For reasons unknown he used the name Leonard Elliot. Matthau appeared in the pilot of Mister Peepers (1952) with Wally Cox. One reviewer said, "The others just looked like actors in make-up, Walter Matthau really looks like a skid row bum!" Matthau was a respected stage actor for years in such fare as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and A Shot in the Dark, for his performance in the latter winning the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict. Matthau was trained in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with German director Erwin Piscator. He ended the war with the rank of Staff Sergeant, and returned home to America for demobilization at the war's end intent on pursuing a career as an actor. While based in England at RAF Old Buckenham in Norfolk, he flew missions across to continental Europe during the Battle of the Bulge. He was with the same 453rd Bombardment Group as James Stewart. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in the United Kingdom, crewing a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber. World War II ĭuring World War II, Matthau saw active service as a radioman-gunner in the U.S. He worked for a short time as a concession stand cashier in the Yiddish Theatre District. His high school was Seward Park High School.
Īs a young boy, Matthau attended a Jewish non-profit sleepaway camp, Tranquillity Camp, where he first began acting in the shows the camp would stage on Saturday nights. Īs part of a lifelong love of practical jokes, Matthau created the rumors that his middle name was Foghorn and his last name was originally Matuschanskayasky (under which he is credited for a cameo role in the film Earthquake). His mother, Rose ( née Berolsky or Beransky), was a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant who worked in a garment sweatshop, and his father, Milton Matuschanskayasky, was a Ukrainian-Jewish peddler and electrician, from Kyiv, Ukraine. Matthau was born Walter John Matthow on October 1, 1920, in New York City's Lower East Side. In 1982, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1963 he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance in The DuPont Show of the Week. Matthau also received two British Academy Film Awards and a Golden Globe Award. On Broadway, Matthau originated the role of Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple play by playwright Neil Simon for which he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1965, his second after A Shot in the Dark in 1962. He also starred in Plaza Suite, Kotch (both 1971), Charley Varrick (1973), The Sunshine Boys (1975), and Hopscotch (1980). Matthau is also known for his performances in Stanley Donen's romance Charade (1963), Gene Kelly's musical Hello, Dolly! (1969), Elaine May's screwball comedy A New Leaf (1971) and Herbert Ross' ensemble comedy California Suite (1978). Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie (1966). He also starred in 10 films alongside Jack Lemmon, including The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Odd Couple (1968), The Front Page (1974), Buddy Buddy (1981), JFK (1991), Grumpy Old Men (1993), Grumpier Old Men (1995), The Grass Harp (1995), Out to Sea (1997), and The Odd Couple II (1998).
He is best known for his film roles in A Face in the Crowd (1957), King Creole (1958) and as a coach of a hapless little league team in the baseball comedy The Bad News Bears (1976). Walter Matthau ( / ˈ m æ θ aʊ/ born Walter John Matthow Octo– July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
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