Walter Matthau (born October 1, 1920) was an American actor and comedian, best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple co-star Jack Lemmon.
Birth Name: Walter Jake Matthow
Hair: Black
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 6' 2"
Nickname: Jake
Quote: "To be successful in show business, all you need are 50 good breaks."
He made his motion picture debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in The Kentuckian (1955) opposite Burt Lancaster and then a villain in King Creole (1958), in which he gets beaten up by Elvis Presley). Around the same time, he made Ride a Crooked Trail with Audie Murphy, and Onionhead (both 1958) starring Andy Griffith; the latter was a flop. Matthau had a featured role opposite Griffith in the well received drama A Face in the Crowd (1957), directed by Elia Kazan. Matthau was a sympathetic sheriff in Lonely are the Brave (1962), which starred Kirk Douglas. He then appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963).
Neil Simon cast him in the play The Odd Couple in 1965, with Matthau playing slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison, opposite Art Carney as Felix Unger. Matthau later reprised the role in the film version, with Jack Lemmon as Felix Ungar.
He achieved great success in the comedy film, The Fortune Cookie (1966), as a shyster lawyer, William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, starring opposite Lemmon, and the first of many collaborations with Billy Wilder, and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Oscar nominations would come Matthau's way again for Kotch (1971), directed by Lemmon, and The Sunshine Boys (1975), another adaptation of a Neil Simon stage play, this time about a pair of former vaudeville stars.
Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-1970s, as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus in The Laughing Policeman (1973), as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law in Charley Varrick (also 1973) and as a New York transit cop in the action-adventure The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). A change of pace about misfits on a Little League baseball team turned-out to be a solid hit when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedy The Bad News Bears (1976).
Matthau and Lemmon reunited for the comedy Grumpy Old Men (1993), co-starring Ann-Margret, and its sequel, Grumpier Old Men (1995), also co-starring Sophia Loren. This led to further pairings late in their careers, Out to Sea (1997) and a Simon-scripted sequel to their much earlier success, The Odd Couple II (1998).
Walter Matthau died of a heart attack in Santa Monica on July 1, 2000. He was 79 years old.
Birth Name: Walter Jake Matthow
Hair: Black
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 6' 2"
Nickname: Jake
Quote: "To be successful in show business, all you need are 50 good breaks."
He made his motion picture debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in The Kentuckian (1955) opposite Burt Lancaster and then a villain in King Creole (1958), in which he gets beaten up by Elvis Presley). Around the same time, he made Ride a Crooked Trail with Audie Murphy, and Onionhead (both 1958) starring Andy Griffith; the latter was a flop. Matthau had a featured role opposite Griffith in the well received drama A Face in the Crowd (1957), directed by Elia Kazan. Matthau was a sympathetic sheriff in Lonely are the Brave (1962), which starred Kirk Douglas. He then appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963).
Neil Simon cast him in the play The Odd Couple in 1965, with Matthau playing slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison, opposite Art Carney as Felix Unger. Matthau later reprised the role in the film version, with Jack Lemmon as Felix Ungar.
He achieved great success in the comedy film, The Fortune Cookie (1966), as a shyster lawyer, William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, starring opposite Lemmon, and the first of many collaborations with Billy Wilder, and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Oscar nominations would come Matthau's way again for Kotch (1971), directed by Lemmon, and The Sunshine Boys (1975), another adaptation of a Neil Simon stage play, this time about a pair of former vaudeville stars.
Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-1970s, as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus in The Laughing Policeman (1973), as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law in Charley Varrick (also 1973) and as a New York transit cop in the action-adventure The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). A change of pace about misfits on a Little League baseball team turned-out to be a solid hit when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedy The Bad News Bears (1976).
Matthau and Lemmon reunited for the comedy Grumpy Old Men (1993), co-starring Ann-Margret, and its sequel, Grumpier Old Men (1995), also co-starring Sophia Loren. This led to further pairings late in their careers, Out to Sea (1997) and a Simon-scripted sequel to their much earlier success, The Odd Couple II (1998).
Walter Matthau died of a heart attack in Santa Monica on July 1, 2000. He was 79 years old.
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