Editing Walter Matthau (section)

==Acting career==
===Early work===
Matthau was trained in acting at the [[Dramatic Workshop]] of [[The New School]] with German director [[Erwin Piscator]]. He often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict. 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 [[theatre|stage]] actor for years in such fare as ''[[Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)|Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?]]'' and ''[[L'Idiote|A Shot in the Dark]]'', for his performance in the latter winning the [[16th Tony Awards|1962]] [[Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play]].<ref name="ibdb"/>

[[File:Walter Matthau in Charade 2.jpg|thumb|left|Matthau in ''[[Charade (1963 film)|Charade]]'', 1963]]
Matthau appeared in the pilot of ''[[Mister Peepers]]'' (1952) with [[Wally Cox]]. For reasons unknown, he used the name Leonard Elliot. His role was of the gym teacher Mr. Wall. He made his motion picture debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in ''[[The Kentuckian (1955 film)|The Kentuckian]]'' (1955) opposite [[Burt Lancaster]]. He played a villain in ''[[King Creole]]'' (1958), in which he gets beaten up by [[Elvis Presley]]. Around the same time, he made ''[[Ride a Crooked Trail]]'' with [[Audie Murphy]], and ''[[Onionhead]]'' (both 1958) starring [[Andy Griffith]]; the latter a box-office flop. Matthau and Griffith appeared previously in the critical and box-office hit ''[[A Face in the Crowd (film)|A Face in the Crowd]]'' (1957), directed by [[Elia Kazan]]. Matthau appeared with [[James Mason]] in ''[[Bigger Than Life]]'' (1956), directed by [[Nicholas Ray]]. Matthau directed a low-budget film called ''The Gangster Story'' (1960) and played a sympathetic sheriff in ''[[Lonely Are the Brave]]'' (1962), which starred [[Kirk Douglas]]. He appeared in the [[Cary Grant]]-[[Audrey Hepburn]] crime thriller ''[[Charade (1963 film)|Charade]]'' (1963).

On [[television]], he appeared twice on ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]'', as well as in four installments of ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''. He appeared eight times between 1962 and 1964 on ''[[The DuPont Show of the Week]]'' and as Franklin Gaer in an episode of ''[[Dr. Kildare (TV series)|Dr. Kildare]]'' ("Man Is a Rock", 1964).

===1960s===
[[File:Walter Matthau Art Carney The Odd Couple Broadway 1965.JPG|thumb|Matthau and [[Art Carney]] in ''[[The Odd Couple (play)|The Odd Couple]]'', 1965]]
Comedies were rare in Matthau's work at that time. He was cast in a number of stark dramas, such as ''[[Fail Safe (1964 film)|Fail Safe]]'' (1964), in which he portrayed Pentagon adviser Dr. Groeteschele, who urges an all-out nuclear attack on the [[Soviet Union]] in response to an accidental transmission of an attack signal to U.S. Air Force bombers. [[Neil Simon]] cast him in the [[stage play|play]] ''[[The Odd Couple (play)|The Odd Couple]]'' in 1965, with Matthau playing slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison, opposite [[Art Carney]] as Felix Ungar.<ref name="ibdb">{{IBDB name|68261}}</ref> Matthau reprised the role in the [[The Odd Couple (film)|film version]], with [[Jack Lemmon]] as Felix Unger. He played detective Ted Casselle in the Hitchcockian thriller ''[[Mirage (1965 film)|Mirage]]'' (1965), directed by [[Edward Dmytryk]].

He achieved great success in the comedy film ''[[The Fortune Cookie]]'' (1966) as [[shyster]] lawyer William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, starring yet again opposite Lemmon; the first of many [[collaboration]]s with [[Billy Wilder]], and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Filming had to be placed on a five-month hiatus after Matthau had a serious [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]]. He gave up his three-pack-a-day smoking habit as a result.<ref name="theguardian.com">[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jul/01/news Obituary], guardian.com; accessed August 20, 2015.</ref> Matthau appeared during the Oscar telecast shortly after having been injured in a bicycle accident; nonetheless, he scolded actors who had not attended the ceremony, especially the other major award winners that night: [[Paul Scofield]], [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Sandy Dennis]].<ref>[http://hollywood-legacy.tumblr.com/post/29981916902/the-fortune-cookie-lemmon-matthau-behind-the-scenes ''The Fortune Cookie'' Lemmon & Matthau Behind-the-Scenes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121100331/http://hollywood-legacy.tumblr.com/post/29981916902/the-fortune-cookie-lemmon-matthau-behind-the-scenes |date=November 21, 2015 }}, ''Hollywood Legacy''. Accessed November 3, 2022.</ref> Broadway-hits-cum-films continued to cast Matthau in lead roles such as ''[[Hello, Dolly! (film)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' and ''[[Cactus Flower (film)|Cactus Flower]]'' (both 1969); for the latter, [[Goldie Hawn]] received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.[[File:Hello, Dolly!9.jpg|thumb|Matthau in ''[[Hello, Dolly! (film)|Hello, Dolly!]]'', 1969]]

===1970s===
It was during this time that Matthau began to appear in more comedy films, including the [[black comedy]] ''[[A New Leaf (film)|A New Leaf]]'' (1971) and the comedy-drama ''[[Pete 'n' Tillie]]'' (1972). Oscar nominations would come his way again for ''[[Kotch]]'' (1971), directed by Lemmon, and ''[[The Sunshine Boys (1975 film)|The Sunshine Boys]]'' (1975). The latter was another adaptation of a Neil Simon stage play—this time about a pair of former [[vaudeville]] stars. For the latter, he won a [[Golden Globe Award|Golden Globe award]] for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, tying with his co-star [[George Burns]]. Meanwhile, their other co-star, [[Richard Benjamin]], won a supporting award.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Walter Matthau |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/walter-matthau |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=www.goldenglobes.com}}</ref>

Matthau played three roles in the film version of Simon's ''[[Plaza Suite (film)|Plaza Suite]]'' (1971), and was in the cast of its followup ''[[California Suite (film)|California Suite]]'' (1978). He starred in ''[[House Calls (1978 film)|House Calls]]'' (1978), sharing the screen with [[Glenda Jackson]] and his ''Odd Couple'' stage partner, Carney.

Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-1970s: as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus in ''[[The Laughing Policeman (film)|The Laughing Policeman]]'' (1973), as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law in ''[[Charley Varrick]]'' (also 1973) and as a New York transit official in the action-thriller ''[[The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 film)|The Taking of Pelham One Two Three]]'' (1974). He also reunited with Lemmon in the black comedy-drama ''[[The Front Page (1974 film)|The Front Page]]'' (1974). A change of pace about misfits and delinquents on a [[Little League]] baseball team turned out to be a solid hit when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedy ''[[The Bad News Bears]]'' (1976).

===1980s===
Matthau produced some films with [[Universal Pictures]], with his son [[Charles Matthau|Charlie]] also becoming involved in his production company, Walcar Productions, but the only film that he produced was the third remake of ''[[Little Miss Marker (1980 film)|Little Miss Marker]]'' (1980).<ref>{{cite magazine |page=4|title=Matthau & Son Tied To Universal|magazine=[[Variety (Magazine)|Variety]] |date=April 12, 1978}}</ref>

He was nominated for the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]] for his portrayal of former CIA field operative Miles Kendig in the elaborate spy comedy ''[[Hopscotch (film)|Hopscotch]]'' (1980), reuniting with Jackson. The original script, a dark work based on the novel of the same name, was rewritten and transformed into a comedy in order to play to Matthau's specific talents. The rewrite was a condition of his participation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Hopscotch (1980) - Articles - TCM.com|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/23573/hopscotch#articles-reviews|access-date=June 21, 2020|website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref> Matthau participated in the script revisions, and the film's director [[Ronald Neame]] observed that Matthau's contributions entitled him to screen credit, but that was never pursued.<ref name="Hopscotch">{{Cite web|title=Hopscotch|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56438-HOPSCOTCH?sid=d51fbd14-6418-45ca-8428-9133929f2363&sr=10.472283&cp=1&pos=0|access-date=June 21, 2020|website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref> Matthau wrote the scene in which Kendig and Isobel—apparently strangers—meet in a [[Salzburg]] restaurant and strike up a conversation about wine that ends in a passionate kiss. He also wrote the last scene of the film, where Kendig, presumed to be dead, disguises himself as a [[Sikhs|Sikh]] to enter a bookshop. He also helped to choose appropriate compositions by [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] that made up much of the score.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hopscotch (1980) - Articles - TCM.com|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/23573/hopscotch#articles-reviews|access-date=June 21, 2020|website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref><ref name="Hopscotch"/> [[Turner Classic Movies|TCM's]] Susan Doll observes that "''Hopscotch'' could be considered the end of a long career peak or the beginning of (Matthau's) slide downhill, depending on the viewpoint", as character parts and supporting parts became the only thing available to an actor his age.<ref name=":0" />

The next year, he was nominated again for the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]] for his portrayal of the fictional [[Associate justice|Associate Justice]] Daniel Snow in ''[[First Monday in October (film)|First Monday in October]]'' (1981). The film was about the (then-fictional) first appointment of a woman (played by [[Jill Clayburgh]]) to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. It was scheduled for release in 1982, but when [[Ronald Reagan|President Ronald Reagan]] named [[Sandra Day O'Connor]] in July 1981, the release date was moved up to August 1981.{{CN|date=January 2023}} ''[[The New York Times]]'' critic [[Janet Maslin]] disliked the film but praised Matthau's performance.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Maslin|first=Janet|date=August 21, 1981|title=First Monday in October|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/21/movies/first-monday-in-october.html|access-date=June 21, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 

Matthau reunited with Lemmon in the comedy ''[[Buddy Buddy]]'' (1981). He also portrayed Herbert Tucker in ''[[I Ought to Be in Pictures (film)|I Ought to Be in Pictures]]'' (1982) with [[Ann-Margret]] and [[Dinah Manoff]]. He co-starred with [[Robin Williams]] in the 1983 dark comedy film [[The Survivors (1983 film)|''The Survivors'']]. Although a box-office dud that barely grossed its budget, the film found a new audience via repeated broadcasts on cable TV in the following years.{{cn|date=August 2024}} He took the leading role of Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red in [[Roman Polanski]]'s swashbuckler ''[[Pirates (1986 film)|Pirates]]'' (1986).

During the 1980s and 1990s, Matthau served on the advisory board of the [[National Student Film Institute]].<ref>{{cite book|title=National Student Film Institute/L.A: The Sixteenth Annual Los Angeles Student Film Festival|date=June 10, 1994|location=The Directors Guild Theatre|pages=10–11|ref=Program}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Los Angeles Student Film Institute: 13th Annual Student Film Festival|date=June 7, 1991|location=The Directors Guild Theatre|page=3|ref=Program}}</ref>

===1990s===
Matthau narrated the ''[[Dr. Seuss|Doctor Seuss]] Video Classics: [[How the Grinch Stole Christmas!]]'' (1992), and played the role of [[George Everett Wilson|George Wilson]] in the film ''[[Dennis the Menace (1993 film)|Dennis the Menace]]'' (1993). In a change of pace, Matthau played [[Albert Einstein]] in the film ''[[I.Q. (film)|I.Q.]]'' (1994) starring [[Tim Robbins]] and [[Meg Ryan]].

His partnership with Jack Lemmon became one of the most enduring collaborations in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. They became lifelong friends after making ''The Fortune Cookie'' and would make a total of 10 movies together—11 counting ''[[Kotch]]'', in which Lemmon has a [[cameo appearance|cameo]] as a sleeping bus passenger. Apart from their many comedies, the two appeared (although they did not share any scenes) in the [[Oliver Stone]] drama ''[[JFK (film)|JFK]]'' (1991). Matthau and Lemmon reunited for the comedy ''[[Grumpy Old Men (film)|Grumpy Old Men]]'' (1993), co-starring [[Ann-Margret]], and its sequel ''[[Grumpier Old Men]]'' (1995), co-starring [[Sophia Loren]]. This led to further pairings late in their careers, including appearances in [[The Grass Harp (film)|''The Grass Harp'']] (1995), ''[[Out to Sea]]'' (1997) and a Simon-scripted sequel to their much earlier success, ''[[The Odd Couple II]]'' (1998).

''[[Hanging Up]]'' (2000), directed by [[Diane Keaton]], was Matthau's final appearance onscreen.