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Lynda Carter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Linda Jean Córdova Carter[1]
Born July 24, 1951 (1951-07-24) (age 56)
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Years active 1970s - present
Notable roles Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman

Lynda Carter (born July 24, 1951) is an American actress. She is known for the Amazonian title role in the fantasy-adventure TV series Wonder Woman which aired from 1975 to 1979.





Early life

Carter was born Linda Jean Córdova Carter in Phoenix, Arizona.[2] Her father, Colby Carter is English-American,[1] and her mother, Juana Córdova, is of Mexican ancestry.[1] Carter grew up an avid reader of the Wonder Woman comic books. She went to Globe High School in Globe, Arizona and Arcadia High School in Phoenix. She attended Arizona State University, but after being voted the "most talented" student, she dropped out in order to pursue a career in music. She toured as a singer with several rock groups before returning to Arizona in 1972.


Career

Carter entered a local beauty contest and achieved her first national fame by winning Miss World USA in 1972 representing Arizona. [1] As the United States entrant in the Miss World pageant she reached the semi-finals. After taking acting classes at several New York acting schools, she began making appearances on TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch, Cos and Nakia and B-movies including Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976).


Wonder Woman

However, her acting career did not take off until she landed her starring role in the Wonder Woman television series. Her earnest performance endeared her to fans and critics and the series lasted for three seasons. Thirty years after first taking on the role, Carter continues to be closely identified with Wonder Woman, so much so that it has proved difficult for producers to find a suitable candidate to play the character in subsequent aborted productions (work on the most recent attempt was announced in 2005).



Other credits

Carter's other credits include the title role in a 1983 biopic of Rita Hayworth and a variety of television specials. She also starred in a couple of short-lived TV series, including Partners in Crime with Loni Anderson and Hawkeye with Lee Horsley. During the late 1970s, she recorded the album Portrait and made numerous guest appearances on variety television programs in a musical capacity. She also sang two of her songs in the Wonder Woman episode "Amazon Hot Wax."

In 2001, Carter was cast in the independent comedy feature Super Troopers as Vermont Governor Jessman. The writer-stars of the film, the comedy troop Broken Lizard with member Jay Chandrasekhar directing, had specifically sought Carter for the role, with plans to approach other television actresses of the 1970s had Carter declined. Carter had her first appearance in a major feature film in a number of years in the 2005 big-screen remake of The Dukes of Hazzard, also directed by Chandrasekhar. She also appears in the 2005 movie Sky High as Principal Powers, the head of a school for superheroes. The script allowed for Carter to poke fun at her most famous character when she states: "What a waste. I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, y'know." Lynda returned to the DC Comics' television world on the 2007 episode of Smallville entitled "Progeny" playing Chloe Sullivan's Kryptonite-empowered mother.

Carter has also done voiceover work for video games, performing voices for the Nord and Orsimer (Orc) females in two computer games from The Elder Scrolls series. These are The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. These games were developed by Bethesda Softworks, of which her husband Robert Altman (not to be confused with the late Hollywood director) is Chairman and CEO.

From September 26, 2005 until November of that year, Carter played the role of Mama Morton in the West End London production of Chicago.[3] Her rendition of "When You're Good to Mama" was officially released on the Chicago: 10th Anniversary Edition cd box set in October of 2006. Receiving positive response to the song's release, Lynda booked her own cabaret tour act. It was first scheduled in San Francisco at the York Hotel's Plush Room from May 1 - 6, 2007 and proceeded to tour around the U.S. Lynda also marked July 17, 2007 as the date to record her second solo musical release. [4]


Personal life

Carter has been married twice. Her first marriage was to her former agent Ron Samuels on May 28, 1977. They were divorced in 1982. Samuels was also agent to one of Charlie's Angels - Jaclyn Smith (who attended the wedding) and the Bionic Woman - Lindsay Wagner. Carter later married Robert Altman, a lawyer at the time, on January 29, 1984. Robert and Lynda have two children, James and Jessica Altman.[1]

Anna Paquin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Anna Helene Paquin
Born July 24, 1982 (1982-07-24) (age 25)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN
Notable roles Flora McGrath in The Piano
Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue in X-Men, X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand
Amy Alden in Fly Away Home
Alison Kantrowitz in A Walk on the Moon
Academy Awards

Best Supporting Actress
1994 The Piano

Anna Helene Paquin (born July 24, 1982) is an Academy Award-winning and Golden Globe Award-nominated New Zealand actress who was born in Canada. Her breakthrough performance was in The Piano, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting actress as the second youngest winner in history.[1] She was nine years old when the movie was made, and has continued acting since.




Biography

Early life

Paquin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the child of Brian, a Canadian high school physical education teacher, and Mary (née Brophy) Paquin, an English teacher and native of Wellington, New Zealand.[2][3] Paquin moved to New Zealand when she was four. Her musical childhood hobbies in New Zealand included playing the viola, cello and piano. She has also done gymnastics, ballet, swimming and downhill skiing, but she didn't have hobbies related to acting.[4][5]

Her big-screen debut happened when she attended the open audition for Flora for The Piano. Her sister was going to the audition, and she wanted to go too.[1] The director was impressed by nine-year-old Paquin's performance of the monologue about Flora's father, and she was chosen among the 5000 candidates.[5]


1993 - 1996

When the The Piano was released in 1993 it was lauded by critics, won prizes at a number of film festivals, and eventually became a popular movie among a wide audience. Paquin's debut performance in the film earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of eleven, making her the second-youngest Oscar winner in history after Tatum O'Neal.[5]


The Piano was made as a small independent movie and wasn't supposed to be widely known, and Paquin and her family didn't plan to continue in the acting circles.[4] However, she was invited to the prestigious William Morris Agency, and she kept receiving offers for new roles. She systematically refused them, but she did appear in three commercials for the phone company MCI (currently WorldCom).[6]

While in New Zealand, Paquin attended Hutt Intermediate School from 1994-1995, where she completed Form 1 and 2. Having begun her secondary education in Wellington, New Zealand, she completed her high school diploma at Windward School in Los Angeles, where she moved with her mother following her parents' divorce.[7] In 1996, she appeared in two movies. First one was a smallish role as young Jane in Jane Eyre. The other one was a lead part in Fly Away Home playing a young girl who, after her mother dies, moves in with her father and finds solace in taking care of orphaned goose chicks.[8]


1997 - present

As a teenager, she had roles in several small films, such as The Member of the Wedding, Amistad, Hurlyburly and She's All That. She graduated from Windward School in West Los Angeles, California in June 2000 and completed the school's community service requirement by working in an LA soup kitchen and at a special education center. She studied at Columbia University for one year, but has since been on a leave of absence in order to continue her acting career.[1] In 2001, she acquired New Zealand citizenship.

Paquin returned to worldwide prominence with her role as Rogue in the blockbuster X-Men movie in 2000,[1] its sequel X2: X-Men United in 2003, and its third installment X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006. Paquin made her stage debut in 2001 in a production of The Glory of Living at the MCC Theater. She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, and won a Theatre World Award for her performance. In 2002 Paquin appeared on the West End stage in a production of This is Our Youth. In the summer of 2006, she completed filming Blue State which she also executive-produced. In November 2006, she completed Margaret, scheduled for release by Fox Searchlight in 2007. In July, 2007 Paquin received a Emmy Award nomination for Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for her role as Elaine Goodale in the HBO's Made-for-TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, based on Dee Brown's bestseller.

Paquin lives in the West Village in New York City.[1]

ADVICE FROM AN OLD FARMER

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
* Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
* Words that soak into your ears are whispered... not yelled.
* Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
* It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
* You cannot unsay a cruel word.
* Every path has a few puddles.
* When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
* The best sermons are lived, not preached.
* Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen
anyway.
* Don't judge folks by their relatives.
* Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
* Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think
back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
* Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
* If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop
diggin'.
* Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
* The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with,
watches you from the mirror every mornin'.
* Always drink upstream from the herd.
* Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from
bad judgment.
* Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it
back in.
* If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try
orderin' somebody else's dog around.
* Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the
rest to God.

Well, hawkman, it's nice to see you here again with your great celeb background. Really smiled at the advice from Gus, er I mean the old farmer, especially the one about letting the cat out of the bag.

Until our Raggedy arrives with faces to match, here are a couple of songs. One is a theme song from Wonder Woman, and another from the movie Little Big Man in honor of Dan George.

From Little Big Man

Sweet Surrender
Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Traveled by many, remembered by few
Lookin' for something that I can believe in
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do with my life

There's nothin' behind me and
nothin' that ties me to
Something that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open
right now it seems to be more than enough
To just be here today,
and I don't know
What the future is holdin' in store
I don't know where I'm goin'
I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me,
a light that shines for me
My life is worth the livin',
I don't need to see the end

Sweet, sweet surrender,
live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air.

Sweet, sweet surrender,
live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air.

Sweet, sweet surrender,
live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air.

Sweet, sweet surrender,
live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air.

And, listeners, Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman!
Wonder Woman!

All the world is waiting for you
and the power you possess
In your satin tights
fighting for your rights
And the old red white and blue


Wonder Woman!
Wonder Woman!


Now the world is ready for you
and the wonders you can do
Make a hawk a dove
stop a war with love
Make a liar tell the truth


Wonder Woman!
Get us out from under, Wonder Woman


All our hopes are pinned upon you
and the magic that you do
Stop a bullet cold
make the axis fold
change their minds and change the world


Wonder Woman!
Wonder Woman!


You're a wonder, Wonder Woman!

Good afternoon WA2K.

I love that song from The Sandpiper, too.

And the faces of Alexandre Dumas (I think it's the dad, the son looks just like him in later pictures ); Dan George (I thought he was funny in Harry & Tonto and The Outlaw Josie Wales); Ruth Buzzi; Lynda Carter and Anna Paquin, then and now.

There's our Raggedy, folks, who we have come to admire and know for her marvelous picture show. Thanks, PA

We're looking at a famous Frenchman, Amerind, Amazon, and a funny gladys. ( I had forgotten that funny persona of Ruth)Also, folks a lovely New Zelander born in Canada, Anna.

What a great quintet, puppy.

Unfortunately, folks, I can find no song to match our celebs, but since there is a Dumas, Texas, how about this funny song.

DING DONG DADDY FROM DUMAS
(Baxter)

Recorded by : Louis Armstrong; Lawrence Brown; Eddie Condon;
Arthur Godfrey; Benny Goodman; Phil Harris: Eddy Howard;
Ben Pollack; Somethin' Smith; Squadronaires; Bob Wills


Now, I know all, you all don't know who I is
Because I just got here today
My hometown is a little town
Way down Dixie way

Now, everybody down there from miles around
All calls me by my name
Now that I'm up here
In your big city
I sure wish you'd all do the same

Because I'm a ding dong daddy from Dumas
And you oughtta see me do my stuff
Why, I'm a clean cut fella
From Hohner's Corner
Ooh, you oughtta see me strut

I'm a paper cuttin' cutie
Got a gal called, Katy
She's a little, heavy lady
And I call her baby

I'm a ding dong daddy from Dumas
And you oughtta see me do my stuff
Yes, a ding dong daddy from Dumas
And you oughtta see me do my stuff

I'm a ping pong papa from Pitchfork Prairie
Oughtta see me strut

I'm a ding dong daddy
Got a whiz bang mama
She's a Bear Creek baby
And a whompous kitty

I'm a ding dong daddy from Dumas
And you oughtta see me do my stuff

-Instrumental Break-

Just a ding dong daddy from Dumas
Ooh, you oughtta see me do my stuff

I'm a cornpone popper
And an apple knocker
You oughtta see me strut
I'm a momma lovin' man
And I just left Mary
She's a big blonde baby
From Peanut Prairie

I'm a ding dong daddy from Dumas now
And you oughtta see me do my stuff

-Instrumental Break-

Just a rinky dinky daddy from the Dumas
Who you'll see me doin' my stuff

I'm a peach pie papa
From Jackson's Holla
Ah, you oughtta see me strut

I'm a honey drippin' daddy
Got a hard-hearted baby
She's a sheep shakin' Sheba
And hallelujah!

I'm a ding dong daddy from Dumas
And you oughtta see me strut!

Love it!

The Object Of My Affection
The Boswell Sisters

The object of my affection
Can change my complexion
From white to a rosy read
Anytime he holds my hand
And tells me that he's mine

There are many boys who can thrill me
And some who can chill me
But I'll just hang around
And keep acting like a clown
Until he says he's mine

Now I'm not afraid that he'll leave me
He's not the kind who takes a dare
But instead I trust him implicitly
He can go where he wants to go
Do what he wants to do
I don't care

The object of my affection
Can change my complexion
From white to a rosy read
Anytime he holds my hand
And tells me that he's mine

Ah, edgar, I know that song. I had forgotten the Boswell Sisters. Thank you Texas.

This is a brief poem dedicated to edgar and his daughter.

Jenny Kissed Me
by James Henry Leigh Hunt

Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kissed me.

That poem always reminds me of the epitome of a father daughter relationship.

Heavy Metal Drummer
Wilco

I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands
I used to go see on the landing in the summer
She fell in love with the drummer
She fell in love with the drummer
She fell in love

Shiny, shiny pants and bleached-blond hair
A double kick drum by the river in the summer
She fell in love with the drummer
Another then another
She fell in love

I miss the innocence I've known
Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned

Unlock my body and move myself to dance
Into warm liquid, flowing blowing glass
Classical music blasting masks the ringing in my ears

I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands
I used to go see on the landing in the summer
She fell in love with the drummer
She fell in love with another
She fell in love

I miss the innocence I've known
Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned
I miss the innocence I've known
Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned
Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned
Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned

Elevate Myself
Grandaddy

I don't wanna work all night and day
On writing songs that make the young girls cry
Or playing little solos on the keyboard
So the kids will ask me how and why

I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself

And maybe for a little
Get to where I find it really hard to hate myself
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself

I don't wanna stare at stacks of paper all the while
While the world goes by
Tradin' out the weather for a clever lyric
Written by an Ikea light

I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself

And maybe for a little
Get to where I find it really hard to hate myself
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna get up off the shelf

I don't wanna be a part of all the quality that falls apart these days
I'd rather make an honest sound
And watch it fly around
And then be on my way

I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself

And maybe for a little
Get to where I find it really hard to hate myself
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna, I just wanna
I just wanna elevate myself

Crooked Teeth
Death Cab For Cutie

It was one hundred degrees,
As we sat beneath a willow tree,
Whose tears didn't care, they just hung in the air,
And refused to fall, to fall.

And I knew I'd made a horrible call,
And now the state line felt like the Berlin wall,
And there was no doubt about which side I was on,
mmhmm

Cause I built you a home in my heart,
With rotten wood, and it decayed from the start.

Cause you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.
No you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.

I braved treacherous streets,
And kids strung out on homemade speed.
And we shared a bed in which I could not sleep,
At all, woo, hoo, woo, hooOoOo.

Cause at night the sun in retreat
Made the skyline look like crooked teeth,
In the mouth of a man who was devouring, us both.

You're so cute when you're slurring your speech,
But they're closing the bar and they want us to leave.

And you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.
No you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.

I'm a war, of head versus heart,
And it's always this way.
My head is weak, my heart always speaks,
Before I know what it will say.

And you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.
No, you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.
(No you can't find) And you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.
There were churches, theme parks and malls,
But there was nothing there all along.

When our dj returns, folks, he has a plethora of delightful songs. Thanks once again Canada. Love what you play.

How about one from that Kiss bunch you mentioned.

If you want to make believe
There's nothing up my sleeve
I'm a man as man can be
As you can plainly see

Don't want to see no tears
Eliminate your fears
When you think you've seen it all, baby

You can't believe your eyes, what you heard weren't lies
My love is too much to hold, too much to hold
Much to much

I'm someone you can't fight
I'm plain in size
You can't believe your eyes
What you heard were not lies
I'm too much to hold
I can't be bought or sold
I'm far more than a man
I'm gonna make you understand
I'm larger than a life size man

And you can't believe your eyes, what you heard weren't lies
My love is too much to hold, too much to hold

My love is larger than life, ooh larger than life
My love is larger than life, larger than life
My love is too much to hold, it can't be sold, oh no

You can't believe your eyes, what you heard weren't lies
My love is too much to hold, too much to hold

My love is larger than life, larger than life
My love is larger than life, larger than life
My love is too much to hold, it can't be sold, oh no
I'm larger than a life size man

My love is larger than life, larger than life
My love is larger than life, ooh larger than life
My love is too much to hold, it can't be sold, oh no

No Language In Our Lungs
XTC

There is no language in our lungs
to tell the world just how we feel
no bridge of thought
no mental link
no letting out just what you think
there is no language in our lungs

there is no muscle in our tongues
to tell the world what's in our hearts
no we're leaving nothing
just chiselled stones
no chance to speak before we're bones
there is no muscle in our tongues

I thought I had the whole world in my mouth
I thought I could say what I wanted to say
For a second that thought became a sword in my hand
I could slay any problem that would stand in my way

I felt just like a crusader
Lionheart, a Holy Land invader
but nobody can say what they really mean to say and
the impotency of speech came up and hit me that day and
I would have made this instrumental
but the words got in the way

there is no language in our...
there is no language in our lungs
to tell the world what's in our hearts
no we're leaving nothing behind
just chiselled stones
no chance to speak before we're bones
there is no language in our lungs.

Summer's Cauldron
XTC

Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron
Under mats of flower lava
Please don't pull me out this is how I would want to go
Breathing in the boiling butter
Fruit of sweating golden Inca
Please don't heed my shout I'm relaxed in the undertow

When Miss Moon lays down
And Sir Sun stands up
Me I'm found floating round and round
Like a bug in brandy
In this big bronze cup
Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron

Trees are dancing drunk with nectar
Grass is waving underwater
Please don't pull me out this is how I would want to go
Insect bomber Buddhist droning
Copper chord of August's organ
Please don't heed my shout I'm relax in the undertow

When Miss Moon lays down
in her hilltop bed
And Sir Sun stands up
raise his regal head
Me I'm found floating round and round
Like a bug in brandy
In this big bronze cup
Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron

Thanks for the poem, letty.

Hank Williams

Take these chains from my heart and set me free
Youre grow cold and no longer care for me
All my faith in you is gone but the heartaches linger on
Take these chains from my heart and set me free

Take these tears from my eyes and let me see
Just a spark of the love that use to be
If you love somebody new let me me find a new love too
Take these chains from my heart and set me free

Give my heart just a word of sympathy
Be as fair to my heart as you can be
Then if you no longer care for the love being there
Take these chains from my heart and set me free

Take these chains from my heart and set me free
Youre grow cold and no longer care for me
All my faith in you is gone but the heartaches linger on
Take these chains from my heart and set me free

dj, Tai did a lovely Wilfred Owen poem on Amigo's thread.

edgar, I had an original and it got swallowed by a big black snake, but you are welcome.

Thanks for Hank, Texas.

dj has started the Miss Moon trend and the lovely moon and star dust tune is swimming in my head.

Nat King Cole
Stardust

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely night dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song
Beside a garden wall
When stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
A paradise where roses bloom
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain

That shall be my goodnight song, listeners, but always from......

Letty with love

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

Strange the things that inspire us to remember. Tai's poem by Wilfred Owen led me to do a bit of research on this WWI poet. What amazing information I found, folks.

The title of Sarah McLachlan's album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is taken from a line in Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est." ("Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling"). Other modern musicians have been inspired by the man as well, and such irony that he should die the very day that peace was declared.

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
By SARAH MCLACHLAN

All the fear has left me now
I'm not frightened anymore
It's my heart that pounds beneath my flesh
it's my mouth that pushes out this breath

and if I shed a tear I won't cage it
I won't fear love
and if I feel a rage I won't deny it
I won't fear love

Companion to our demons
they will dance, and we will play
With chairs, candles, and cloth
making darkness in the day
It will be easy to look in or out
upstream or down without a thought

and if I shed a tear I won't cage it
I won't fear love
and if I feel a rage I won't deny it
I won't fear love

Peace in the struggle
to find peace
comfort on the way
to comfort

and if I shed a tear I won't cage it
I won't fear love
and if I feel a rage I won't deny it
I won't fear love
I won't fear love
I won't fear love...

Walter Brennan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Walter Andrew Brennan
Born July 25, 1894
Swampscott, Massachusetts, USA
Died September 21, 1974
Oxnard, California, USA, age 80
Spouse(s) Ruth Wells (1920-1974)
Academy Awards

Best Supporting Actor
1936 Come and Get It
1938 Kentucky
1940 The Westerner

Walter Brennan (July 25, 1894 - September 21, 1974) was a three-time Academy Award winning American actor. He is remembered as one of the premier character actors in motion picture history.





Early life and career

Born in Swampscott, Massachusetts to Irish emigrants, he was christened Walter Andrew Brennan. His father was an engineer and inventor. Walter Brennan studied engineering before becoming an actor.

While in school, he became interested in acting, and began to perform in vaudeville. After service in World War I (where, according to legend, his vocal cords were damaged by mustard gas, which also caused him to age prematurely), he moved to Guatemala and raised pineapples, before settling in Los Angeles. During the 1920s he would become involved in the real estate market where he would make a fortune. Unfortunately, he lost most of his money when the market took a sudden downturn. Finding himself broke, he would begin taking bit parts in as many films as he could get in order to earn money, including The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and also worked as a stunt man during this time.

In the early 1930s he began appearing in higher quality films and received more substantial roles as his talent was recognized. This culminated with his receiving the very first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1936 for his role as Swan Bostrom in the period film Come and Get It.


Successful career as a character actor

Throughout his career, Brennan was frequently called upon to play characters considerably older than he was in real life. A 1932 accident that cost him many teeth, his rapidly thinning hair, thin build, and raspy voice all made him seem older than he really was. He used these physical features to great effect in many of his roles. In many of his film roles Brennan wore dentures; in Northwest Passage -- a film set in the late 18th century, when most people had bad teeth -- he wore a special dental prosthesis which made him appear to have rotting and broken teeth.

In 1941 Sergeant York, he played the sympathetic preacher and dry goods store owner, Pastor Rosier Pile who works to get Alvin C. York played by Gary Cooper deferred from World War One service. He was particularly skilled in playing the hero's sidekick or as the "grumpy old man" in a picture. He was hardly ever cast as the villain. Two notable exceptions were his roles as the heartless Old Man Clanton in the classic 1946 film My Darling Clementine opposite Henry Fonda and the 1962 Cinerama production How the West Was Won as the unsavory Colonel Jeb Hawkins.

In the 1950s, he starred in the ABC's television series The Real McCoys, which costarred Richard Crenna, Kathleen "Kathy" Nolan, Andy Clyde, Madge Blake, Lydia Reed, Michael Winkleman and Tony Martinez. The program was a comedy about a poor West Virginia family which relocated to a farm in southern California. Crenna was "Luke McCoy", Brennan's fictitious grandson on the program. Nolan was "Luke's" new bride, "Kate", who often disagreed with the stern-willed "Grandpappy Amos" character played by Brennan. Reed played Luke's teenaged sister, "Aunt" Hassie. Winkleman was Luke's brother, "Little Luke." Martinez was "Pepino Garcia", a stereotyped 1950's happy musical Mexican farm hand. Blake played Brennan's sometimes romantic interest in her role as "Flora McMichael". Clyde was "Flora's brother, "George McMichael", a neighboring farmer who always seemed to be outfoxed by "Grandpa". The program ran on ABC from 1957-1962, when it switched to CBS for a final season without Nolan's "Kate" character (she was depicted as having died and left "Luke" a widower) and was renamed The McCoys.

During the period of The Real McCoys, Brennan owned and managed a turkey farm. Castmates and crew members of this series recall that Brennan would frequently drive to work with a couple of butchered turkeys in his car, and would attempt to sell them to anyone on the set.

Brennan appeared in several other movies and television programs, usually as an eccentric "old-timer" or "prospector". He also made a few recordings, the most popular being "Old Rivers" in 1962.

In 1967, he starred in the television series The Guns of Will Sonnett, where he played a father in search of his gunfighter son, James, with his grandson, Jeff, played by Dack Rambo. After the series went off the air, Brennan continued working in both television and feature films. Among his television appearances at this time were three episodes of Alias Smith and Jones, the western comedy starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy. Brennan played retired confidence man Silky O'Sullivan in two episodes, and Elmer Gantry, one member of a dwindling trail drive team, in another. Additionally, Brennan starred as wealthy executive Walter Andrews in the short-lived mid-1960s television series "The Tycoon". From 1970 to 1971, he also was a regular on the show To Rome With Love, which would be his last TV show as a regular.


Status in film history

Film historians and critics have long regarded Brennan as one of the finest character actors in motion picture history. While the roles he was adept at playing were extremely diverse, he is probably best remembered for his portrayals in movie Westerns, such as trail hand Nadine Groot in Red River. He was the first actor to win three Academy Awards. He is the only person to have won three Best Supporting Actor awards (see Academy Awards below).

Unlike many actors, Brennan's career never really went into decline. As the years went on, he was able ply his talents to find work in dozens of high quality films, and later television appearances throughout the 1950s and 60s. As he grew older, he simply became a more familiar, almost comforting film figure whose talented and entertaining performances continued to endear him to new generations of fans. In all, he would appear in more than 230 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly five decades.


Political beliefs and later life

Brennan was politically conservative and supported American Independent Party candidate (and former governor of Alabama) George C. Wallace, Jr., over Republican Party nominee (and, at the time, former Vice President) Richard M. Nixon in the 1968 presidential campaign because he felt Nixon was too liberal. In 1964, however, Brennan had endorsed and made appearances for U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater, the GOP nominee that year. He also supported Ronald W. Reagan for governor of California.

In one of his films, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), Brennan portrayed a Democratic supporter of U.S. President Grover Cleveland. Buddy Ebsen, who played Brennan's son in the film, was depicted as a supporter of Cleveland's 1888 rival, Benjamin Harrison. In the comedy musical and dance film, Brennan disparaged Ebsen's character as "never too bright for he was a gol-dern Republican". Ironically, both Brennan and Ebsen were considered Hollywood Republicans.

For his contribution to the television industry, Walter Brennan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6501 Hollywood Blvd. In 1970, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where his photograph adorns a wall.

On his death from emphysema, aged 80, in Oxnard, Brennan was interred in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles. His widow, Ruth, whom he married in 1920, lived to be 100, and is buried next to him. They had a daughter and two sons