Walter Brennan Net Worth

Walter Brennan's Quotes

• When I see a good western . . . I just sit there. I was thrilled with Red River (1948), because I believed in it, [John Wayne] was so good, I believed in him.
• [advice to young actors] Go ahead and learn how to act, but don't get caught at it.
• I never made a movie I would not take my family to see.
• [in 1964] I'm too old not to be a religious fella. It appears we are losing something a lot of people made a lot of sacrifices for.
• I'm an American, first and last and always. I served in the trenches for nine months during World War I and I haven't regretted it until the last two or three years. It's the lefties, that's what. Everyone in this country ought to have a chance, Jew, Protestant, and . . . .. I'm sure all this trouble with the Negroes is caused by just a few of them. I've known many Negroes, many of them; they, they . . .

Interesting Facts about Walter Brennan

1. First actor to accumulate three Academy Awards and to date still the only actor to win three Oscars as Best Supporting Actor.
2. Father of Ruth Brennan with Ruth Wells Brennan.
3. Father of Arthur Wells 'Mike' Brennan and Andy Brennan with Ruth Wells Brennan.
4. Interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, San Fernando, Los Angeles County, CA.
5. Had four top-100 singles, including the Top 5 hit "Old Rivers" (Liberty Records) which first charted on April 7, 1962. The single spent 11 weeks on the Billboard charts and peaked at #5.
6. He won the first ever Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Come and Get It (1936).
7. Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1970.
8. His relatives still live in and around Joseph, OR, where the actor maintained a functioning ranch.
9. Owned a ranch and several businesses in Joseph, Oregon, including the Indian Lodge Motel which still displays several of his portraits in the office.
10. Hardly ever played the villain, usually being cast as the somewhat eccentric pal to the hero. An exception was his turn as the heartless Old Man Clanton in My Darling Clementine (1946), directed by the prickly John Ford. Ford and Brennan did not get along, and Ford was one of the few directors Brennan didn't collaborate with more than once throughout his career.
11. Always fiscally and ideologically conservative, he became politically active in later life when he saw many of the things he held dear being eroded by the counterculture movement. He supported George Wallace's presidential campaign in 1968 and in 1972 supported extreme right-wing Republican Representative John Schmitz (father of Mary Kay Letourneau), as the incumbent President Richard Nixon was viewed as too progressive by many Republicans.
12. After his military service during World War I, he moved to Los Angeles, where he got involved in the real-estate market and made a fortune. Unfortunately, the market took a sudden downturn and he lost almost all of his money. Broke, he began taking bit parts in films in order to earn money, and his career progressed from there.
13. Had already worked in vaudeville when he enlisted in the army at age 22 to serve in World War I. He served in an artillery unit and although he got through the war without being wounded, his exposure to poison gas ruined his vocal cords, leaving him with the high-pitched voice texture that made him a natural for old man roles while still in his thirties.
14. The Real McCoys (1957) was such a hit that John Wayne's production company, Batjac, was persuaded to release a previously shelved film, William A. Wellman's Good-bye, My Lady (1956), about a boy, an old man, and a dog, during the show's run.
15. Actively supported Ronald Reagan's campaign to become Governor of California in 1966.
16. Campaigned for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election, after the senator had voted against the Civil Rights Act.
17. There was some controversy over the Academy Awards Brennan won because in that period of time the rules of the Academy permitted extras to cast votes for the nominees, and Brennan, who had been an extra for some time before his more substantial roles came along, was popular among his fellow extra workers and they felt they were voting for one of their own.
18. Director Howard Hawks had related the story that, after completing Red River (1948), he was approached by an actor but couldn't quite place the face. The actor removed his teeth and said, "Do you recognize me now?" Hawks immediately recognized him as Brennan.
19. In 1925 Gary Cooper befriended another young, struggling, would-be actor named Walter Brennan. At one point they were even appearing as a team at casting offices, and although Cooper emerged in major and leading roles first, they would work together in the good years, too. Most memorably they starred in The Westerner (1940) together, where the general critical consensus was that Brennan's underplayed performance as Judge Roy Bean had stolen the film from Cooper.
20. Although he was known for playing "old-coot" Southerners complete with cackling laugh and thick Southern accent, in reality he actually had somewhat of a New England accent, being born and raised in Massachusetts.