Real McCoys" from 1957 to 1963.  He made quite a few recordings, one of the more popular being, "Old Rivers" (1962).  Some other television series he was involved in were, "The Tycoon" (1964-1965), "The Guns of Will Sonnett" (1967) and was a regular on, "To Rome With Love" (1970-1971).  In 1969 Walter starred in a made-for-TV movie titled "The Over-the-Hill Gang along with fellow western actors Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan and Fred Astaire where retired Texas Rangers come together one last time to rid a town of outlaws before returning to the senior citizen homes there have been living in the past few years due to their advanced ages.  His television career helped pave the way for many other comedies to follow.   
 
Overall, Brennan appeared in over 230 films and television roles and his acting career never took a hit.  His career lasted over 50 years and for his contribution to the Motion Picture Industry he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Brennan was inducted into the Western performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

Walter Brennan passed away from Emphysema complications at the age of eighty in Oxnard on September 21st, 1974.  His remains were interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. 
 

Filmography
  
1975   Smoke in the Wind
1972   Home for the Holidays
1972   Two for the Money
1971-1972  Alias Smith and Jones
1970-1971  To Rome with Love 
1970   The Tim Conway Comedy Hour
1970   The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again
1969-1970  The Red Skelton Hour
1970   The Young Country
1969   The Over-the-Hill Gang
1967-1969  The Guns of Will Sonnett 
1969   Support Your Local Sheriff!
1968   The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band
1967   Who's Minding the Mint?
1967   The Gnome-Mobile
1966   The Oscar
1964-1965  The Tycoon 
1965   Those Calloways
1965   The Shooting of Dan McGrew
1957-1963  The Real McCoys
1962   How the West Was Won
1962   Shoot Out at Big Sag

1959   Rio Bravo
1958   Colgate Theatre
1956-1957  Zane Grey Theatre
1957   God Is My Partner
1957   The Way to the Gold
1957   Tammy and the Bachelor
1956   The Ford Television Theatre
1956   Cavalcade of America
1956   Ethel Barrymore Theater
1953-1956  Schlitz Playhouse
1956   The Proud Ones
1956   Good-bye, My Lady
1956   Come Next Spring
1956   Glory
1955   At Gunpoint
1955   Screen Directors Playhouse
1955   Bad Day at Black Rock
1955   Man on a Bus
1954   Four Guns to the Border
1954   The Far Country
1954   Drums Across the River
1953   Sea of Lost Ships
1952   Lure of the Wilderness
1952   Return of the Texan
1951   The Wild Blue Yonder
1951   Best of the Badmen
1951   Along the Great Divide
1950   Surrender
1950   The Showdown
1950   Curtain Call at Cactus Creek
1950   A Ticket to Tomahawk
1950   Singing Guns
1949   Task Force
1949   Brimstone
1949   The Green Promise
1948   Blood on the Moon
1948   Red River
1948   Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!
1947   Driftwood
1946   My Darling Clementine
1946   Nobody Lives Forever
1946   Centennial Summer
1946   A Stolen Life
1945   Dakota
1944   The Princess and the Pirate
1944   To Have and Have Not
1944   Home in Indiana
1943   The North Star
1943   The Last Will and Testament of Tom Smith
1943   Slightly Dangerous
1943   Hangmen Also Die!
1942   Stand by for Action
1942   The Pride of the Yankees
1941   Rise and Shine
1941   Swamp Water
1941   This Woman Is Mine
1941   Sergeant York
1941   Meet John Doe
1941   Nice Girl?
1940   The Westerner
1940   Maryland
1940   Northwest Passage 
1939   Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
1939   Stanley and Livingstone
1939   They Shall Have Music
1939   The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
1938   Kentucky
1938   The Cowboy and the Lady
1938   Mother Carey's Chickens
1938   The Texans
1938   The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1938   The Buccaneer
1937   Wild and Woolly
1937   Affairs of Cappy Ricks
1937   When Love Is Young
1937   She's Dangerous
1936   Banjo on My Knee
1936   Come and Get It
1936   Fury
1936   The Moon's Our Home
1936   These Three
1936   Three Godfathers
1935   Seven Keys to Baldpate
1935   Metropolitan
1935   Barbary Coast
1935   We're in the Money
1935   The Perfect Tribute
1935   Alice Adams
1935   Welcome Home
1935   Man on the Flying Trapeze
1935   Lady Tubbs
1935   Spring Tonic
1935   Party Wire
1935   Bride of Frankenstein
1935   West Point of the Air
1935   Gold Diggers of 1935
1935   The Wedding Night
1935   Hunger Pains
1935   Restless Knights
1935   Law Beyond the Range
1935   Mystery of Edwin Drood
1935   Northern Frontier
1935   Brick-a-Brac
1935   Helldorado
1935   Biography of a Bachelor Girl
1934   The Painted Veil
1934   Prescott Kid
1934   Cheating Cheaters
1934   There's Always Tomorrow
1934   Tailspin Tommy
1934   Gridiron Flash
1934   Great Expectations
1934   Death on the Diamond
1934   Whom the Gods Destroy
1934   Murder in the Private Car
1934   The Life of Vergie Winters
1934   Half a Sinner
1934   Woman Haters
1934   Fishing for Trouble
1934   I'll Tell the World
1934   Uncertain Lady
1934   Riptide
1934   Good Dame
1934   George White's Scandals 
1934   The Crosby Case
1934   The Poor Rich
1934   Radio Dough
1934   Paradise Valley
1934   You Can't Buy Everything
1934   I Beloved
1934   Cross Country Cruise
1934   Fugitive Lovers
1933   King for a Night
1933   The Invisible Man
1933   My Woman
1933   Curtain at Eight
1933   Saturday's Millions
1933   Golden Harvest
1933   Sensation Hunters
1933   One Year Later
1933   Sing, Sinner, Sing
1933   Baby Face
1933   Strange People
1933   I Phantom of the Air
1933   Lilly Turner
1933   The Big Cage
1933   The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble
1933   Rustlers' Roundup
1933   Girl Missing
1933   Goldie Gets Along
1933   Parachute Jumper
1933   Man of Action
1932   Manhattan Tower
1932   Merry-Go-Round
1932   Strange Justice
1932   Once in a Lifetime
1932   The All-American
1932   The Fourth Horseman
1932   Fighting for Justice
1932   The Iceman's Ball 
1932   Cornered
1932   Miss Pinkerton
1932   Speed Madness
1932   Hello Trouble
1932   Two-Fisted Law
1932   Scandal for Sale
1932   The Airmail Mystery
1932   The Impatient Maiden
1932   Law and Order
1932   Texas Cyclone
1931   A House Divided
1931   Scratch-As-Catch-Can
1931   Neck and Neck
1931   Is There Justice?
1931   Grief Street
1931   Dancing Dynamite
1931   Honeymoon Lane
1931   Heroes of the Flames
1931   Many a Slip
1931   Hello Russia
1930   Ooh La-La
1930   See America Thirst
1930   Parlez Vous
1930   Little Accident
1930   King of Jazz
1930   Captain of the Guard
1930   Dames Ahoy
1929   The Shannons of Broadway
1929   The Long, Long Trail
1929   One Hysterical Night
1929   Flight
1929   Flying High
1929   The Lariat Kid
1929   Smilin' Guns
1929   The Cohens and Kellys in Atlantic City
1929   Silks and Saddles
1928   The Racket
1928   The Michigan Kid
1928   Hot Heels
1928   The Ballyhoo Buster
1927   The Last Performance
1927   Blake of Scotland Yard
1927   Alias the Deacon
1927   The Ridin' Rowdy
1927   Tearin' Into Trouble
1927   Sensation Seekers
1927   Flashing Oars 
1926   The Collegians
1926   Spangles
1926   The Ice Flood
1926   Watch Your Wife
1925   Webs of Steel
1925   Lorraine of the Lions