Hey folks, Quint here. Eileen Brennan passed away over the weekend and I thought I’d throw some words together for her here.
Ms. Brennan was an old school actress. She earned her wings on the stage and moved into some amazing character roles in film starting in a bit part in Divorce American Style. By the time she moved into TV and film (she had a brief stint on Laugh-In, which is interesting considering her most famous role would be alongside Goldie Hawn) she already had an Obie for her starring role in the off-Broadway play Little Mary Sunshine and had played Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, Anna in The King and I and Irene Malloy in Hello, Dolly!
What was amazing about Brennan was her ability to play the dramatic as well as the broadly comic. She made her first real splash in film as Genevieve in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show, but I first came to know her as Peter Falk’s long-suffering assistant/mistress in Neil Simon’s Murder By Death.
You’ll have to forgive me if this obituary turns into a bit of a Murder By Death lovefest because that’s one of my all time favorite movies. There are certain films that mean different things to you as you grow older and Murder by Death is one of those masterpieces for me. Watching it as a kid it was goofy, funny and had a crazy cast of characters doing crazy things, but as I grew up and started to become exposed to the actual material Neil Simon was lampooning I started understanding the deeper comedy at play.
If you haven’t seen it, Murder By Death is about an eccentric loon played by Truman Capote who invites all the top crime solvers from around the world to his mansion to challenge their detective skills. Each one of the detectives invited are a play on famous literary and cinematic characters. Peter Falk plays a Bogart-like Sam Diamond, Maggie Smith and David Niven play Dick and Dora Charleston, a play on the proper Thin Man duo of Nick and Nora Charles, Elsa Lanchester is Jessica Marbles, a nod to Miss Marple, Peter Sellers is Sydney Wang, a play on Karloff’s Mr. Wong and James Coco’s Milo Perrier spoofs Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
That amazing cast list doesn’t even include an early appearance of James Cromwell or Alec Guinness’ hilarious turn as Jamesir Bensonmum, Capote’s blind butler. It’s a testament to Brennan’s talents that she didn’t just disappear in that cast.
Her small, but hilariously funny, role in Murder By Death paid tribute to Lauren Bacall and culminated in one of my personal favorite relationships in the whole movie.
I can’t stress enough how good this movie is, so if you haven’t seen it please give it a spin.
Her other big movie geek appearance is in a very similar film, one that makes a perfect B-side to a double bill started by Murder By Death. I talked recently about my love of Clue when I tipped my hat at the great work of Tim Curry a month or so back. That’s another spoof of mystery stories, but this one somehow grew out of an adaptation of a board game.
Brennan played Mrs. Peacock in another large ensemble that could have easily drowned a less talented actress. Michael McKean, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren and, of course, Mr. Curry all turn in great performances and Brennan kept up with them all.
While those are some of my favorite performances of hers, Brennan’s big moment to shine was as Captain Doreen Lewis in 1980’s Private Benjamin. She’s loud, mean, has a little Mae West in her performance and is a fantastic foil for Goldie Hawn. She was so good in this movie that she nabbed a best supporting actress nomination for her work.
I also have to mention her strong work in The Sting, another personal favorite, The Funny Farm, Scarecrow and The Cheap Detective, which director Robert Moore’s follow up to Murder By Death, starring Peter Falk. It’s a sequel in tone, but not nearly as successful. That’s not a knock on Brennan or any of the performers, it just didn’t gel in the same way.
Later in her career, Brennan moved to TV turning in long-running work in 7th Heaven and Will & Grace, two shows I must confess to knowing little to nothing about. However it doesn’t surprise me that she was in demand well into her ‘70s. They don’t make them like her anymore. I can’t stress how well-rounded she was as a performer. There’s not a whole lot of actors that have proven they can play just about anything and she’s definitely of that breed.
My thoughts are with Ms. Brennan’s friends, family and fans.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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