Born on October 1, 1920, to a pair of Russian Jewish immigrants, Walter John Matthow grew up poor. His father was a peddler who abandoned the family when Walter was three years old. He lived with his mother, a garment worker, and his older brother, Henry, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where he attended Seward Park High School. He began acting at the age of eleven, appearing at the Yiddish Theater for 50 cents a performance. He served in the Army during World War II as a radio cryptographer and returned home a sergeant with six battle stars.
His very first Broadway role happened in 1948 when he was hired as an understudy for Rex Harrison (playing an 83-year-old bishop) in “Anne of A Thousand Days.” Fame did not come quickly for him, but it did arrive nevertheless, in 1966 and 1968 respectively, with his roles in “The Fortune Cookie” and “The Odd Couple.” With fame came the shadow of poor health, as he suffered a serious heart attack while filming “The Fortune Cookie”, due to heavy smoking and chronic gambling. He did not take good care of himself and in 1993 and 1999 was hospitalized for pneumonia and other medical problems.
He had a serious addiction to gambling and once estimated his lifetime losses at 5 million dollars. He married twice and had three children and one stepchild. Passionate about classical music, he often sang pieces by Mozart while working on the sets of movies.
He hated being called a comedic actor even though it was something he did extraordinarily well. Around him, no one was ever sure if he was joking or serious as he told tall tales often and enjoyed seeing how far he could go with them. He and Jack Lemmon were good friends and appeared in 10 movies together. He died of a heart attack on July 1, 2000, his friend Jack Lemmon dying almost exactly one year later. Both were poignantly eulogized by the same people on the “Larry King Show”.
What are some of your favorite Walter Matthau performances? Please share.