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Walter Brennan

Highest Rated: 100% The Westerner (1940)

Lowest Rated: 12% The Oscar (1966)

Birthday: Jul 25, 1894

Birthplace: Swampscott, Massachusetts, USA

One of the most immediately recognizable character actors of the 20th century, Walter Brennan enjoyed a four-decade career playing colorful, often sage older men in a vast array of legendary films, including "Kentucky" (1938), "The Westerner" (1940), "To Have and Have Not" (1943) and "My Darling Clementine" (1946). Damaged vocal cords allowed him to play elderly men while still in his forties, which Brennan imbued with a rascally charm that made him an immediate favorite among moviegoers. After toiling in bit parts for a decade, he claimed his first Oscar as Frances Farmer's father in "Come and Get It" (1936), then repeated the feat as a curmudgeonly horse owner in "Kentucky" (1938). His third Oscar came with one of his most memorable turns as the corrupt Old West judge Roy Bean, who, in Brennan's capable hands, was equally winning and frightening in "The Westerner" (1940). He soon became a fixture of screen Westerns, including "My Darling Clementine" (1946) and "Red River" (1948), before moving to television for the popular "Real McCoys" (ABC, 1957-1962). The series extended his career for another two decades, as did films like "Rio Bravo" (1959), "How the West Was Won" (1963). Still active into his seventh decade, Brennan died in 1974, leaving behind a storied legacy of screen roles that enshrined him as one of the most memorable character actors in Hollywood history.

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Highest rated movies

100% 77% The Westerner
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100% 75% The Far Country
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100% 67% Northwest Passage
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100% 86% My Darling Clementine
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100% 87% Red River
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97% 87% Bad Day at Black Rock
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96% 91% Rio Bravo
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94% 89% The Pride of the Yankees
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94% 90% To Have and Have Not Watchlist
94% 88% Fury
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Smoke in the Wind H.P. Kingman (Character) - 1975
No Score Yet 37% Home for the Holidays Benjamin Morgan (Character) - 1972
No Score Yet No Score Yet Two for the Money Cody Guilford (Character) - 1972
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Day They Hanged Kid Curry Silky O'Sullivan (Character) - 1971
No Score Yet 31% The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again Nash Crawford (Character) - 1970
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Young Country Sheriff Matt Fenley (Character) - 1970
No Score Yet 25% The Over-the-Hill Gang Nash Crawford (Character) - 1969
80% 82% Support Your Local Sheriff! Pa Danby (Character) - 1969
No Score Yet 61% The Family Band Grandpa Bower (Character) - 1968
No Score Yet 74% Who's Minding the Mint? Pop Gillis (Character) - 1967
No Score Yet 58% The Gnome-Mobile D.J. Mulrooney/Knobby (Character) - 1967
12% 29% The Oscar Orrin C. Quentin (Character) - 1966
No Score Yet 52% Those Calloways Alf Simes (Character) - 1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet Shoot Out at Big Sag "Preacher" Hawker (Character) - 1962
88% 74% How the West Was Won Col. Jeb Hawkins (Character) - 1962
96% 91% Rio Bravo Stumpy (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet 83% Tammy and the Bachelor Grandpa (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet God Is My Partner Dr. Charles Grayson (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet 86% Goodbye, My Lady Uncle Jesse Jackson (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet 53% The Proud Ones Jake (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet No Score Yet Glory Ned Otis (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet 58% Come Next Spring Jeffrey Storys (Character) - 1955
100% 75% The Far Country Ben Tatum (Character) - 1955
97% 87% Bad Day at Black Rock Doc T.R. Velie Jr. (Character) - 1955
No Score Yet 33% At Gunpoint Doc Lacy (Character) - 1955
No Score Yet No Score Yet Drums Across the River Sam Brannon (Character) - 1954
No Score Yet No Score Yet Four Guns to the Border Simon Bhumer (Character) - 1954
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sea of Lost Ships C.P.O 'Chief' O'Malley (Character) - 1953
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lure of the Wilderness Jim Harper (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet No Score Yet Return of the Texan Grandpa Firth Crockett (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet 23% Best of the Badmen Ephraim "Doc" Butcher (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet 56% Along the Great Divide Timothy `'Pop'` Keith (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Showdown Cap MacKellar (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet Singing Guns Dr. Jonathan Mark (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet Curtain Call at Cactus Creek Rimrock Thomas (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet Surrender Sheriff Bill Howard (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet 50% A Ticket to Tomahawk Terence Sweeny (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet 55% The Green Promise Mr. Matthews (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet 60% Task Force Pete Richard (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet No Score Yet Brimstone Brimstone "Pop" Courteen (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet No Score Yet Scudda-Hoo! Scudda-Hay! Tony Maule (Character) - 1948
83% 64% Blood on the Moon Kris Barden (Character) - 1948
100% 87% Red River Groot Nadine (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet 62% Driftwood Murph (Character) - 1947
No Score Yet 75% A Stolen Life Eben Folger (Character) - 1946
No Score Yet 71% Nobody Lives Forever Pop Gruber (Character) - 1946
100% 86% My Darling Clementine Old Man Clanton (Character) - 1946
No Score Yet No Score Yet Centennial Summer Jesse Rogers (Character) - 1946
No Score Yet 44% Dakota Capt. Bounce (Character) - 1945
No Score Yet 83% The Princess and the Pirate Featherhead (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet 60% Home in Indiana J. F. `'Thunder'` Bolt (Character) - 1944
94% 90% To Have and Have Not Eddie (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet 75% Slightly Dangerous Cornelius Burden (Character) - 1943
87% 67% Hangmen Also Die Prof. Stephen Novotny (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet 31% The North Star Karp (Character) - 1943
94% 89% The Pride of the Yankees Sam Blake (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet 17% Stand by for Action Chief Yeoman Henry Johnson (Character) - 1942
92% 82% Meet John Doe The Colonel (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet 70% Swamp Water Tom Keefer (Character) - 1941
85% 86% Sergeant York Pastor Rosier Pile (Character) - 1941
80% 67% Nice Girl? Hector Titus (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rise and Shine Grandpa (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet Maryland William Stewart (Character) - 1940
100% 67% Northwest Passage `'Hunk'` Marriner (Character) - 1940
100% 77% The Westerner Judge Roy Bean (Character) - 1940
No Score Yet 64% They Shall Have Music Professor Lawson (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet 52% Stanley and Livingstone Jeff Slocum (Character) - 1939
86% 67% The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle Walter Ash (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President Jim (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet 63% The Cowboy and the Lady Sugar (Character) - 1938
No Score Yet 35% Kentucky Peter Goodwin (Character) - 1938
No Score Yet 57% The Texans Chuckawalla (Character) - 1938
No Score Yet 85% The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Muff Potter (Character) - 1938
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mother Carey's Chickens Mr. Ossian Popham (Character) - 1938
No Score Yet No Score Yet Affairs of Cappy Ricks Cappy Ricks (Character) - 1937
No Score Yet No Score Yet She's Dangerous Ote O'Leary (Character) - 1937
No Score Yet No Score Yet Wild and Woolly Gramp 'Hercules' Flynn (Character) - 1937
91% 69% Come and Get It Swan Bostrom (Character) - 1936
No Score Yet 0% Banjo on My Knee Newt Holley (Character) - 1936
94% 88% Fury `'Bugs'` Meyers (Character) - 1936
50% 75% Three Godfathers Sam "Gus" Barton (Character) - 1936
No Score Yet No Score Yet Miracle in the Sand Gus (Character) - 1936
No Score Yet No Score Yet Northern Frontier Stuttering Cook (Character) - 1935
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Wedding Night Bill Jenkins (Character) - 1935
92% 52% Barbary Coast Old Atrocity (Character) - 1935
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Perfect Tribute Unknown (Character) - 1935
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Life of Vergie Winters Roscoe - a Gossiper (uncredited) (Character) - 1934
No Score Yet No Score Yet Death on the Diamond Hot Dog Vendor (Character) - 1934
No Score Yet No Score Yet Man of Action Summers - Cashier (Character) - 1933
No Score Yet No Score Yet Two-Fisted Law Deputy Sheriff Bendix (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet 20% Miss Pinkerton Police Dispatcher (uncredited) (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet 22% Texas Cyclone Sheriff Lew Collins (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet No Score Yet Scratch-As-Catch-Can Unknown (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet No Score Yet The All-American Unknown (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet No Score Yet Guns A'Blazing Lanky Smith (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet No Score Yet Grief Street Walt (Character) - 1931

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Real McCoys Grampa Amos McCoy (Character) 1957-1963 2022
No Score Yet No Score Yet Alias Smith and Jones Unknown (Guest Star) 1971-1972
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Guns of Will Sonnett Unknown (Character) 1967-1969
No Score Yet No Score Yet What's My Line? Guest 1957 1959 1966
No Score Yet No Score Yet I've Got a Secret Guest 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Zane Grey Theatre Unknown (Character) 1956-1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet Showcase 39 Unknown (Character) 1956
No Score Yet No Score Yet Screen Directors Playhouse Unknown (Character) 1955