Walter Matthau
Encyclopedia
Walter Matthau was an American
actor
best known for his role as Oscar Madison
in The Odd Couple
and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon
, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder
film The Fortune Cookie
.
's Lower East Side
on October 1, 1920, the son of Rose (née Berolsky; from Lithuania
), who worked in a sweatshop, and Milton Matthow, an electrician and peddler
(from Russia
), both Jewish immigrants. His surname has often incorrectly been listed as Matuschanskayasky (see below for a detailed discussion). As a young boy, Walter attended a Jewish non-profit sleepaway camp, Tranquillity Camp, where he first began acting in the shows the camp would stage on Saturday nights. He also attended Surprise Lake Camp. His high school was Seward Park High School
.
, Matthau served in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force
in England as a B-24 Liberator
radioman-gunner, in the same 453rd Bombardment Group
as James Stewart
. He reached the rank of staff sergeant
and became interested in acting. He took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop
of The New School
in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator
. He often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict. One reviewer said, "The others just looked like actors in make-up, Walter Matthau really looks like a skid row
bum!" Matthau was a respected stage
actor for years in such fare as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
and A Shot in the Dark
. He won the 1962 Tony Award
for Best Featured Actor in a play.
In 1952, Matthau appeared in the pilot of Mr. Peepers
with Wally Cox
. For reasons unknown he used the name Leonard Elliot. His role was of the gym teacher Mr. Wall. In 1955, he made his motion picture
debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in The Kentuckian
opposite Burt Lancaster
.
Matthau appeared as a villain in subsequent movies, such as 1958's King Creole
(in which he is beaten up by Elvis Presley
). That same year, he made a western called Ride a Crooked Trail
with Audie Murphy
and Onionhead
starring Andy Griffith
and Erin O'Brien
, which was a flop. Matthau had a featured role opposite Griffith in the well received drama A Face in the Crowd, directed by Elia Kazan
. Matthau also directed a low-budget 1960 movie called The Gangster Story. In 1962, he was a sympathetic sheriff in Lonely are the Brave
, which starred Kirk Douglas
. He appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn
, Cary Grant
, and James Coburn
in Charade.
Appearances on television
were common too, including two on ABC
's police drama, Naked City
, as well as the 1963 episode "A Tumble from a Tall White House" of The Eleventh Hour
. He appeared eight times between 1962 and 1964 on The DuPont Show of the Week and as Franklin Gaer in 1964 in the episode "Man Is a Rock" on Dr. Kildare
. Lastly, he starred in the syndicated crime drama Tallahassee 7000, as a Florida-based state police investigator, in the 1961-1962 season.
Comedies were rare in Matthau's work at that time. He was cast in a number of stark dramas, such as 1964's Fail-Safe
, in which he portrayed a White House adviser during a catastrophic global incident.
In 1965, however, a plum comedy role came Matthau's way when Neil Simon
cast him in the hit play The Odd Couple
playing the slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison opposite Art Carney
as Felix Unger
. Matthau would later join Jack Lemmon
in the movie version. Also in 1965, he played detective Ted Casselle in the Hitchcockian thriller Mirage, with Gregory Peck
and Diane Baker
, a film directed by Edward Dmytryk
, based on a novel by Howard Fast
.
He achieved great film success in a 1966 comedy as a shyster lawyer called "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich starring opposite Lemmon in The Fortune Cookie
, the first of numerous collaboration
s with Billy Wilder
, and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Filming had to be placed on a five-month hiatus after Matthau suffered a heart attack
.
Matthau was visibly banged up during the Oscar telecast, having been involved in a bicycle accident, nonetheless he scolded actors who had not bothered to come to the ceremony, especially the other major award winners that night: Elizabeth Taylor
, Sandy Dennis
and Paul Scofield
.
Oscar nominations would come Matthau's way again for 1972's Kotch
, directed by Lemmon, and 1975's The Sunshine Boys
, another Simon vehicle transferred from the stage, this one about a pair of former vaudeville
stars. For the latter role he won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
Broadway hits turned into films continued to cast Matthau in the leads with 1969's Hello, Dolly! and that same year's Cactus Flower
, for which co-star Goldie Hawn
received an Oscar. He played three different roles in the 1971 film version of Simon's Plaza Suite
and was in the cast of its followup California Suite
in 1978.
Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-'70s, as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus in The Laughing Policeman
, as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law in Charley Varrick
and as a New York transit cop in the action-adventure The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. A change of pace about misfits on a Little League
baseball team turned out to be a solid hit in 1976 when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedy The Bad News Bears
In 1982, Matthau portrayed Herbert Tucker in I Ought to Be in Pictures
. There he worked with Ann-Margret
and Dinah Manoff
, the daughter of the actress whom Matthau starred with in Plaza Suite, Lee Grant
.
Matthau played Albert Einstein in the film "IQ", also starring Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan.
His partnership with Lemmon became one of the most successful pairings in Hollywood. They became lifelong friends after making The Fortune Cookie and would make a total of 10 movies together—11 counting Kotch
, in which Lemmon has a cameo
as a sleeping bus passenger. Aside from their many comedies, each appeared (though not on screen together) in the 1991 Oliver Stone
drama about the presidential assassination, JFK
.
They had a surprise box-office hit in the comedy Grumpy Old Men
, reuniting for a sequel, Grumpier Old Men
, that co-starred Sophia Loren
and Ann-Margret
. That led to more pairings late in their careers, notably
Out to Sea
and a Simon-scripted sequel to one of their great successes, The Odd Couple II
. Hanging Up
, a 2000 film directed by Diane Keaton
, was Matthau's final appearance on screen.
. He had two children, Jenny and David, by his first wife, and a second son, Charlie Matthau
, with his second wife. David is a radio news reporter, currently at WKXW "New Jersey 101.5" in Trenton, New Jersey
. Jenny is president of the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. Matthau also helped raise his stepchildren, Aram Saroyan
and Lucy Saroyan
. His grandchildren include William Matthau, an engineer, and Emily Rose Roman, a student at SUNY Binghamton. Charlie Matthau directed his father in The Grass Harp (1995).
on July 1, 2000. After undergoing heart surgery some years before, doctors discovered that he had the cancer, which, by the time of his death, had spread to his liver
, lungs, and brain
. However, on his death certificate the causes of death are listed as cardiac arrest
and atherosclerotic heart disease, with ESRD
and atrial fibrillation
added as "other significant conditions contributing to death but not related to [primary] cause..." His remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
in Los Angeles
.
Less than a year later, remains of Jack Lemmon (who died of colon and bladder cancer) were buried at the same cemetery. After Matthau's death, Lemmon as well as other friends and relatives had appeared on Larry King
Live in an hour of tribute and remembrance; many of those same people appeared on the show one year later, reminiscing about Lemmon.
Carol Marcus
, also a native of New York
, died of a brain aneurysm in 2003. Her remains are buried next to Matthau's.
The remains of actor George C. Scott
are also buried next to those of Walter Matthau, in an unmarked grave.
. When he registered for a number, he was amazed that they only wanted him to write his name, and offer no proof of his identity. So, as another of his traditional goofs, he wrote that his true name was "Walter Foghorn Matthau". The rumor that his birth name was "Matuschanskayasky" was given additional credence by the release of the 1974
film Earthquake
in which Matthau had agreed to provide a cameo performance without compensation on the condition that he not be credited under his real name. His character was credited to Walter Matuschanskayasky. Though this was a jokey pseudonym, its appearance in the film's end credits contributed to the urban legend
that this was his real name. As recently as 2009, this erroneous information appeared in the World Almanac
section on "Original Names of Selected Entertainers" (p. 278).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
best known for his role as Oscar Madison
Oscar Madison
Oscar Madison is a character in The Odd Couple, which began as a Broadway play, then was a film and then a television series.In The Odd Couple, Oscar Madison is the everyman, and is a sportswriter for the New York Herald...
in The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (film)
The Odd Couple is a 1968 comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his play The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau...
and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
film The Fortune Cookie
The Fortune Cookie
The Fortune Cookie is a 1966 film starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their first on-screen collaboration, and directed by Billy Wilder.- Plot :...
.
Early life
Matthau was born Walter John Matthow in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
on October 1, 1920, the son of Rose (née Berolsky; from Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
), who worked in a sweatshop, and Milton Matthow, an electrician and peddler
Peddler
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...
(from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
), both Jewish immigrants. His surname has often incorrectly been listed as Matuschanskayasky (see below for a detailed discussion). As a young boy, Walter attended a Jewish non-profit sleepaway camp, Tranquillity Camp, where he first began acting in the shows the camp would stage on Saturday nights. He also attended Surprise Lake Camp. His high school was Seward Park High School
Seward Park High School
Seward Park High School is a now-closed comprehensive high school which was located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The school began as P.S. 62 Intermediate, a intermediate school. In 1923 the school pursued an experimental path as a combined junior-senior high school...
.
Career
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Matthau served in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
in England as a B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
radioman-gunner, in the same 453rd Bombardment Group
453rd Bombardment Group
The 453d Operations Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 43d Air Refueling Wing, stationed at Souda Bay, Greece...
as James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
. He reached the rank of staff sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...
and became interested in acting. He took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop
Dramatic Workshop
Dramatic Workshop was the name of a drama and acting school associated with the New School for Social Research in New York City. It was launched in 1940 by German expatriate stage director Erwin Piscator. Among the faculty were Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, among the students Marlon Brando, Tony...
of The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator
Erwin Piscator
Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator was a German theatre director and producer and, with Bertolt Brecht, the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of drama, rather than its emotional manipulation of the audience or on the production's formal...
. He often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict. One reviewer said, "The others just looked like actors in make-up, Walter Matthau really looks like a skid row
Skid row
A skid row or skid road is a run-down or dilapidated urban area with a large, impoverished population. The term originally referred literally to a path along which working men skidded logs. Its current sense appears to have originated in the Pacific Northwest...
bum!" Matthau was a respected stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
actor for years in such fare as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes that opened on Broadway October 13, 1955, starring Orson Bean , Martin Gabel , Jayne Mansfield , Harry Clark , Carol Grace , Lou Gallo , William Thourlby and Walter Matthau .It...
and A Shot in the Dark
L'Idiote
L'Idiote is a comic mystery play by Marcel Achard. It is best known in the United States as A Shot in the Dark and was adapted into a film under that title. The English adaptation by Harry Kurnitz had a 1961-1962 Broadway run, directed by Harold Clurman. Its cast included Julie Harris, Walter...
. He won the 1962 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Featured Actor in a play.
In 1952, Matthau appeared in the pilot of Mr. Peepers
Mr. Peepers
Mr. Peepers is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from July 3, 1952 to June 12, 1955.-Overview:Mr. Peepers starred Wally Cox as Jefferson City's junior high school science teacher Robinson J. Peepers...
with Wally Cox
Wally Cox
Wallace Maynard Cox was an American comedian and actor, particularly associated with the early years of television in the United States. He appeared in the U.S. TV series Mr. Peepers , plus several other popular shows, and as a character actor in over 20 films...
. For reasons unknown he used the name Leonard Elliot. His role was of the gym teacher Mr. Wall. In 1955, he made his motion picture
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in The Kentuckian
The Kentuckian
The Kentuckian is a 1955 adventure film directed by Burt Lancaster, who also starred. It also marked the feature film debut of Walter Matthau. The picture is an adaptation of the novel The Gabriel Horn by Felix Holt...
opposite Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
.
Matthau appeared as a villain in subsequent movies, such as 1958's King Creole
King Creole
King Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher and featured Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau. The film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old who gets mixed...
(in which he is beaten up by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
). That same year, he made a western called Ride a Crooked Trail
Ride a Crooked Trail
Ride a Crooked Trail is a 1958 American western film, with former World War II hero Audie Murphy and future Academy Award winning actor Walter Matthau heading a strong if not well-known cast.-Plot:...
with Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy was a highly decorated and famous soldier. Through LIFE magazine's July 16, 1945 issue , he became one the most famous soldiers of World War II and widely regarded as the most decorated American soldier of the war...
and Onionhead
Onionhead
Onionhead is a 1958 movie, set on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter during World War II, starring Andy Griffith and featuring Felicia Farr, Walter Matthau, and Erin O'Brien....
starring Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
and Erin O'Brien
Erin Joanne O'Brien
Erin O'Brien is an American actress active during the mid-twentieth century and best known as the leading lady of arguably the first made-for-TV movie, Girl on the Run, which also served as the pilot for the television series 77 Sunset Strip...
, which was a flop. Matthau had a featured role opposite Griffith in the well received drama A Face in the Crowd, directed by Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
. Matthau also directed a low-budget 1960 movie called The Gangster Story. In 1962, he was a sympathetic sheriff in Lonely are the Brave
Lonely are the Brave
Lonely are the Brave is a 1962 film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel The Brave Cowboy. It stars Kirk Douglas as cowboy Jack Burns, Gena Rowlands as his best friend's wife, and Walter Matthau as a sheriff who sympathizes with Burns but must do his job and chase him down...
, which starred Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
. He appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
, and James Coburn
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III was an American film and television actor. Coburn appeared in nearly 70 films and made over 100 television appearances during his 45-year career, and played a wide range of roles and won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction.A capable,...
in Charade.
Appearances on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
were common too, including two on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's police drama, Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
, as well as the 1963 episode "A Tumble from a Tall White House" of The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...
. He appeared eight times between 1962 and 1964 on The DuPont Show of the Week and as Franklin Gaer in 1964 in the episode "Man Is a Rock" on Dr. Kildare
Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
. Lastly, he starred in the syndicated crime drama Tallahassee 7000, as a Florida-based state police investigator, in the 1961-1962 season.
Comedies were rare in Matthau's work at that time. He was cast in a number of stark dramas, such as 1964's Fail-Safe
Fail-Safe (1964 film)
Fail-Safe is a 1964 film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It tells the story of a fictional Cold War nuclear crisis...
, in which he portrayed a White House adviser during a catastrophic global incident.
In 1965, however, a plum comedy role came Matthau's way when Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
cast him in the hit play The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
playing the slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison opposite Art Carney
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....
as Felix Unger
Felix Unger
Felix Unger was one of the principal characters in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple. Felix was portrayed in the original Broadway production of the play by Art Carney, in the film by Jack Lemmon, and in the television series by Tony Randall.-Character overview:Felix is a divorced, middle-aged man...
. Matthau would later join Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
in the movie version. Also in 1965, he played detective Ted Casselle in the Hitchcockian thriller Mirage, with Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
and Diane Baker
Diane Baker
Diane Carol Baker is an American actress who has appeared in motion pictures and on television since 1959.-Early life:...
, a film directed by Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy-era 'red scare'.-Early life:Dmytryk was born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada,...
, based on a novel by Howard Fast
Howard Fast
Howard Melvin Fast was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.-Early life:Fast was born in New York City...
.
He achieved great film success in a 1966 comedy as a shyster lawyer called "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich starring opposite Lemmon in The Fortune Cookie
The Fortune Cookie
The Fortune Cookie is a 1966 film starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their first on-screen collaboration, and directed by Billy Wilder.- Plot :...
, the first of numerous collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
s with Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
, and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Filming had to be placed on a five-month hiatus after Matthau suffered a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
.
Matthau was visibly banged up during the Oscar telecast, having been involved in a bicycle accident, nonetheless he scolded actors who had not bothered to come to the ceremony, especially the other major award winners that night: Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, Sandy Dennis
Sandy Dennis
Sandra Dale “Sandy” Dennis was an American theater and film actress. In 1966, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.-Early life:...
and Paul Scofield
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...
.
Oscar nominations would come Matthau's way again for 1972's Kotch
Kotch
Kotch is a 1971 American comedy film which tells the story of an elderly man who runs away so as not to be put into a nursing home, and strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenage girl. It stars Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman and Ellen Geer.The film was adapted...
, directed by Lemmon, and 1975's The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys (film)
The Sunshine Boys is a 1975 comedy film directed by Herbert Ross and produced by Ray Stark, based on the play of the same name by Neil Simon. The cast included real-life experienced vaudevillian actor George Burns as Lewis, Walter Matthau as Clark, and Richard Benjamin as Ben, with Lee Meredith, F....
, another Simon vehicle transferred from the stage, this one about a pair of former vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
stars. For the latter role he won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
Broadway hits turned into films continued to cast Matthau in the leads with 1969's Hello, Dolly! and that same year's Cactus Flower
Cactus Flower (film)
Cactus Flower is a 1969 comedic film directed by Gene Saks and starring Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and Goldie Hawn, who won an Oscar for her performance. The screenplay was adapted by I. A. L. Diamond from a Broadway stage play written by Abe Burrows, which in turn was based upon the French...
, for which co-star Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
received an Oscar. He played three different roles in the 1971 film version of Simon's Plaza Suite
Plaza Suite (film)
Plaza Suite is a 1971 American comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his 1968 play of the same title. The film stars Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant.-Plot:...
and was in the cast of its followup California Suite
California Suite
California Suite is a 1976 play by Neil Simon. Similar in structure to his earlier Plaza Suite, the comedy is composed of four playlets set in Suite 203-04, which consists of a living room and an adjoining bedroom with an ensuite bath, in The Beverly Hills Hotel.-Plot:In Visitor from New York,...
in 1978.
Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-'70s, as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus in The Laughing Policeman
The Laughing Policeman (film)
The Laughing Policeman is an American police procedural film loosely based on the novel The Laughing Policeman by Sjöwall and Wahlöö. The setting of the story is transplanted from Stockholm to San Francisco...
, as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law in Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick is a 1973 crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. The film was based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese.-Plot:...
and as a New York transit cop in the action-adventure The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. A change of pace about misfits on a Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...
baseball team turned out to be a solid hit in 1976 when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedy The Bad News Bears
In 1982, Matthau portrayed Herbert Tucker in I Ought to Be in Pictures
I Ought to Be in Pictures (film)
Neil Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross and based on Neil Simon's play of the same name. The film stars Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Dinah Manoff...
. There he worked with Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
and Dinah Manoff
Dinah Manoff
Dinah Beth Manoff is an American stage, film and television actress and television director best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on Soap, Marty Maraschino in the film Grease, Libby Tucker in both the stage and film adaptations of I Ought to Be in Pictures, for which she won a Tony award,...
, the daughter of the actress whom Matthau starred with in Plaza Suite, Lee Grant
Lee Grant
Lee Grant is an American stage, film and television actress, and film director. She was blacklisted for 12 years from film work beginning in the mid-1950s, but worked in the theatre, and would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Felicia Carp in the...
.
Matthau played Albert Einstein in the film "IQ", also starring Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan.
His partnership with Lemmon became one of the most successful pairings in Hollywood. They became lifelong friends after making The Fortune Cookie and would make a total of 10 movies together—11 counting Kotch
Kotch
Kotch is a 1971 American comedy film which tells the story of an elderly man who runs away so as not to be put into a nursing home, and strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenage girl. It stars Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman and Ellen Geer.The film was adapted...
, in which Lemmon has a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
as a sleeping bus passenger. Aside from their many comedies, each appeared (though not on screen together) in the 1991 Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
drama about the presidential assassination, JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
.
They had a surprise box-office hit in the comedy Grumpy Old Men
Grumpy Old Men (film)
Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 American romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ossie Davis, and Buck Henry. Directed by Donald Petrie, the screenplay was written by Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote...
, reuniting for a sequel, Grumpier Old Men
Grumpier Old Men
Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 romantic comedy film, and a sequel to the 1993 film Grumpy Old Men. The film stars Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ann Morgan Guilbert...
, that co-starred Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
and Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
. That led to more pairings late in their careers, notably
Out to Sea
Out to Sea
Out to Sea is a 1997 romantic comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon and Brent Spiner. The film was directed by Martha Coolidge, with a screenplay by Robert Nelson Jacobs...
and a Simon-scripted sequel to one of their great successes, The Odd Couple II
The Odd Couple II
The Odd Couple II is the 1998 sequel to 1968's The Odd Couple. The movie reunites Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their last film together.- Plot :...
. Hanging Up
Hanging Up
Hanging Up is a 2000 American comedy-drama film about a trio of sisters who bond over their ambivalence toward the approaching death of their curmudgeonly father, to whom none of them were particularly close...
, a 2000 film directed by Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
, was Matthau's final appearance on screen.
Marriages
Matthau was married twice; first to Grace Geraldine Johnson (1948–58), and then from 1959 until his death in 2000 to Carol MarcusCarol Grace
Carol Grace was an American actress and author. She is usually referred to as Carol Marcus Saroyan or Carol Matthau....
. He had two children, Jenny and David, by his first wife, and a second son, Charlie Matthau
Charles "Charlie" Matthau
Charles Matthau , is a film and television director and actor and the son of actor Walter Matthau. He appeared as a child actor alongside his father in such films as Charley Varrick , The Bad News Bears and House Calls .Among his directorial projects have been The Grass Harp, from a novella by...
, with his second wife. David is a radio news reporter, currently at WKXW "New Jersey 101.5" in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
. Jenny is president of the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. Matthau also helped raise his stepchildren, Aram Saroyan
Aram Saroyan
Aram Saroyan is an American poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright. There has been a resurgence of interest in his work in the 21st century, evidenced by the publication in 2007 of several previous collections reissued together as Complete Minimal Poems.- Biography :Saroyan was born...
and Lucy Saroyan
Lucy Saroyan
Lucy Saroyan was an American actress and photographer.Saroyan was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of the writer William Saroyan and the actress Carol Grace. Her brother is writer Aram Saroyan...
. His grandchildren include William Matthau, an engineer, and Emily Rose Roman, a student at SUNY Binghamton. Charlie Matthau directed his father in The Grass Harp (1995).
Death
Matthau died from complications of colon cancer in Santa MonicaSanta Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
on July 1, 2000. After undergoing heart surgery some years before, doctors discovered that he had the cancer, which, by the time of his death, had spread to his liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
, lungs, and brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
. However, on his death certificate the causes of death are listed as cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
and atherosclerotic heart disease, with ESRD
End stage renal disease
End stage renal disease may refer to:* End-stage renal disease, also known as chronic kidney disease , specifically the fifth stage of CKD...
and atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia . It is a common cause of irregular heart beat, identified clinically by taking a pulse. Chaotic electrical activity in the two upper chambers of the heart result in the muscle fibrillating , instead of achieving coordinated contraction...
added as "other significant conditions contributing to death but not related to [primary] cause..." His remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Less than a year later, remains of Jack Lemmon (who died of colon and bladder cancer) were buried at the same cemetery. After Matthau's death, Lemmon as well as other friends and relatives had appeared on Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
Live in an hour of tribute and remembrance; many of those same people appeared on the show one year later, reminiscing about Lemmon.
Carol Marcus
Carol Grace
Carol Grace was an American actress and author. She is usually referred to as Carol Marcus Saroyan or Carol Matthau....
, also a native of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, died of a brain aneurysm in 2003. Her remains are buried next to Matthau's.
The remains of actor George C. Scott
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
are also buried next to those of Walter Matthau, in an unmarked grave.
Jokey pseudonyms
There have been persistent but erroneous beliefs about Matthau's birth name. Among the names that have been incorrectly asserted as having been the name he was born under are Matuschanskayasky, Matashansky and Matansky. As reported by the authors of Matthau: A Life by Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg (along with Charlie Matthau), Walter Matthau often told tall tales. In his youth, he found that the joy of embellishment lifted a story (and the listener) to such enjoyable heights that he could not resist trying to pass off the most bogus of information, just to see who was gullible enough to believe it. Matthau told many stories to many reputable people, including, reportedly, the Social Security AdministrationSocial Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
. When he registered for a number, he was amazed that they only wanted him to write his name, and offer no proof of his identity. So, as another of his traditional goofs, he wrote that his true name was "Walter Foghorn Matthau". The rumor that his birth name was "Matuschanskayasky" was given additional credence by the release of the 1974
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
film Earthquake
Earthquake (film)
Earthquake is a 1974 American disaster film that achieved huge box-office success, continuing the disaster film genre of the 1970s where recognizable all-star casts attempt to survive life or death situations...
in which Matthau had agreed to provide a cameo performance without compensation on the condition that he not be credited under his real name. His character was credited to Walter Matuschanskayasky. Though this was a jokey pseudonym, its appearance in the film's end credits contributed to the urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
that this was his real name. As recently as 2009, this erroneous information appeared in the World Almanac
World Almanac
In 1993 Scripps sold the Almanac to K-III .The World Almanac was sold to Ripplewood Holdings' WRC Media in 1999. Ripplewood bought Reader's Digest and the book was then produced by the World Almanac Education Group, which was owned by The Reader's Digest Association...
section on "Original Names of Selected Entertainers" (p. 278).
Filmography
- Atomic Attack (1950) (short subject)
- The KentuckianThe KentuckianThe Kentuckian is a 1955 adventure film directed by Burt Lancaster, who also starred. It also marked the feature film debut of Walter Matthau. The picture is an adaptation of the novel The Gabriel Horn by Felix Holt...
(1955) - The Indian FighterThe Indian FighterThe Indian Fighter is a 1956 Western movie. It is from an original story by Robert L. Richards.-Plot:Johnny Hawks is a man who made his name fighting Indians...
(1955) - Bigger Than LifeBigger Than LifeBigger Than Life is an American film made in 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, who also co-wrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone. The film co-stars Barbara Rush as his wife and...
(1956) - A Face in the Crowd (1957)
- Slaughter on Tenth AvenueSlaughter on Tenth AvenueSlaughter on Tenth Avenue is a ballet with music by Richard Rodgers and choreography by George Balanchine. It occurs near the end of Rodgers and Hart's 1936 Broadway musical comedy On Your Toes. Slaughter is the story of a hoofer who falls in love with a dance hall girl who is then shot and killed...
(1957) - King CreoleKing CreoleKing Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher and featured Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau. The film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old who gets mixed...
(1958) - Voice in the Mirror (1958)
- Ride a Crooked TrailRide a Crooked TrailRide a Crooked Trail is a 1958 American western film, with former World War II hero Audie Murphy and future Academy Award winning actor Walter Matthau heading a strong if not well-known cast.-Plot:...
(1958) - OnionheadOnionheadOnionhead is a 1958 movie, set on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter during World War II, starring Andy Griffith and featuring Felicia Farr, Walter Matthau, and Erin O'Brien....
(1958) - Gangster StoryGangster Story- Plot summary :Crime-Drama Directed by Walter Matthau A mobster is hiding from the law in a small town and he's running out of money, so he robs a bank and rakes in some big bucks...
(1960) (also director) - Strangers When We MeetStrangers When We Meet (film)Strangers When We Meet is a 1960 drama film about two married neighbors who have an affair. The movie was adapted by Evan Hunter from his novel of the same name and directed by Richard Quine...
(1960) - Lonely are the BraveLonely are the BraveLonely are the Brave is a 1962 film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel The Brave Cowboy. It stars Kirk Douglas as cowboy Jack Burns, Gena Rowlands as his best friend's wife, and Walter Matthau as a sheriff who sympathizes with Burns but must do his job and chase him down...
(1962) - Who's Got the Action?Who's Got the Action?Who's Got the Action? is a comedy film about a man suffering from an addiction to gambling starring Dean Martin, Lana Turner, Eddie Albert, and Walter Matthau...
(1962) - Island of Love (1963)
- Charade (1963)
- Ensign PulverEnsign PulverEnsign Pulver is a 1964 American film and a sequel to the 1955 film Mister Roberts. The movie features Robert Walker Jr., Burl Ives, Walter Matthau, Tommy Sands, Millie Perkins, Kay Medford, Peter Marshall, Jack Nicholson, Richard Gautier, George Lindsey, James Farentino, and James Coco.- Synopsis...
(1964) - Fail-SafeFail-Safe (1964 film)Fail-Safe is a 1964 film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It tells the story of a fictional Cold War nuclear crisis...
(1964) - Goodbye CharlieGoodbye CharlieGoodbye Charlie is a 1964 comedy film about a callous womanizer who gets his just reward. It was adapted from George Axelrod's play Goodbye, Charlie and starred Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis...
(1964) - Mirage (1965)
- The Fortune CookieThe Fortune CookieThe Fortune Cookie is a 1966 film starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their first on-screen collaboration, and directed by Billy Wilder.- Plot :...
(1966) - A Guide for the Married ManA Guide for the Married ManA Guide for the Married Man is a 1967 American bedroom farce comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Robert Morse, and Inger Stevens. It was directed by Gene Kelly. It features a large number of cameos, including Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Terry-Thomas, Jayne Mansfield, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Joey...
(1967) - The Odd CoupleThe Odd Couple (film)The Odd Couple is a 1968 comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his play The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau...
(1968) - The Secret Life of an American WifeThe Secret Life of an American WifeThe Secret Life of an American Wife is a 1968 comedy film written and directed by George Axelrod. The film was released by 20th Century Fox in 1968, and was considered a box-office failure. It features a music score by Billy May...
(1968) - CandyCandy (1968 film)Candy is a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, from a screenplay by Buck Henry. The film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin...
(1968) - Hello, Dolly! (1969)
- Cactus FlowerCactus Flower (film)Cactus Flower is a 1969 comedic film directed by Gene Saks and starring Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and Goldie Hawn, who won an Oscar for her performance. The screenplay was adapted by I. A. L. Diamond from a Broadway stage play written by Abe Burrows, which in turn was based upon the French...
(1969) - A New LeafA New LeafA New Leaf is a dark comedy film based on the short story The Green Heart by Jack Ritchie, starring Elaine May, Walter Matthau, George Rose and James Coco. Better known for her collaboration as a stage comedienne with The Graduate director Mike Nichols, May also wrote and directed . For this film...
(1971) - Plaza SuitePlaza Suite (film)Plaza Suite is a 1971 American comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his 1968 play of the same title. The film stars Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant.-Plot:...
(1971) - KotchKotchKotch is a 1971 American comedy film which tells the story of an elderly man who runs away so as not to be put into a nursing home, and strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenage girl. It stars Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman and Ellen Geer.The film was adapted...
(1971) - Pete 'n' TilliePete 'n' TilliePete 'n' Tillie is a 1972 American comedy-drama film starring Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett in the title roles. Its advertising tagline was "Honeymoon's over...
(1972) - The Laughing PolicemanThe Laughing Policeman (film)The Laughing Policeman is an American police procedural film loosely based on the novel The Laughing Policeman by Sjöwall and Wahlöö. The setting of the story is transplanted from Stockholm to San Francisco...
(1973) - Charley VarrickCharley VarrickCharley Varrick is a 1973 crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. The film was based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese.-Plot:...
(1973) - The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
- EarthquakeEarthquake (film)Earthquake is a 1974 American disaster film that achieved huge box-office success, continuing the disaster film genre of the 1970s where recognizable all-star casts attempt to survive life or death situations...
(1974) (credited as "Walter Matuschanskayasky") - The Front PageThe Front Page (1974 film)The Front Page is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the 1928 play of the same title by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, which was previously adapted for the screen under its...
(1974) - The Lion Roars AgainThe Lion Roars AgainThe Lion Roars Again is a short film that documents an event that was hosted by Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer. The event was the International Press Conclave of 1975. The film was shot in a span of a couple days and was used as a preview of upcoming MGM movies...
(1975) (short subject) - The Gentleman Tramp (1975) (documentary)
- The Sunshine BoysThe Sunshine Boys (film)The Sunshine Boys is a 1975 comedy film directed by Herbert Ross and produced by Ray Stark, based on the play of the same name by Neil Simon. The cast included real-life experienced vaudevillian actor George Burns as Lewis, Walter Matthau as Clark, and Richard Benjamin as Ben, with Lee Meredith, F....
(1975) - The Bad News Bears (1976)
- Casey's ShadowCasey's ShadowCasey's Shadow is a 1978 drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Walter Matthau. It was based on the short story "Ruidoso" by John McPhee.- Plot :...
(1978) - House Calls (1978)
- California SuiteCalifornia Suite (film)California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his play of the same title...
(1978) - Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man (1980) (documentary)
- Little Miss MarkerLittle Miss Marker (1980 film)Little Miss Marker is a 1980 American comedy-drama written and directed by Walter Bernstein, based on a short story by Damon Runyon. The film stars Walter Matthau, Tony Curtis, Julie Andrews, Bob Newhart and new arrival Sara Stimson...
(1980) - HopscotchHopscotch (film)Hopscotch is a 1980 American film directed by Ronald Neame and produced by Otto Plaschkes. It was written by Bryan Forbes and Brian Garfield, based on his novel of the same name....
(1980) - First Monday in OctoberFirst Monday in October (film)First Monday in October is a 1981 American film based on the play of the same name by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, and directed by Ronald Neame...
(1981) - Buddy BuddyBuddy BuddyBuddy Buddy is a 1981 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder that stars Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Paula Prentiss and Klaus Kinski. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the 1973 French language film L'Emmerdeur, which screenwriter Francis Veber had adapted from his play...
(1981) - I Ought to Be in PicturesI Ought to Be in Pictures (film)Neil Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross and based on Neil Simon's play of the same name. The film stars Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Dinah Manoff...
(1982) - The Survivors (1983)
- Movers & ShakersMovers & ShakersMovers & Shakers is a 1985 comedy movie distributed by MGM. It stars Walter Matthau and was directed by William Asher.The story follows the head of production at a Hollywood studio who wants to make a movie to fulfill a promise made to a dying friend....
(1985) - Pirates (1986)
- The Little DevilThe Little DevilThe Little Devil is a 1988 Italian film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, also starring Walter Matthau, Stefania Sandrelli, Nicoletta Braschi and John Lurie. In some European countries, English versions of the film, with local subtitles, have been screened and circulated in VHS...
(1988) - The Couch TripThe Couch TripThe Couch Trip is a 1988 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau, Charles Grodin and Donna Dixon.-Plot:...
(1988) - JFKJFK (film)JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
(1991) as Senator Russell B. LongRussell B. LongRussell Billiu Long was an American Democratic politician and United States Senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987.-Early life:... - Beyond 'JFK': The Question of Conspiracy (1992) (documentary)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!How the Grinch Stole Christmas!How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children's story by Dr. Seuss written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It was published as a book by Random House in 1957, and at approximately the same time in an issue of Redbook...
(1992) - Dennis the MenaceDennis the Menace (film)Dennis the Menace is a 1993 live-action American family film based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name....
(1993) - Grumpy Old MenGrumpy Old Men (film)Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 American romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ossie Davis, and Buck Henry. Directed by Donald Petrie, the screenplay was written by Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote...
(1993) - I.Q.I.Q. (film)I.Q. is a 1994 American romantic comedy film directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, and Walter Matthau. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith...
(1994) - The Grass Harp (1995)
- Grumpier Old MenGrumpier Old MenGrumpier Old Men is a 1995 romantic comedy film, and a sequel to the 1993 film Grumpy Old Men. The film stars Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ann Morgan Guilbert...
(1995) - I'm Not RappaportI'm Not Rappaport (film)I'm Not Rappaport is 1996 film adaptation by Herb Gardner of his play by the same name. Also directed by Gardner, the film starred Walter Matthau, Ossie Davis, Amy Irving, Craig T...
(1996) - Out to SeaOut to SeaOut to Sea is a 1997 romantic comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon and Brent Spiner. The film was directed by Martha Coolidge, with a screenplay by Robert Nelson Jacobs...
(1997) - The Odd Couple IIThe Odd Couple IIThe Odd Couple II is the 1998 sequel to 1968's The Odd Couple. The movie reunites Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their last film together.- Plot :...
(1998) - The Life and Times of Hank GreenbergThe Life and Times of Hank GreenbergThe Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a documentary film directed, produced and written by Aviva Kempner about Hall of Fame first baseman Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers. A Jewish player who chose not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 during a heated pennant race, Greenberg experienced a great...
(1998) (documentary) - Hanging UpHanging UpHanging Up is a 2000 American comedy-drama film about a trio of sisters who bond over their ambivalence toward the approaching death of their curmudgeonly father, to whom none of them were particularly close...
(2000)
Stage
- Anne of the Thousand DaysAnne of the Thousand DaysAnne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 costume drama made by Hal Wallis Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The film tells the story of Anne Boleyn...
(1948) - The Liar (1950)
- Twilight Walk (1951)
- Fancy Meeting You Again (1952)
- One Bright DayOne Bright DayContrary to the apparent track listing from the CD label, liner notes or how it may pop up in your particular music library, the actual track listing is as follows:-Track listing:# Black My Story # One Bright Day# Who Will Be There...
(1952) - In Any Language (1952)
- The Grey-Eyed People (1952)
- The Ladies of the Corridor (1953)
- The Burning Glass (1953)
- Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes that opened on Broadway October 13, 1955, starring Orson Bean , Martin Gabel , Jayne Mansfield , Harry Clark , Carol Grace , Lou Gallo , William Thourlby and Walter Matthau .It...
(1955) - Guys and Dolls (1955)
- Once More, with Feeling!Once More, with Feeling!Once More, with Feeling! is a British comedy film directed and produced by Stanley Donen from a screenplay by Harry Kurnitz, based on his play. The film was released by Columbia Pictures and has music by Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Richard Wagner, arranged by Muir Mathieson...
(1958) - Once There Was a Russian (1961)
- A Shot in the DarkL'IdioteL'Idiote is a comic mystery play by Marcel Achard. It is best known in the United States as A Shot in the Dark and was adapted into a film under that title. The English adaptation by Harry Kurnitz had a 1961-1962 Broadway run, directed by Harold Clurman. Its cast included Julie Harris, Walter...
(1961) - My Mother, My Father and Me (1963)
- The Odd CoupleThe Odd CoupleThe Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
(1965)
Television
- JusticeJustice (1954 TV series)Justice is an NBC half-hour drama television series about attorneys of the Legal Aid Society of New York, which aired from April 8, 1954 to March 25, 1956. In the 1954-1955 season, Justice starred Dane Clark as Richard Adams and Gary Merrill as Jason Tyler. In the 1955-1956 season, William Prince...
(1954) - Dry Run, episode of Alfred Hitchcock PresentsAlfred Hitchcock PresentsAlfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
series (1959) - Juno and the PaycockJuno and the PaycockJuno and the Paycock is a play by Sean O'Casey, and one of the most highly regarded and oft-performed plays in Ireland. It was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924...
(1960) - Route 66Route 66 (TV series)Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
(1961) - Tallahassee 7000 (cast member in 1961)
- Target: The Corruptors!Target: The Corruptors!Target: The Corruptors! is a 35-episode crime drama starring Stephen McNally as newspaper reporter Paul Marino, which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The character Jack Flood, Marino's undercover agent, was portrayed by Robert Harland...
(1961–1962), two episodes - Awake and Sing!Awake and Sing!Awake and Sing! is a drama written by American playwright Clifford Odets. The play was initially produced by The Group Theatre in 1935.-Summary and characters:...
(1972) - Actor (1978)
- The Stingiest Man in TownThe Stingiest Man In TownThe Stingiest Man in Town is a Christmas special created by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, which featured traditional animation rather than the Animagic most often used by the company...
(1978) (voice) - The IncidentThe Incident (TV movie)The Incident is a TV movie starring Walter Matthau, originally broadcast on the CBS network on March 4, 1990. The film marked Matthau's return to television after over 20 years.-Plot:...
(1990) - Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love (1991)
- Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (1992)
- Incident in a Small Town (1994) as Harmon Cobb
- The Marriage Fool (1998)