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Walter Matthau is a Actor, Director and Executive Producer American born on 1 october 1920 at New York City (USA)

Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau
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Birth name Walter John Matthow
Nationality USA
Birth 1 october 1920 at New York City (USA)
Death 1 july 2000 (at 79 years) at Santa Monica (USA)
Awards Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Walter Matthau (/ˈmæθaʊ/; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple co-star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie. Besides the Oscar, he was the winner of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony awards.

Biography

Marriages
Matthau was married twice; first to Grace Geraldine Johnson from 1948 to 1958, and then to Carol Marcus from 1959 until his death in 2000. He had two children, Jenny and David, by his first wife, and a son, Charlie Matthau, with his second wife. David is a radio news reporter, currently at WKXW "New Jersey 101.5" in Trenton, New Jersey. Jenny is president of the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. Matthau also helped raise his stepchildren, Aram Saroyan and Lucy Saroyan. His grandchildren include William Matthau, an engineer, and Emily Rose Roman, a student at Binghamton University. Charlie Matthau directed his father in The Grass Harp (1995).



Health problems
A heavy smoker and drinker, Matthau suffered a heart attack in 1966, the first of at least three in his lifetime. In 1976, ten years after his first heart attack, he underwent heart bypass surgery. After working in freezing Minnesota weather for Grumpy Old Men in 1993, he was hospitalized for double pneumonia. In December 1995 he had a colon tumor removed; it tested benign. He was also hospitalized in May 1999 for more than two months after another bout of pneumonia. In November 1999, he was diagnosed with colon cancer shortly after completing his final acting role Hanging Up.


Death

Matthau suffered from atherosclerotic heart disease and colon cancer, which had spread to his liver, lungs and brain. He died of a heart attack in Santa Monica on July 1, 2000. He was 79 years old. His remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Less than a year later, the remains of Jack Lemmon (who died of colon and bladder cancer) were buried at the same cemetery. After Matthau's death, Lemmon as well as other friends and relatives had appeared on Larry King Live in an hour of tribute and remembrance; many of those same people appeared on the show one year later, reminiscing about Lemmon. Carol Marcus, also a native of New York, died of a brain aneurysm in 2003. Her remains are buried on top of those of her husband, Matthau. The remains of actor George C. Scott are buried to the left of those of Walter Matthau, in an unmarked grave, and Farrah Fawcett's remains are buried to the right.

Best films

Grumpier Old Men (1995)
(Actor)
Grumpy Old Men (1993)
(Actor)
California Suite (1978)
(Actor)
Hello, Dolly! (1969)
(Actor)
Cactus Flower (1969)
(Actor)
The Fortune Cookie (1966)
(Actor)

Usually with

Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
(11 films)
Neil Simon
Neil Simon
(6 films)
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
(3 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Walter Matthau (64 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

The Kid Stays in the Picture, 1h33
Directed by Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgen
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Robert Evans, Eddie Albert, Norma Shearer, Ali MacGraw, Francis Ford Coppola, Catherine Deneuve
Roles Self (archive footage)
Rating72% 3.6454853.6454853.6454853.6454853.645485
The book chronicles Evans' rise from childhood to radio star to film star to production chief of Paramount Pictures to independent producer, his marriage to Ali MacGraw, his downfall including his 1980 cocaine bust and implication in the murder of Roy Radin, aka "The Cotton Club Murder", his banishment from Paramount Pictures, and his return to the studio in the early 1990s.
Hanging Up
Hanging Up (2000)
, 1h34
Directed by Diane Keaton
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Themes Films about families
Actors Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow, Walter Matthau, Adam Arkin, Cloris Leachman
Roles Lou Mozell
Rating48% 2.4031952.4031952.4031952.4031952.403195
Georgia Mozell, Eve Marks and Maddy Mozell are adult sisters. Georgia (Keaton) is the editor of her own wildly successful self-titled women’s magazine. She strives for publicity at any cost. Party planner Eve (Ryan) is the mother hen of the group, not only of her own family, but also of her siblings and father as their mother, Pat (Leachman), not only emotionally left their father when they divorced, but her daughters as well. And Maddy (Kudrow) is a vacuous soap opera actress who has always struggled for her own identity. Despite being as busy with her own life as the others, Eve is the only one of the three who deals with the long term hospitalization of their cantankerous seventy-nine-year-old father, Lou Mozell, when he enters the early stages of dementia, and the associated outcomes of that hospitalization. Eve’s caring for Lou is despite an especially hurtful incident with him seven years earlier. As the emotional aspect of looking after Lou becomes more and more stressful, Eve has to figure out how to maintain her own sanity, while dealing with her sisters, who believe they too are part of their father’s care while they don’t lift a finger to help.
The Odd Couple II, 1h37
Directed by Howard Deutch
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Adventure
Themes Transport films, Films based on plays, Road movies, Buddy films
Actors Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Jonathan Silverman, Mary Beth Peil, Christine Baranski, Lisa Waltz
Roles Oscar Madison
Rating63% 3.199533.199533.199533.199533.19953
It has been 17 years since Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar have seen one another. Oscar is still hosting a regular poker game and is still an untidy slob, now living in Sarasota, Florida, but still a sportswriter. One day, he is called by his son Brucey with an invitation to California for his wedding the following Sunday. A second shock for Oscar—the woman his son is marrying is Felix's daughter, Hannah.
Out to Sea
Out to Sea (1997)
, 1h42
Directed by Martha Coolidge
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Buddy films, Children's films
Actors Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon, Brent Spiner, Elaine Stritch
Roles Charlie Gordon
Rating60% 3.0483253.0483253.0483253.0483253.048325
Compulsive gambler Charlie Gordon, hiding out from his various bookies and loan sharks, cons his close friend and brother-in-law, widower Herb Sullivan, whose recently deceased wife, Susie Gordon-Sullivan, was Charlie's sister, into an all expenses-paid luxury Holland America cruise. The catch, which Charlie does not reveal to Herb until the ship has left port, is that they are required to work as dance hosts and must sleep in a cramped cabin in the bowels of the ship.
I'm Not Rappaport, 2h15
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Films based on plays
Actors Walter Matthau, Ossie Davis, Amy Irving, Craig T. Nelson, Marin Hinkle, Boyd Gaines
Roles Nat Moyer
Rating64% 3.243353.243353.243353.243353.24335
Inspired by two elderly men Gardner met in New York City's Central Park, it focuses on Nat Moyer, a cantankerous white Jew, and Midge Carter, a feisty African-American, who spend their days sitting on a bench, trying to mask the realities of aging, mainly through the tall tales that Nat spins. The play touches on several issues, including society’s treatment of the aged, the difficulties dealing with adult children who think they know what's best for their parents, and the dangers that lurk in urban areas.
The Grass Harp, 1h47
Directed by Charles Matthau
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Actors Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Edward Furlong, Nell Carter, Jack Lemmon
Roles Judge Charlie Cool
Rating67% 3.3992953.3992953.3992953.3992953.399295
Set in a small 1940s Alabama town, the film follows Collin Fenwick (Edward Furlong) as he is sent to live with his father's maiden cousins, the sweet Dolly (Piper Laurie) and the overbearing Verena (Sissy Spacek), following the death of his mother. He soon discovers that the Talbo household is anything but normal. After also losing his father, Collin grows to be close to Dolly and Catherine (Nell Carter) and becomes acquainted with the eccentric townspeople, from the gossip-loving barber (Roddy McDowall) to a traveling evangelist with fifteen illegitimate kids (Mary Steenburgen). To escape Verena's oppression, Dolly, Collin, and Catherine run away to an old tree house in the woods. Their rebellion sparks a series of events that change their lives and the entire town as well.
Grumpier Old Men, 1h41
Directed by Howard Deutch
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Buddy films
Actors Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Sophia Loren, Kevin Pollak
Roles Max Goldman
Rating65% 3.2991453.2991453.2991453.2991453.299145
The lifelong feud between Max (Walter Matthau) and John (Jack Lemmon) has cooled. (They continue to call each other "moron" and "putz," but now with affection.) Their children, Melanie (Daryl Hannah) and Jacob (Kevin Pollak), who grew up together, have become engaged after a brief relationship. Meanwhile, John is enjoying his marriage to new wife Ariel (Ann-Margret).
I.Q.
I.Q. (1994)
, 1h40
Directed by Fred Schepisi
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Actors Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, Walter Matthau, Lou Jacobi, Stephen Fry, Gene Saks
Roles Albert Einstein
Rating61% 3.09843.09843.09843.09843.0984
An amiable garage mechanic, Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), meets Catherine Boyd (Meg Ryan), a brilliant Princeton University mathematics doctoral candidate, as she comes into the garage, accompanied by her stiff and fussy English fiancé, experimental psychology professor James Moreland (Stephen Fry). There is an immediate connection, but she refuses to acknowledge it. Finding a watch she left at the garage, Ed travels to her address and finds himself face to face with Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau), who is Catherine's uncle.
Dennis the Menace, 1h35
Directed by Nick Castle
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy
Themes Films about children, Children's films
Actors Walter Matthau, Mason Gamble, Joan Plowright, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Robert Stanton
Roles George Wilson
Rating57% 2.8513252.8513252.8513252.8513252.851325
Dennis Mitchell is a five-year-old boy who lives with his parents Henry and Alice, and is the bane of next door neighbour, George Wilson's existence. George, falls ill after consuming the incorrect dosage of prescription drugs. Denis attempts to fling aspirin into George’s mouth with a sling shot. This attempt fails and George gags, and spits out the pills. When they arrive, Dennis, Joey, and Margaret venture into the woods to an abandoned tree house and intend to fix it up. Later, while getting paint from a high shelf in the garage, Dennis tries to grab his slingshot, which was taken away from him, accidentally spills paint on the ground. He fervently attempts to vacuum it up. Next Denis is sent to another set of babysitters; Polly and Mickey. Devilishly Denis fools them into scorning George, framing them to believe that he was behind the door. Denis therefore luckily escapes the consequences of spilling the paint. Meanwhile, a burglar named Switchblade Sam arrives in town and begins robbing houses, as well as striking fear into the children that he meets.
Grumpy Old Men, 1h43
Directed by Donald Petrie
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Buddy films
Actors Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak
Roles Max Goldman
Rating69% 3.4975953.4975953.4975953.4975953.497595
Retired school teacher and divorcee John Gustafson (Lemmon) and former TV repairman and widower Max Goldman (Matthau), are former childhood friends and longtime next-door neighbors in Wabasha, Minnesota. Their rivalry began decades earlier when John had "stolen" Max's high school sweetheart, May, with whom John went on to marry and have two children: daughter Melanie (Daryl Hannah), who is mother to his granddaughter Allie and who is separated from her husband Mike (Christopher McDonald), and son Brian, who was killed in the Vietnam War. Max went on to marry a woman named Amy and have one child: son Jacob (Kevin Pollak), who is a Wabasha politician who is running for (and eventually becomes) mayor of the town. Although John and Max agree that Amy was the best person for him in the end, and that John was unhappily married to May, Max still manages to harbor the grudge.
Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore, 2h
Directed by Delbert Mann
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Walter Matthau, Harry Morgan, Susan Blakely, Ariana Richards, Barton Heyman, Brian Kerwin
Roles Harmon Cobb
Rating65% 3.287363.287363.287363.287363.28736
The sequel to the TV movie entitled The Incident, a small-town lawyer, Harmon Cobb, and his family move to Baltimore where he becomes the law partner of his old adversary (Harry Morgan), where he goes against the State of Maryland, suing on behalf of an institutionalized mental patient for release.
JFK
JFK (1991)
, 3h9
Directed by Oliver Stone
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Historical
Themes Assassinat, Films about families, Politique, Political films, White House in fiction
Actors Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Laurie Metcalf, Beata Poźniak
Roles Senator Long
Rating79% 3.9975453.9975453.9975453.9975453.997545
The film opens with newsreel footage, including the farewell address in 1961 of outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower, warning about the build-up of the "military-industrial complex". This is followed by a summary of John F. Kennedy's years as president, emphasizing the events that, in Stone's thesis, would lead to his assassination. This builds to a reconstruction of the assassination on November 22, 1963. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison subsequently learns about potential links to the assassination in New Orleans. Garrison and his team investigate several possible conspirators, including private pilot David Ferrie, but are forced to let them go after their investigation is publicly rebuked by the federal government. Kennedy's suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is killed by Jack Ruby, and Garrison closes the investigation.
Movers & Shakers, 1h20
Directed by William Asher
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Walter Matthau, Charles Grodin, Vincent Gardenia, Tyne Daly, Bill Macy, Gilda Radner
Roles Joe Mulholland
Rating42% 2.1225352.1225352.1225352.1225352.122535
Hollywood studio mogul Joe Mulholland (Matthau) vows to produce the pet project of a dying acquaintance, who has been trying to find a way to make a film out of a best-selling sex manual. He and screenwriter Herb Derman (Grodin) try to make it happen, but fail in every possible way. Meanwhile, Herb is distracted by his own marital problems.