Walter Matthau, 1920-2000

Oscar winning actor Walter Matthau, best known to film audiences as “The Odd Couple’s” “Oscar Madison” and the quintessential grumpy old man, died July 1, 2000 at St. Joseph’s Health Center in Santa Monica California following a heart attack. Matthau was 79 years old.

Matthau, who had over 70 films to his credit along with numerous television and stage roles was born Walter Matuchanskayasky on October 1, 1920 in New York City. Matthau was the youngest son of poor Russian Jewish immigrants. Matthau’s father, a former peddler from Kiev whom the actor once claimed had been an exiled Eastern Orthodox priest exiled from Czarist Russia, left the family when the actor was three years old. Matthau and his older brother were raised by their mother, a garment industry worker. It may have been the family’s poverty which spurred Matthau to turn his natural gifts for theater into an early career. Matthau was reported to have been reading Shakespeare by age seven, and by eleven years of age and already six feet tall, the actor sold soft drinks at 2nd Avenue Yiddish theaters where he supplemented his income by appearing in small stage roles for fifty cents a show.

Matthau graduated Seward Park High School and embarked on a number of government jobs before enlisting with the Army Air Corps during World War II. Matthau served in Europe as a radio cryptographer for a heavy bomber unit. Actor Jimmy Stewart was one of Matthau’s comrades in arms before he was discharged in October 1945 as a sergeant and recipient of six battle stars. The GI Bill enabled Matthau to enroll in the New York New School dramatic workshop, where his peers included future screen luminaries Tony Curtis and Rod Steiger.

Matthau’s first Broadway appearance came unexpectedly at the age of 28 opposite Rex Harrison in “Anne of the Thousand Days”, when, as understudy to an ailing 83-year-old British thespian, the novice actor was forced on stage unrehearsed in the role of an aged bishop. Matthau enjoyed relating Harrison’s horror (and exclamation of a few minor expletives before his audience) at the emergence of the six-foot-three, lanky youth in age make-up. By 1955 Matthau was sharing credits with some of the great stars of the day, beginning with his first film, “The Kentuckian” with Burt Lancaster, and “Lonely Are The Brave” with icon Kirk Douglas.

It was in 1966 with Jack Lemmon, who became Matthau’s life-long friend and frequent co-star that the outspoken, eccentric actor received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “The Fortune Cookie”. Matthau was nominated for the Best Actor Award twice for later performances in “Kotch” (1971) and “The Sunshine Boys” (1975). In 1982 Matthau was awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

Despite professional triumphs, Matthau faced trials in his personal life. His first marriage ended in divorce in 1958. Matthau publicly admitted that his struggle with compulsive gambling had cost him an estimated $5 million over the years. Matthau agreed with physicians that the strain of his gambling and heavy smoking had contributed to a heart attack suffered while filming his 1966 triumph, “The Fortune Cookie”. Health problems plagued Matthau in later years, though he gave up his three-packs-per-day smoking habit: Coronary by-pass surgery came in 1976. While filming box-office success “Grumpy Old Men” in 1993, Matthau was hospitalized with double pneumonia, which he suffered again in May of 1999. The actor’s health had been questionable since a December 1995 surgery to remove a non-malignant colon tumor.

Matthau continued to work steadily despite health issues, playing his trademark codger in his final film, 2000’s “Hanging Up”. The actor felt one of his finest performances had been under the directorship of his son, Charles Matthau, in “The Grass Harp”. Walter Matthau is survived by his wife of 41 years, Carol Marcus Matthau, sons Charles and David, and a daughter, Jenny. A memorial wreath was laid the day of his death on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.