Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan, Was highly thought of as a film character actor, Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 3 times. He is tied with Jack Nicholson for the most Academy Award wins for a male actor.

While Walter Brennan was studying engineering, he became interested in acting, and began to perform in Vaudeville. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a private with the 101st Field Artillery Regiment in France during World War I. After the war, he moved to Guatemala and raised pineapples. In 1920 Walter moved to Los Angeles and sold real estate, he did very well until the market took a sudden downturn. Broke, he began taking bit parts in as many films as he could, including; The Invisible Man(1933) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). In the 1930s, he began performing in more substantial roles. Receiving the very first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the period film Come and Get It (1936). Two years later he played the town drunk in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Throughout his career, Brennan played characters older than he was in real life. A 1932 accident that cost him his teeth and his thinning hair, made him seem older than he really was. Director Jean Renoir gave him his first leading role in Swamp Water(1941). In Sergeant York(1941), he played a preacher who befriend the title character played by Gary Cooper. He hardly played the villain, except for the roles; My Darling Clementine (1946), How the West Was Won (1961), The Westerner (1940), where he won his 3rd best supporting actor Academy Award.

From 1957-1963, he starred in the ABCs television series, The Real McCoys. 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. From 1970 to 1971, he was a regular on the show To Rome With Love, which was his last TV show. He is probably best known for his performances in the Westerns: Red River and in Rio Bravo. Both directed by Howard Hawks. Brennan's career never really went into decline. As he grew older, he continued to endear him to new generations of fans. Walter would perform in more than 230 film and television roles, a career spanning over 50 years.

List of Walter Brennan, WESTERNS:
Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Shoot Out at Big Sag(1962)
Rio Bravo (1959)
At Gunpoint (1955
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Four Guns to the Border (1954)
The Far Country (1954)
Drums Across the River
Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
Return of the Texan (1952)
Best of the Badmen (1951)
Along the Great Divide (1951)
The Showdown (1950)
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek 1950
A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
Singing Guns (1950)
Blood on the Moon (1948
Red River(1948)
Driftwood (1947)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Hangmen Also Die!
The Westerner (1940)
The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
The Texans(1938)
Banjo on My Knee(1936)
Three Godfathers (1936)
Law Beyond the Range (193)
Northern Frontier (1935)
Texas Cyclone (1932)
The Long, Long Trail (1929)
The Lariat Kid (1929)
Smilin' Guns(1929)