Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau (October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor and comedian celebrated for his rumpled appearance, gravelly voice, and portrayals of grumpy, everyman characters in film and theater. Best known for originating the role of slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple on Broadway (1965) and reprising it in the 1968 film adaptation opposite Jack Lemmon, Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his scheming lawyer in Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie (1966). He earned two Tony Awards for his stage work, including Best Featured Actor for A Shot in the Dark (1962), and became a staple of Hollywood comedy through frequent pairings with Lemmon in films like The Front Page (1974), The Sunshine Boys (1975), and Grumpy Old Men (1993).

Born Walter John Matthow to impoverished Jewish immigrants Milton Matthow—a Russian-Jewish peddler—and Rose Berolsky—a Lithuanian seamstress—in New York City's Lower East Side, Matthau endured a challenging childhood marked by his father's abandonment when he was three years old. His mother supported the family through sweatshop labor, and young Walter navigated the tenements while attending public schools and discovering an early passion for acting in Yiddish theater productions starting at age 11. After graduating from Seward Park High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, serving as a radioman-gunner on B-24 Liberator bombers with the Eighth Air Force's 453rd Bombardment Group in England, flying 25 combat missions over Europe and earning the Air Medal along with six battle stars.

Postwar, Matthau utilized the GI Bill to study acting at The New School's Dramatic Workshop in Manhattan, shortening his surname to Matthau and making his Broadway debut in 1948's Anne of the Thousand Days. His theater career flourished in the 1950s and early 1960s with supporting roles in plays like Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955) and Once More, with Feeling (1958), before his Tony-winning turns propelled him to leading-man status. Transitioning to film in the late 1950s, Matthau appeared in dramatic roles such as the villain Max in Charade (1963) opposite Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, but his comic genius shone in Billy Wilder collaborations, including The Apartment (1960) and The Fortune Cookie. Over a six-decade career spanning more than 70 films, he also starred in family comedies like Dennis the Menace (1993) as Mr. Wilson and The Bad News Bears (1976) as Coach Buttermaker, often drawing on his world-weary persona while occasionally tackling dramatic parts, such as in Fail Safe (1964). Matthau married actress Grace Geraldine Johnson in 1948 (divorced 1958, with whom he had two children, David and Jenny), then wed author Carol Grace in 1959, with whom he had a son, Charlie (also an actor and director); he remained with Grace until his death from a heart attack at age 79 in Santa Monica, California.