Matthau was born Walter John Matthow[4][5] on October 1, 1920, in New York City'sLower East Side. He had two brothers, one older and one younger.[citation needed]
Matthau's parents were Jewish; his mother, Rose (née Berolsky or Beransky), was aLithuanian immigrant who worked in a garment factory, and his father, Milton Matuschansky then Matthow was aUkrainian peddler and electrician from Kiev (nowKyiv, Ukraine). They got married in New York in 1917.[6][7]
ANew York Times interview described his early years: "When Matthau was 3 years old, and his older brother, Henry, was 5, his father ... lit out for parts unknown, leaving him and his brother to be raised by their mother.... In 1935 ... Matthau learned of his father's death in Bellevue Hospital.... During his childhood, Matthau ... lived in a succession of cold-watertenement apartments in the Ukrainian area of the Lower East Side ... being forced to vacate each apartment after only a few months because they'd got so hopelessly far behind in the rent that their landlord would have them evicted.... Matthau ... hasn't the slightest nostalgia these days for his poverty-ridden childhood, 'It was a nightmare—a dreadful, horrible, stinking nightmare,' he grimly remembers."[8]
As part of a lifelong love of practical jokes, Matthau created the rumors that his middle name wasFoghorn and his last name was originallyMatuschanskayasky (under which Matthau is credited for a cameo role in the filmEarthquake).[9]
As a young boy, Matthau attended a Jewish non-profit sleepaway camp, Tranquillity Camp, where he began acting in the shows that the camp staged on Saturday nights. Matthau also attended Surprise Lake Camp. His high school wasSeward Park High School.[10] Matthau acted in severalYiddish theater productions and worked for a short time as a concession stand cashier in theYiddish Theatre District.[11][12]
Matthau parlayed a childhood job selling soda in Yiddish theaters into appearing in their productions.[14]Matthau was trained in acting at theDramatic Workshop ofThe New School with German directorErwin Piscator. Matthau 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 askid row bum!" Matthau was a respected stage actor for years in such fare asWill Success Spoil Rock Hunter? andA Shot in the Dark, for his performance in the latter winning the1962Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.[15]
Comedies were rare in Matthau's work at that time. He was cast in a number of stark dramas, such asFail Safe (1964), where he portrayed Pentagon adviser Dr. Groeteschele, who urges an all-out nuclear attack on theSoviet Union in response to an accidental transmission of an attack signal to U.S. Air Force bombers.Neil Simon cast Matthau in theplayThe Odd Couple in 1965, where he played slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison, oppositeArt Carney as Felix Ungar.[15] Matthau reprised the role in thefilm version, withJack Lemmon as Felix Unger. He played detective Ted Casselle in the Hitchcockian thrillerMirage (1965), directed byEdward Dmytryk.
Matthau achieved great success in the comedy filmThe Fortune Cookie (1966) asshyster lawyer William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, starring yet again opposite Lemmon; the first of manycollaborations withBilly 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 had a serious heart attack. He gave up his three-pack-a-day smoking habit as a result.[17] Matthau appeared during the Oscar telecast shortly after having been injured in a bicycle accident; nonetheless, he scolded actors who had not attended the ceremony, especially the other major award winners that night:Paul Scofield,Elizabeth Taylor andSandy Dennis.[18] Broadway-hits-cum-films continued to cast Matthau in lead roles such asHello, Dolly! andCactus Flower (both 1969); for the latter,Goldie Hawn received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
In the 1970s, Matthau began to appear in more comedy films, including theblack comedyA New Leaf (1971) and the comedy-dramaPete 'n' Tillie (1972). Oscar nominations would come his way again forKotch (1971), directed by Lemmon, andThe Sunshine Boys (1975). The latter was another adaptation of a Neil Simon stage play—this time about a pair of formervaudeville stars. For the latter, Matthau won aGolden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, tying with his co-starGeorge Burns. Meanwhile, their other co-star,Richard Benjamin, won a supporting award.[19]
Matthau played three roles in the film version of Simon'sPlaza Suite (1971), and was in the cast of its followupCalifornia Suite (1978). He starred inHouse Calls (1978), sharing the screen withGlenda Jackson and hisOdd Couple stage partner, Carney.
Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-1970s: as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus inThe Laughing Policeman (1973), as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law inCharley Varrick (also 1973) and as a New York transit official in the action-thrillerThe Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). He also reunited with Lemmon in the black comedy-dramaThe Front Page (1974). A change of pace about misfits and delinquents on aLittle League baseball team turned out to be a solid hit when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedyThe Bad News Bears (1976).
Matthau produced some films withUniversal Pictures, with his sonCharlie also becoming involved in his production company, Walcar Productions, but the only film that he produced was the third remake ofLittle Miss Marker (1980).[20]
Matthau was nominated for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of former CIA field operative Miles Kendig in the elaborate spy comedyHopscotch (1980), reuniting with Jackson. The original script, a dark work based on the novel of the same name, was rewritten and transformed into a comedy to play to Matthau's specific talents. The rewrite was a condition of his participation.[21] Matthau participated in the script revisions, and the film's directorRonald Neame observed that Matthau's contributions entitled him to screen credit, but that was never pursued.[22] Matthau wrote the scene in which Kendig and Isobel—apparently strangers—meet in aSalzburg restaurant and strike up a conversation about wine that ends in a passionate kiss. He also wrote the last scene of the film, where Kendig, presumed to be dead, disguises himself as aSikh to enter a bookshop. Matthau also helped to choose appropriate compositions byMozart that made up much of the score.[23][22]TCM's Susan Doll observes that "Hopscotch could be considered the end of a long career peak or the beginning of (Matthau's) slide downhill, depending on the viewpoint", as character parts and supporting parts became the only thing available to an actor his age.[21]
Matthau reunited with Lemmon in the comedyBuddy Buddy (1981), the final film from Billy Wilder. He portrayed Herbert Tucker in another Neil Simon comedyI Ought to Be in Pictures (1982) withAnn-Margret andDinah Manoff. Matthau co-starred withRobin Williams in the 1983 dark comedy filmThe Survivors. Although initially a box-office dud that barely grossed its budget, the film became acult classic via repeated broadcasts on cable TV in the following years.[citation needed] He took the leading role of Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red inRoman Polanski's swashbucklerPirates (1986).
Matthau's partnership with Jack Lemmon became one of the most enduring collaborations inHollywood. They became lifelong friends after makingThe Fortune Cookie and would make a total of 10 movies together—11 countingKotch, in which Lemmon has acameo as a sleeping bus passenger. Apart from their many comedies, the two appeared (although they did not share any scenes) in theOliver Stone dramaJFK (1991). Matthau and Lemmon reunited for the comedyGrumpy Old Men (1993), co-starringAnn-Margret, and its sequelGrumpier Old Men (1995), co-starringSophia Loren. This led to further pairings late in their careers, including appearances inThe Grass Harp (1995),Out to Sea (1997) and a Simon-scripted sequel to their much earlier success,The Odd Couple II (1998).
In 1948, Matthau married Geraldine "Geri" Grace Johnson. Their son, David, was born in 1953, and their daughter, Jenny, was born in 1956. The couple divorced in 1959.[27]
Matthau marriedCarol Marcus in 1959. She died in 2003. Their son,Charles (Charlie) Matthau, was born in 1962. Charlie is a director and directed his father in several movies.
In 1971, Matthau discussed his longtime compulsive gambling with a writer forThe New York Times. In 1961, while doing a two-week television shoot in Florida forTallahassee 7000, Matthau had lost $183,000 (equivalent toUS$1,925,576 in 2024), mostly betting on spring-training baseball games. It took him six years to pay off his "Mafia-connected bookmaker", and Matthau somewhat curtailed his betting in the 1970s, although daily racetrack losses of $400–500 were common.[28]
A heavy smoker, Matthau had a heart attack in 1966 while filmingThe Fortune Cookie, the first of at least three in his lifetime. Matthau later quit smoking.[29]
In 1976, 10 years after his first heart attack, Matthau underwent heart-bypass surgery. After working in Minnesota forGrumpy Old Men (1993), he was hospitalized for double pneumonia. In December 1995, Matthau had a colon tumor removed; it was deemed to be benign.[30] He was hospitalized in May 1999 for more than two months, again owing to pneumonia.[17]
Matthau's gravesite
In the late evening of June 30, 2000, Matthau had a heart attack at his home and was taken by ambulance to theSt. John's Health Center inSanta Monica, where he died a few hours later at 1:42 a.m. on July 1 at age 79.[31] Matthau's death certificate lists the causes of death as "cardiac arrest" and "atherosclerotic heart disease", with "end stagerenal disease" and "atrial fibrillation" as significant contributing factors.[32] He is buried atWestwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.[33] A celebration of his life was held on August 20 at the Directors Guild theater.[34][35] Matthau's wife,Carol Marcus, died in 2003, and her body is interred in the same plot as her husband.[36]
^National Student Film Institute/L.A: The Sixteenth Annual Los Angeles Student Film Festival. The Directors Guild Theatre. June 10, 1994. pp. 10–11.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Los Angeles Student Film Institute: 13th Annual Student Film Festival. The Directors Guild Theatre. June 7, 1991. p. 3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Edelman, R.; Kupferberg, A. (2002).Matthau: A Life. Taylor Trade Publishing. pp. 57–58, 92.ISBN978-1-4616-2519-3.
^Meehan, Thomas. "What the OTB Bettor Can Learn from Walter Matthau." New York Times, July 4, 1971, SM4.
