Walter John Matthow
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Awards
Walter Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Fortune Cookie 1966. His comedic partnership with Jack Lemmon in The Odd Couple 1968 and Grumpy Old Men 1993 is legendary. He also won two Tony Awards and a BAFTA Award during his career. He died of a heart attack in 2000 at age 79.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Walter Matthau — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Walter Matthau by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Walter Matthau — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Walter John Matthow arrived on October 1, 1920 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the son of Lithuanian immigrant Rose and Russian Jewish peddler Milton. As a boy, he attended a Jewish sleep-away camp and later Seward Park High School.
During World War II, Matthau served as a radioman-gunner in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in England, based at RAF Old Buckenham. He reached the rank of staff sergeant. That service sparked his interest in acting.
Matthau’s big break came when he understudied the Archbishop role in Anne of the Thousand Days. He appeared in Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd 1957 and later starred in Charade 1963 with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Fortune Cookie 1966.
In 1968, Matthau famously portrayed Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple opposite Jack Lemmon, a role he originated on Broadway and earned him a Tony Award. He and Lemmon reunited for Grumpy Old Men 1993 and Grumpier Old Men 1995. He appeared in Dennis the Menace 1993 and Hello, Dolly! 1969.
Matthau married Grace Geraldine Johnson in 1948; they had two children, David and Jenny, before divorcing in 1958. He married Carol Grace in 1959, and they had a son, Charles, who became a film director. He was stepfather to Carol’s children from her previous marriage to William Saroyan, Lucy and Aram.
He battled a gambling addiction his entire adult life, once losing $183,000 betting on baseball games. His on-screen persona was gruff, but he was passionate about classical music, often singing Mozart on set. He was a lifelong Democrat and registered his middle name as Foghorn with Social Security.
Walter Matthau’s films A Face in the Crowd, Charade, King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis, and A New Leaf have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. His voice inspired Dan Castellaneta’s original Homer Simpson impression.
Matthau won an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and a BAFTA. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His comedic chemistry with Jack Lemmon in The Odd Couple 1968 and Grumpy Old Men 1993 is his most celebrated work.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Walter Matthau — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Walter Matthau — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Think Doing Comedy Is More Difficult … Than Doing Noncomedic or Tragic or Whatever You Want to Call It. “Because It’s Difficult to Make All Kinds of Different Audiences Understand What You’re Doing, and Moving You to Laughter.
I Never Mind My Wife Having the Last Word. in Fact, I’m Delighted When She Gets to It.
I Always Had One Ear Offstage, Listening for the Call from the Bookie.
The First Girl You Go to Bed with Is Always Pretty.
‘Get Out of Show Business.’ It’s the Best Advice I Ever Got, Because I’m so Stubborn That If Someone Would Tell Me That, I Would Stay in It to the Bitter End.
To Be Successful in Show Business, All You Need Are 50 Good Breaks.
I’d Love to Work with Barbra Streisand Again. in Something Appropriate. Perhaps, Macbeth.
A Lot of Parts I Want They Give to Robert Redford.
Little-known facts about Walter Matthau — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Matthau and Jack Lemmon appeared in 10 films together: Buddy Buddy 1981, The Fortune Cookie 1966, The Front Page 1974, The Grass Harp 1995, Grumpier Old Men 1995, Grumpy Old Men 1993, The Odd Couple II 1998, The Odd Couple 1968, and Out to Sea 1997. Lemmon also directed Matthau in Kotch 1971. They both appeared in JFK 1991 but had no scenes together.
Matthau once estimated his lifetime gambling losses at $5 million.
He served in the US Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 453rd Bombardment Group in England alongside James Stewart.
After filming Grumpy Old Men 1993 in freezing Minnesota weather, he was hospitalized for double pneumonia.
Dan Castellaneta has said that his original voice for Homer Simpson was simply an impression of Matthau.
According to son Charles Matthau, Walter’s real name was Walter Matthow, but he changed it to Walter Matuschanskayasky to sound more exotic.
During the filming of Hello, Dolly! 1969, he clashed with Barbra Streisand, telling her she had ‘no more talent than a butterfly’s fart. He later attended a benefit at her Malibu ranch.
He dealt with a gambling addiction his entire adult life.
People were never sure if he was joking or saying things seriously, either on-screen or off-screen.
When he registered for Social Security in 1937, he included Foghorn as his middle name and never changed it.
He was passionate about classical music and often sang pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on set.
Very tall as a young man 6’3, Matthau had a slouchy posture by the time he was an actor, partly due to back injuries sustained in WWII, but he probably exaggerated it for his miserly characters.
He hated to be identified as a comedic actor.
He was brought to St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica by ambulance from his home on the late evening of June 30, 2000 after a heart attack, and was pronounced dead at 1:42 a.m. on July 1, 2000.
He is buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park, alongside Marilyn Monroe, Truman Capote, Natalie Wood, and Donna Reed.
Matthau won two Tony Awards: in 1962 as Best Supporting Actor for A Shot in the Dark, and in 1965 as Best Actor for The Odd Couple. He also had a Tony nomination in 1959 for Once More, with Feeling.
He appeared in Ensign Pulver 1964, the sequel to Mister Roberts 1955, for which his friend Jack Lemmon won an Oscar.
He once claimed that his wife’s name was Carol Wellington-Smythe Marcus, just to give it a more aristocratic sound.
He screen-tested for the part of Richard Sherman in The Seven Year Itch 1955; director Billy Wilder liked him but Fox executives passed, and the role went to Tom Ewell.
His big break came when understudying the actor who played the Archbishop in Anne of the Thousand Days, starring Rex Harrison.
He studied in the dramatic workshop at New York’s New School with Gene Saks, Rod Steiger, Harry Guardino, and Tony Curtis.
Reports say he made up Matuschanskayasky as a joke and that his real name is Matthow.
He told the editors of AFI’s Private Screenings that John Ford’s The Informer 1935 is his favorite film.
He was a lifelong Democrat.
While making a TV series in Florida before his movie stardom, he lost $183,000 betting on spring-training baseball games.
He drove a Mercedes with the personalized plate WALTZ.
He once claimed that his father was an Orthodox priest in Czarist Russia who was removed after claiming the Pope was infallible.
When he accepted his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Fortune Cookie 1966, he showed up with a cast on his arm, having fallen from a bicycle.
He fathered three children: David and Jenny with Grace Johnson, and Charles with Carol Grace.
He had one sibling, an older brother Henry Matthow, and his mother Rose died in 1979.
He appeared in four films selected for the National Film Registry: A Face in the Crowd 1957, Charade 1963, King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis 1969, and A New Leaf 1971.
The original family name was Matushansky; his father Meilach changed it to Milton Matthow.
He was honored with a day of his film work during TCM Summer Under the Stars.
He played Albert Einstein in I.Q. 1994 even though he was half a foot taller than the scientist.
He lived on Toyopa Drive in Pacific Palisades next door to Mel Blanc and around the corner from William Schallert.
Between 1962 and 1974, he and George Kennedy appeared in four films together: Lonely Are the Brave 1962, Charade 1963, Mirage 1965, and Earthquake 1974.
He served with the 453 Bomb Squadron and spent 8 months at Bovington Lincoln Training School.
He turned down the sequel to Dennis the Menace 1993.
He was stepfather to Lucy Saroyan and Aram Saroyan.
He was uncle of Juliette Gruber.
He made his stage debut in Philadelphia.
He was in the play Anne of the Thousand Days.
He was originally wanted for The Seven Year Itch.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Walter Matthau.
Celebrities similar to Walter Matthau — same craft, ranked by reach.
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