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 Walter
Matthau1920 - 2000 Dateline: July 6, 2000. I suppose Matthau was best known for his friendship and frequent appearances with pal Jack Lemmon in 11 films: Buddy Buddy (1981), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Front Page (1974), The Grass Harp (1995), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Grumpy Old Men (1993), JFK (1991), Kotch (Lemmon directed) (1971), The Odd Couple (1968), The Odd Couple II (1998), and Out to Sea (1997). And his real-life sense of humor. And his stooped, unhealthy appearing demeanor. Born Walter Matasschanskayasky (swear to God) in New York City on October 1, 1920. Matthau's first two films were the westerns The Indian Fighter and The Kentuckian. Then he was in Nick Ray's classic Bigger Than Life, as James Mason's buddy trying to talk him down from a crazed, psychotic drug high. An Elvis picture (King Creole), a Kazan picture (A Face in the Crowd with Andy Griffith) and a gangster yarn (Slaughter on 10th Avenue) followed. Sometimes Matthau put his shagginess into "buddy" form and sometimes into "rat" or "villain" form. Matthau followed this with another addiction film (Voice in the Mirror), another western (Ride a Crooked Trail, 1958), another Andy Griffith film (Onionhead, 1958) and another gangster movie (Gangster Story, 1960). Next a television remake of Hitchcock's Juno and the Paycock, 1960 (Matthau also appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents three times during this period, Matthau worked profusely on TV in the 50s) and Strangers When We Meet, 1960. Next came a short-lived TV series, Tallahassee 7000 in 1961. In 1962 he did a modern western, Lonely Are the Brave (also his third film with Kirk Douglas, after The Indian Fighter and Strangers When We Meet). Who's Got the Action? (1962) with Dean Martin; Island of Love (1963) with Tony Randall (TV's Felix Unger with film's Oscar Madison); Charade (1963) with Cary Grant; a Mister Roberts sequel, Ensign Pulver (1964) (interestingly, Mister Roberts starred Jack Lemmon); and Fail-Safe, the dated, and heavy-handed flipside of Dr Strangelove. Goodbye Charlie (1964) with Tony Curtis, Profiles in Courage TV series in '64, then as Greg Peck's only friend in the thriller Mirage, and an Oscar and landmark first appearance with Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie. Leading man status followed the Oscar with, mainly comedies of various degrees of quality: A Guide for the Married Man (1967), The Secret Life of an American Wife (1968), Candy (1968), The Odd Couple (1968), Hello, Dolly! (1969), Cactus Flower (1969), A New Leaf (1971), Plaza Suite (1971), Kotch (1971) and an Oscar nomination, and Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). Matthau followed this with three strong thrillers (Don Siegel's Charley Varrick [1973], The Laughing Policeman [1973] and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three [1974]) and cameo in Earthquake (1974). Then Wilder's Front Page remake with Lemmon in 1974 and The Sunshine Boys with George Burns in 1975. Then one of Matthau's best roles, as Coach Morris Buttermaker, in the hugely successful, and unfortunately sequel spawning The Bad News Bears. House Calls (1978), Casey's Shadow (1978), California Suite (1978), Hopscotch (1980), Little Miss Marker (1980), First Monday in October (1981). Matthau's prime was over. Next followed a slow descent into nothingness: Wilder's last film, the lame Buddy Buddy (1981) with Lemmon, I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982), The Survivors (1983) with Robin Williams, Movers and Shakers (1985), Roman Polanski's disastrous Pirates (1986), and the just plain awful The Couch Trip (1988) with Dan Aykroyd. The nineties gave us three TV appearances as the Matlockian Harmon Cobb in The Incident (1990), Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (1992), and Incident in a Small Town (1994); and also for TV, Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love (1991). A very nice bit as Senator Long in JFK (1991), Mr Wilson in Dennis the Menace (1993) and as matchmaker Albert Einstein in I.Q. (1994) with Meg Ryan. Two films directed by his son Charles Matthau: Capote's The Grass Harp (1995) and The Marriage Fool (1998). Grumpy Old Men made it's milestone appearance in 1993. It was followd by four variations, most co-starring Lemmon: Grumpier Old Men (1995), I'm Not Rappaport (1996), Out to Sea (1997), The Odd Couple II (1998). And this year with Meg Ryan again in the sappy Hanging Up (2000) as a character appropriately named "Lou." From the BBC News website: The actor survived several serious health setbacks during his career. While making The Fortune Cookie in 1966, he suffered a bad heart attack. His doctor attributed it to smoking three packs a day and constant worry about gambling and told him to give up both. Matthau stopped smoking. In 1976, he underwent heart bypass surgery. After working in freezing weather for Grumpy Old Men in 1993, he was hospitalised for double pneumonia. In December 1995, he had a colon tumor removed. It tested benign. He was also hospitalised in May 1999 for more than two months after another bout with pneumonia. When Matthau was brought into St John's Health Center hospital on Saturday morning, he was in "full cardiac arrest" and was pronounced dead at 1:42 am, Saturday, July 1, 2000. The biggest problem,
and the only problem, I have working with Walter, who is a great actor,
is that I have a great deal of difficulty not laughing
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