Top Ten Western Actors No 9 - Walter Brennan

Although never a leading man, he just wasn't the type, he didn't have the looks nor the teeth for that (he actually lost those in a 1932 accident), Walter Brennan improved ever single western he appeared in. Even when he starred alongside screen giants like John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Humphrey Bogart he would steal every scene he appeared in. He won the Oscar for best supporting actor three times and currently ties with Jack Nicholson for the most wins by a male actor.

Although primarily remembered for his western roles, Brennan was arguably the greatest character actor there has ever been and even if you remove all the westerns from his filmography it is still an impressive list - Sgt York, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Swamp Water to name but three.

Brennan excelled at playing grumpy old men, usually as the sidekick to the hero. One of the best examples of this is when he played Nadine Groot in one of John Wayne's best westerns, Red River. His performance in this picture never missed a beat and he provided strong support to the story of feuding father and adopted son. Incredible to think that only two years previously Brennan had been so menacing as Old Man Clanton in the classic, Oh My Darling Clementine. Yep Brennan had a wide range - from the lovable old man of Rio Bravo to the sadistic Jeb Hawkins of How the West was Won.

Rio Bravo is an excellent example of the Brennan's skill and screen presence - he appears alongside John Wayne and Dean Martin, who were both at the top of their form, and yet he still manages to make the movie his own.It was the same alongside James Stewert in The Far Country.

The western, any movie in fact, is so much more than just the actor whose name comes first in the credits and Brennan knew this.

Walter Brennan they certainly don't make em like him anymore.

Key westerns:
My Darling Clementine
Red River
Bad Day at Black Rock
Blood on the Moon
The Far Country
Rio Bravo
The Proud Ones

Below we have embedded a nice little video of a comedy Walter Brennan song called, Don't go near the Indians.

ARCHIVE IDOLS - WALTER BRENNAN

Walter Brennan claimed that he only ever played two kinds of role - those where he wore his false teeth and those where he didn't. It was a typical comment from the modest actor but hardly true. During his career he won no less than three Oscars as Best Supporting Actor but more importantly he entertained millions of film fans and his work continues to delight even today.

I actually worked with the great man's grandson, Stuart Brennan in the forthcoming film The Risen - I never did get to talk to him about Walter, though. I did however get to do a one on one scene with Stuart - it was my pub, he rushed into demanding to use the telephone, so I've kinda got an association with the great Walter Brennan and hopefully I'll get to chat with Stuart about Walter, one of my all time screen idols, another time.

Walter was born in 1894 and began working as a film extra in his Twenties. He started out with his close friend, Gary Cooper and by the end of the decade he had started to make a name for himself in westerns. This kind of low budget B-picture suited him and it wasn't until 1935 that he got his first major role in The Wedding Night and then he was put under contract to Samuel Golwyn to offer the perfect contrast to actors such as John Wayne, Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper. The seriousness of these big stars allowed Walter's open hearted acting to shine through - the famous clucking in Rio Bravo, the theatrical swishes in Sergeant York, the mad chattering in To Have and Have Not and his philosophical musings in Red River. Walter Brennan enhanced every film he appeared in.

Rio Bravo (1959) would be far less a film without Brennan's Stumpy - his rural origins shone out of the character and he was a natural with this kind of busy body role. In my first western novel, The Tarnished Star the character of Em is very much based on the kind of roles Walter Brennan would play.

But although he specialised in cantankerous old men there was so much more to his range - his brooding, sinister performance in My Darling Clementine is a stark contrast to his usual good natured characters. And his cameo as the evil river trader in How the West was Won is a stand-out in a movie full of stand-out performances. And his role as an intellectual humanist in Fritz Lang's Hangmen also Die (1943) was a powerhouse of depth and dignity. Few actors have had such a rich and varied career as Walter Brennan.

Brennan was gassed during World War I and he suffered from ill health ever after - sometimes this would make filming a grind for the actor, particularly in his later years. He retired from film after 1969's Support Your Local Sheriff but he would continue to make television appearances until his death in 1974 - he left behind him 120 films.