Other Brennan appearances included Dames Ahoy! (1930), Captain of the Guard (1930), King of Jazz (1930) (Brennan said he played nine parts but when he saw the film "I sneezed and I missed myself"), The Little Accident (1930), Parlez Vous (1930), (a short), See America Thirst (1930) with Harry Langdon and Slim Summerville and Ooh La-La (1930), (another short). ![]() īrennan was in His Lucky Day (1929), Frank Capra's Flight (1929), One Hysterical Night (1929) (a bigger role), The Last Performance (1929), The Long Long Trail (1929) with Gibson and The Shannons of Broadway (1929). The latter was directed by Richard Thorpe who would use Brennan as an extra several times on films.īrennan had minor roles in The Racket (1928) from Howard Hughes, The Michigan Kid (1928), Silks and Saddles (1929), The Cohens and the Kellys in Atlantic City (1929), and Smilin' Guns (1929) and The Lariat Kid (1929) with Gibson. Brennan was also in Watch Your Wife (1926), The Ice Flood (1926), Spangles (1926), The Collegians (1926, a short), Flashing Oars (1926, a short), Sensation Seekers (1927), Tearin' Into Trouble (1927), The Ridin' Rowdy (1927), Alias the Deacon (1927), Blake of Scotland Yard (1927) (a serial), Hot Heels (1927), Painting the Town (1928), and The Ballyhoo Buster (1928). His early appearances included Webs of Steel (1925), Lorraine of the Lions (1925), and The Calgary Stampede (1925), a Hoot Gibson Western. He wound up working at Universal off and on for the next ten years. Career Early work įinding himself penniless, Brennan began taking parts as an extra in films at Universal Studios in 1925, starting at $7.50 a day. During the early 1920s, he made a fortune in the real estate market, but lost most of his money during the 1925 real estate slump. "While there, he suffered an injury to his vocal cords from exposure to mustard gas that left him with his screen trademark: a distinctively reedy, high-pitched voice that became a favorite for celebrity impersonators for decades." Īfter the war, he worked as a financial reporter for a newspaper in Boston. Army and served as a private with the 101st Field Artillery Regiment in France during World War I. While working as a bank clerk, he enlisted in the U.S. His father was an engineer and inventor, and young Brennan also studied engineering at Rindge Technical High School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other noteworthy performances were in To Have and Have Not (1944), My Darling Clementine (1946), Red River (1948), and Rio Bravo (1959).īrennan was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, less than two miles from his family's home in Swampscott, Massachusetts. ![]() Brennan was also nominated for his performance in Sergeant York (1941). ![]() He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Come and Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938), and The Westerner (1940), making him one of only three male actors to win three Academy Awards, and the only male or female actor to win three awards in the supporting actor category. For a more accurate slant on Houdini's life, see the 1976 TV movie The Great Houdinis, starring Paul Michael Glaser and Sally Struthers.Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. Example: In real life, Houdini's appendix was fatally ruptured by a punch to the stomach in the film, he injures himself by accidentally bumping into one of his props, the sword-studded "Temple of Benares" trick-which hadn't yet been invented in 1926! Still, it's fun to watch Tony Curtis wriggle his way out of some of Houdini's most baffling escape routines (both Curtis and Janet Leigh were carefully instructed on the set by professional magicians, who swore the stars to secrecy concerning the tricks of the trade). ![]() The facts of Houdini's life seldom get in the way of Yordan's story while general audiences won't spot too many discrepancies, professional magicians tend to howl with laughter at some of the film's intentional boners. Philip Yordan's script (based on a book by Harold Kellock) suggests that virtually every portentous occasion in Houdini's life occurred on Halloween day, including his death from peritonitis in 1926. The film follows Houdini's progress from sideshow entertainer to high-priced prestidigitator, and also touches upon his fascination with the occult-and his efforts to expose phony mediums. Tony Curtis at the time, co-stars as Houdini's wife Bess, while Angela Clarke is seen as Houdini's mother. This highly fanciful but immensely entertaining biopic stars Tony Curtis as legendary magician/escape-artist Harry Houdini.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |