1936: COME AND GET IT (Drama)

Received his first Supporting Actor winner for his performance as a lumberjack.

1938: KENTUCKY (Drama)

His second Supporting Oscar came for helping save a family plantation with a long-shot race at the Kentucky Derby.  

1940: THE WESTERNER (Drama)

Walter Brennan received his third Supporting Oscar for playing Judge Roy Bean in this classic western tale about land disputes.  

Although known primarily to "Boomers" from the classic TV series THE REAL McCOYS, Walter Brennan's biggest career events happened between 1936 and 1940, when he won three Best Supporting Actor Oscars: COME AND GET IT, KENTUCKY, and THE WESTERNER. Brennan's second shot at TV success, THE TYCOON, didn't fly. In many ways the most successful and best known character actor and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor.

Brennan has played sophisticated businessmen, con artists, local yokels, cowhands, and military officers. He supported John Wayne in RED RIVER (1948) and RIO BRAVO (1959), and in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946).

Walter Brennan has appeared in more than 100 feature films including:

SERGEANT YORK (1941, another Oscar nomination)
MEET JOHN DOE (1941)
THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942)
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)
RED RIVER (1948)
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955)
COME NEXT SPRING (1956)
HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962)
THOSE CALLOWAYS (1965)
THE GNOME MOBILE (1967)
SMOKE IN THE WIND (1975)

Brennan's hit TV series was THE REAL McCOYS which ran for 6 seasons. Our favorite character is when he played Pa Danby in SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF.

Walter Brennan in RIO BRAVO (1959)

Walter Brennan in THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942)

Walter Brennan in SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF

Walter Brennan in SERGEANT YORK (1941)

Brennan (left), with Bogart, in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)

Walter Brennan in RED RIVER (1948)