Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan
Brennan in a publicity photo, 1958
Born	Walter Andrew Brennan (1894-07-25)July 25, 1894 Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	September 21, 1974(1974-09-21) (aged 80) Oxnard, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Emphysema
Resting place	San Fernando Mission Cemetery
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Rindge Technical High School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1925–1974
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ruth Wells (m. 1920–1974, until his death)
Children	Andrew, Ruth, and Arthur

Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1936, 1938 and 1940, making him one of three male actors to win three Academy Awards.

Brennan was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, less than two miles from his family's home in Swampscott. He was the second of three children born to William John Brennan (September 2, 1868 in Malden, Massachusetts, – August 17, 1936 in Pasadena, California) and the former Margaret Elizabeth Flanagan (June 4, 1869 in Charlestown, Massachusetts – February 1, 1955, also in Pasadena. His parents were both of Irish descent. The elder Brennan was an engineer and inventor, and young Walter studied engineering at Rindge Technical High School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

While in school, Brennan became interested in acting. He began to perform in vaudeville at the age of 15. While working as a bank clerk, he enlisted in the United States 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 before settling in Los Angeles. During the 1920s, he made a fortune in the real estate market, but he lost most of his money during the Great Depression.

Finding himself broke, he began taking parts as an extra in films in 1925 and then bit parts in as many films as he could, including Texas Cyclone and Two Fisted Law with another newcomer to Hollywood, John Wayne. Brennan also had bit parts in The Invisible Man (1933), Girl Missing (1933), the Three Stooges short Woman Haters (1934), and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), in which he had a brief speaking part and also worked as a stunt man. In the 1930s, he began appearing in higher-quality films and received more substantial roles as his talent was recognized. This culminated with his receiving the first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Swan Bostrom in the period film Come and Get It (1936). Two years later, he portrayed town drunk and accused murderer Muff Potter in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.