Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau Headshot

Actor

Birth Date: October 1, 1920

Death Date: July 1, 2000

Birth Place: New York, New York

Specializing in playing curmudgeonly cranks, actor Walter Matthau parlayed his rumpled, hangdog features into a long career in film and on television. Matthau started on the stage and enjoyed lasting success on Broadway, before making the transition to villainous supporting roles in films like "King Creole" (1958) and "Charade" (1963).

Following more supporting roles in the comedy sequel "Ensign Pulver" (1964) and the tense political thriller "Fail-Safe" (1964), Matthau partnered for the first time with Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's caustic comedy, "The Fortune Cookie" (1966). The pair would go on to star opposite each other in their most famous partnership, "The Odd Couple" (1968), while Matthau branched off as the lead in a number of classic crime thrillers, including "Charlie Varrick" (1973) and "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974).

He forged another successful, albeit brief partnership with George Burns for "The Sunshine Boys" (1975) and delivered his most popular performance as the beer-swilling manager of a misfit Little League baseball team in "The Bad News Bears" (1976). Matthau reunited with Lemmon for the surprisingly successful "Grumpy Old Men" (1993), which spawned the sequel "Grumpier Old Men" (1995) and the unrelated "Out to Sea" (1997). Matthau left behind a last legacy that included numerous hit comedies, surprisingly well-acted thrillers, and one of the greatest onscreen partnerships in cinema history.

Born on Oct. 1, 1920 in New York City, Matthau was raised by his Jewish immigrant parents, Milton, an electrician and street peddler, and Rose, who toiled away in a sweatshop. When he was three years old, Matthau's father abandoned the family, leaving his mother to singlehandedly care for him and his brother, Henry. Interested in performing at a young age, he made his professional debut at 11 years old in the musical "The Dishwasher" (1931). Though he played bit parts in local Yiddish theater productions as a child, Matthau did not pursue acting in earnest until later in life.

Meanwhile, he graduated from Seward Park High School in 1939 and joined the U.S. Army Air Force, where he served as a radio operator and cryptographer in the same bombardment group as James Stewart. Stationed in England, France and Germany, Matthau reached the rank of staff sergeant before his discharge in 1945. Upon his return to the United States, he moved to Reno, NV, where he worked at the Railway Express, before moving back to Manhattan.

Once back home, Matthau briefly attended the School of Journalism at Columbia University, before studying acting at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research, where he counted Tony Curtis, Rod Steiger and Marlon Brando among his classmates. Matthau took to the stage in 1946, performing in a summer stock production of "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" in Pennsylvania, and becoming a stock player for the Orange County Playhouse in New York. After becoming an understudy for "Anne of the Thousand Days" in 1948, Matthau made his Broadway debut in the play as the 85-year-old Bishop Fisher, marking the first of 18 plays in which he would act on the Great White Way.

While finding success on Broadway in productions like "The Liar" (1950), Matthau made his television debut in the "Last Cruise" episode of the long-running anthology series, "Studio One" (CBS, 1948-1958). After playing Iago in a "Philco Television Playhouse" (NBC, 1948-1955) presentation of "Othello," he made his feature debut as a villainous, whip-cracking saloon-keeper in "The Kentuckian" (1955), starring and directed by Burt Lancaster.

While he was making strides on both big and small screens, Matthau's main success still came from the stage. He had his first major Broadway hit with "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1955) and also starred as Nathan Detroit in a 1955 revival of "Guys and Dolls." Back on the big screen, he had a supporting role in Nicholas Ray's psychological drama "Bigger than Life" (1956), which starred James Mason as a mild-mannered family man who becomes a willing participant in a drug experiment that goes awry. He went on to play a cynical newsman investigating a conniving backwoods preacher (Andy Griffiths) in "A Face in the Crowd" (1957), before returning to television to star in the short-lived syndicated series, " Tallahassee 7000" (1957). After portraying an evil crime boss who gets beat up by Elvis Presley in "King Creole" (1958), Matthau made his one and only film as a director, "Gangster Story" (1959), in which he played an up-and-coming gangster who tries to infiltrate his rival while his girlfriend (Carole Grace) attempts to reform him.

Following a supporting turn in the melodramatic "Strangers When We Meet" (1960), Matthau played a sympathetic sheriff sworn to bringing in an escaped Kirk Douglas in the allegorical Western "Lonely are the Brave" (1962). He won his first Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance in Marcel Achard's "A Shot in the Dark" (1962), before turning in another fine villainous portrayal in Stanley Donen's comic mystery thriller "Charade" (1963), starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. He next co-starred opposite Robert Walker in "Ensign Pulver" (1964), rather forgettable sequel to John Ford's classic comedy "Mister Roberts" (1955), and went on to play a Henry Kissinger-like scientist opposite Henry Fonda as the U.S. president in Sidney Lumet's excellent nuclear thriller, "Fail-Safe" (1964).

The following year, Matthau originated the role of Oscar Madison opposite Art Carney's Felix Unger in Neil Simon's Broadway smash, "The Odd Couple" (1965), a performance that netted him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. From there, he teamed up with actor Jack Lemmon for the first time in Billy Wilder's caustic comedy, "The Fortune Cookie" (1966), where Matthau's sharp portrayal of an unethical lawyer who convinces Lemmon's injured cameraman to feign being paralyzed drew raves as well as earned the actor an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

After playing the husband if Inger Stevens in Gene Kelly's "A Guide for the Married Man" (1967), Matthau reprised Oscar Madison to Jack Lemmon's fastidious Felix Unger for Gene Saks' adaptation of "The Odd Couple" (1968), a role that firmly established him as a comedic leading man. Kelly then gave him his chance as a romantic leading man who sings opposite Barbra Streisand's Dolly Levi in "Hello, Dolly!" (1968), after which he reunited with Saks on the mildly amusing "Cactus Flower" (1969), featuring an Oscar-winning supporting performance by Goldie Hawn in her first significant role. Continuing their collaboration, Lemmon directed Matthau to a second Academy Award nod as Best Actor in "Kotch" (1971), a light drama where he played a curmudgeonly septuagenarian widower struggling with his family to maintain his independence. He next starred opposite Elaine May in the actress' dark romantic comedy, "A New Leaf" (1971), where he played a conniving middle-aged playboy who plans on marrying a dowdy heiress to a large fortune (May) for her money. Aside from "The Odd Couple," Matthau acted in a number of comedies adapted by Neil Simon from his plays, including appearing in all three vignettes of "Plaza Suite" (1971), directed by Arthur Hiller, scoring particularly well in the last one as the flustered father of a reluctant bride.

After starring with Carol Burnett in Martin Ritt's "Pete 'n' Tillie" (1972) and making a rare small screen appearance in "Awake and Sing" (PBS, 1972), Matthau switched gears and delivered several memorable dramatic performances. He was a cool and calculating bank robber unafraid to do what it takes to escape the law in Don Siegel's underappreciated crime thriller, "Charlie Varrick" (1973), before playing an embittered San Francisco cop on the hunt for a deranged killer in the ironically titled "The Laughing Policeman" (1973). He went on to deliver one of his strongest performances as a harried New York City cop out to nab a group of subway hijackers in Joseph Sargent's classic, "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974), before reuniting with Wilder and Lemmon for the uneven comedy "The Front Page" (1974). He followed with a return to the stage for the first - and ultimately last - time in nearly a decade for the Los Angeles production of "Juno and the Paycock" (1974), and moved on to make the first of three films directed by Herbert Ross from Neil Simon scripts, "The Sunshine Boys" (1975), in which he starred alongside George Burns as cranky vaudeville partners coaxed out of retirement for a television special.

Matthau's lovable gruffness served him well in one of the most popular roles of his career, playing a drunk, down-and-out former baseball player who takes over managing a group of misfit Little Leaguers in the beloved comedy, "The Bad News Bears" (1976). As the beer-swilling pool cleaner, Morris Buttermaker, he turns the team of hopeless losers into winners with the help of a smart-mouthed hurler (Tatum O'Neal) and a cigarette-smoking punk (Jackie Earle Haley) who can hit the ball a country mile. Chock full of vulgarities uttered by pre-pubescent kids and the occasional ethnic slur - none of which would ever occur in more contemporary films - "Bad News Bears" was a true product of its time and remained a favorite among later generations. After starring with Glenda Jackson and Art Carney in the comedy "House Calls" (1978), Matthau reunited with Ross, Simon and Elaine May for a supporting turn as a cheating husband in "California Suite" (1978).

But while he enjoyed enormous critical and commercial success in the 1970s, Matthau hit a rough patch in the following decade. After starring in Billy Wilder's last film, the unfortunately subpar slapstick comedy "Buddy Buddy" (1981), Matthau was top billed in Herbert Ross' listless "I Ought to Be in Pictures" (1981), portraying a screenwriter who is visited by his teenage daughter (Dinah Manoff).

Following a turn as a Supreme Court justice in the comedic drama, "First Monday in October" (1981), Matthau co-starred with Robin Williams in the poorly received comedy, "The Survivors" (1983). His disappointing choices continued with the forgettable "Movers & Shakers" (1985), a peg-leg portrayal of the Cockney-speaking Captain Red for Roman Polanski's commercial disaster, "Pirates" (1986), and the screwball comedy about mental illness "The Couch Trip" (1988). Fed up with scripts he was receiving, Matthau turned to the small screen for to revive his career. He acted for the first time in a made-for-television movie, playing Harmon Cobb, a small-town attorney during World War II who must defend a German POW accused of murder in the Emmy-winning "The Incident" (CBS, 1990), while also appearing opposite Ellen Burstyn in "Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love" (CBS, 1991). Matthau was memorable in a cameo as a skeptical U.S. senator who sows the seeds of doubt into the mind of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) about the assassination of "JFK" (1991). Meanwhile, he reprised the small-screen role of Harmon Cobb in two well-received sequels, "Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore" (CBS, 1992) and "Incident in a Small Town" (CBS, 1994).

Matthau returned to leading feature roles as the long-suffering Mr. Wilson in John Hughes' "Dennis the Menace" (1993), reaching a whole new audience of pre-adolescents before dusting off the old chemistry with partner Jack Lemmon to score a major comedy hit with "Grumpy Old Men" (1993). Suddenly, the curmudgeonly basset hound was hot again. He teamed with Meg Ryan and Tim Robbins for the would-be modern screwball comedy "I.Q." (1994), garnering the film's best notices for his pleasing portrayal of Albert Einstein, and reuniting with Lemmon for the lesser sequel, "Grumpier Old Men" (1995). His son, director Charles Matthau, cast him against type as the sweet, loveable Judge Cool in "The Grass Harp" (1995), a thoughtful drama based on Truman Capote's evocative memoir of his boyhood in the South that featured a scene between Matthau and Lemmon.

He then played a feisty elderly Jew who forms an unlikely friendship with a black boxer (Ossie Davis) in Herb Gardner's "I'm Not Rappaport" (1996). From there, he reteamed with Lemmon as grumpy old men in the mediocre "Out to Sea" (1997), but went a bridge too far with the ill-conceived sequel, "The Odd Couple II" (1998). Following a reunion with Carol Burnett in "The Marriage Fool" (CBS, 1998), helmed by his son Charles, he was the perfect fit as the irascible father of Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow in the otherwise forgettable romantic comedy "Hanging Up" (2000). That proved to be the coda to his long, venerable career, as he died on June 1, 2000 after suffering a heart attack. Matthau was 79 years old, and had earlier been diagnosed with colon cancer, which had spread to other parts of his body. His old friend and comedy partner Jack Lemmon followed almost exactly a year later.

By Shawn Dwyer

Credits

ORF III - Spezial

Actor
Julian Winston
Show
2014

Les classiques du cinéma

Actor
Show
2014

Hanging UpStream

Actor
Lou
Movie
2000
12%

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg

Self
Movie
1999

The Odd Couple IIStream

Actor
Oscar Madision
Movie
1998
27%

The Marriage Fool

Actor
Frank Walsh
Movie
1998

Out to Sea

Actor
Charlie Gordon
Movie
1997

I'm Not Rappaport

Actor
Nat Moyer
Movie
1996

Parkinson: The Interviews

Guest
Show
1995

The Grass Harp

Actor
Judge Charlie Cool
Movie
1995

Grumpier Old MenStream

Actor
Max Goldman
Movie
1995
21%

Incident in a Small Town

Actor
Harmon Cobb
Movie
1994

I.Q.Stream

Actor
Albert Einstein
Movie
1994
43%

Dennis the Menace

Actor
Mr. George Wilson
Movie
1993

Grumpy Old MenStream

Actor
Max Goldman
Movie
1993
64%

Les grincheux

Director
Movie
1993

Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore

Actor
Harmon Cobb
Movie
1992

Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love

Actor
Clifford Pepperman
Movie
1991

JFKStream

Actor
Senator Long
Movie
1991
84%

The Incident

Actor
Harmon Cobb
Movie
1990

The Couch Trip

Actor
Donald Becker
Movie
1988

The Little Devil

Actor
Maurice
Movie
1988

Pirates

Actor
Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red
Movie
1986

Movers and Shakers

Actor
Joel Mulholland
Movie
1985

Gorąca linia

Actor
Lou
Show
1983

The Survivors

Actor
Sonny Paluso
Movie
1983

I Ought to Be in Pictures

Actor
Herbert Tucker
Movie
1982

First Monday in October

Actor
Dan Snow
Movie
1981

Buddy Buddy

Actor
Trabucco
Movie
1981

El Espía más Grande del Mundo

Actor
Movie
1980

La Adorable Prenda

Actor
Movie
1980

El Thaur y su Adorable Prenda

Actor
Movie
1980

Rayuela

Actor
Movie
1980

HopscotchStream

Actor
Miles Kendig
Movie
1980
81%

Little Miss Marker

Actor
Sorrowful Jones
Movie
1980

Little Miss Marker

Executive Producer
Movie
1980

The Stingiest Man in TownStream

Voice
Special
1978

Casey's ShadowStream

Actor
Lloyd Bourdelle
Movie
1978
80%

House Calls

Actor
Dr. Charley Nichols
Movie
1978

Funny Business

Narrator
Movie
1978

California Suite

Actor
Marvin Michaels
Movie
1978

Jack Lemmon - A Twist of Lemmon

Self
Movie
1976

The Bad News BearsStream

Actor
Coach Morris Buttermaker
Movie
1976
97%

Saturday Night LiveStream

Host
Series
1975

The Sunshine BoysStream

Actor
Willy Clark
Movie
1975
71%

The Gentleman Tramp

Narrator
Movie
1975

The Taking of Pelham One Two ThreeStream

Actor
Lt. Zachary Garber
Movie
1974
98%

The Front Page

Actor
Walter Burns
Movie
1974

EarthquakeStream

Actor
Drunk
Movie
1974
44%

Charley Varrick

Actor
Charley Varrick
Movie
1973

The Laughing Policeman

Actor
Sgt. Jake Martin SFPD
Movie
1973
55%

Awake and Sing!

Actor
Movie
1972

Pete 'n' Tillie

Actor
Pete
Movie
1972

A New LeafStream

Actor
Henry Graham
Movie
1971
94%

Plaza Suite

Actor
Roy Hubley/Jesse Kiplinger/Sam Nash
Movie
1971

Kotch

Actor
Joseph P. Kotcher
Movie
1971

Cactus FlowerStream

Actor
Dr. Julian Winston
Movie
1969
85%

Hello, Dolly!Stream

Actor
Horace Vandergelder
Movie
1969
45%

The Dick Cavett ShowStream

Guest
Talk
1968

The Odd CoupleStream

Actor
Oscar Madison
Movie
1968
98%

Candy

Actor
Gen. R.A. Smight
Movie
1968

The Secret Life of an American Wife

Actor
The Movie Star
Movie
1968

Carol Channing and 101 Men

Actor
Show
1967

A Guide for the Married Man

Actor
Paul Manning
Movie
1967
44%

The Fortune CookieStream

Actor
Willie Gingrich
Movie
1966
96%

Acres and Pains

Actor
Tom Dutton
Show
1965

Mirage

Actor
Ted Caselle
Movie
1965
100%

Fail SafeStream

Actor
Prof. Groeteschele
Movie
1964
93%

Ensign Pulver

Actor
Doc
Movie
1964

CharadeStream

Actor
H. Bartholemew
Movie
1963
94%

Island of Love

Actor
Tony Dallas
Movie
1963

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonStream

Guest
Talk
1962

Lonely Are the BraveStream

Actor
Sheriff Morey Johnson
Movie
1962
93%

Who's Got the Action?

Actor
Tony Gagouts
Movie
1962

Target: The Corruptors

Guest Star
Show
1961

Dr. Kildare

Guest Star
Series
1961

Tallahassee 7000

Actor
Lex Rogers
Show
1961

Route 66Stream

Guest Star
Series
1960

Strangers When We Meet

Actor
Felix Anders
Movie
1960

Gangster Story

Actor
Jack Martin
Movie
1960

Gangster Story

Director
Movie
1960

King CreoleStream

Actor
Maxie Fields
Movie
1958
96%

Ride a Crooked Trail

Actor
Judge Kyle
Movie
1958

The Voice in the Mirror

Actor
Dr. Leon Karnes
Movie
1958

OnionheadStream

Actor
"Red" Wildoe
Movie
1958

A Face in the CrowdStream

Actor
Mel Miller
Movie
1957
88%

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue

Actor
Al Dahlke
Movie
1957

Bigger Than Life

Actor
Wally Gibbs
Movie
1956
91%

The Alcoa Hour

Actor
Bill Egan
Show
1955

Alfred Hitchcock PresentsStream

Actor
Harry Wade
Series
1955

The KentuckianStream

Actor
Stan Bodine
Movie
1955
14%

The Indian FighterStream

Actor
Wes Todd
Movie
1955

Climax!

Actor
Series
1954

Atomic Attack

Actor
Dr. Spinelli
Show
1954

The Motorola Television Hour

Actor
Show
1953

The United States Steel Hour

Actor
Gordon Wagner
Show
1953

SuspenseStream

Actor
Series
1949