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Eddie Bracken: Conquering Hero
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Bracken's work pleased him so much that he wrote his next script, The Little Marine, especially for the actor, and the two men became close friends. "He was a father, big brother, and buddy to me," said Bracken. The Little Marine was retitled Hail the Conquering Hero (1943) and was another hit, with Bracken earning rave reviews as a young man rejected by the army because of his hay fever. Working in a shipyard, he sends letters recounting active service to his mother so as not to disappoint her and is mistaken by his home town for a war hero.
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Bracken is best remembered for his work in a pair of frothy, irreverent Preston Sturges comedies: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero (both 1944). These roles led to his being typecast as a chronically befuddled bumbler. Bracken's popularity continued through the decade, but by the early-'50s, musicals were on the wane and the style of comedy in which Bracken had been hopelessly typecast was out of style.
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Like Sturges's other Bracken-Demarest vehicle, the equally fine Hail, the Conquering Hero, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was unique among wartime movies for its satirical sting and unblinking eye for hypocrisy on the home front. It's ... enormous fun, a comedic romp that epitomizes Sturges's kinetic, high-speed style. --Sam Sutherland
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Having been discharged from the Marines for a hayfever condition before ever seeing action, Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) delays the return to his hometown, feeling that he is a failure. ...more about Hail the Conquering Hero
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In the 1940s, director Preston Sturges cast Bracken in two of his best-loved films, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, opposite Betty Hutton, and Hail the Conquering Hero. Based on the popularity of these films, Eddie Bracken was a household name during World War II. Bracken ... made numerous radio broadcasts during this era.
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