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Walter Matthau
Walter John Matthau was born on October 1, 1920, and died on July 1, 2000 and was an American award-winning actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his many appearances with fellow Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon who was also his friend in real life.
Walter was born in New York to Jewish immegrant parents and took up acting at summer camp when he was a boy. During World War II Walter served in the U.S. Army Air Force in England as a aircraft radioman-gunner and reached the rank of staff sergeant. He was a stage actor for many years and in 1962, won a Tony for best actor.
Success came quite late for Walter and it wasnt until 1965 at the age of 44, Neil Simon cast him in the hit play The Odd Couple, this was later made into a film with Jack Lemmon. He won an Oscar for The Fortune Cookie, although filming had to be postponed for 5 months after he suffered a heart attack.
Walter was very busy man and made many films, stage roles and TV shows. He was married twice and had 3 children but also raised 2 step children. Walter would work with Jack Lemmon 10 times in many critically acclaimed films. Sadly Walter died of another hear attack and is buried in Westwood California, nearby is his friend Jack who died a year later.
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Filmography
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Walter Matthau - what members say
Walter Matthau - filmography
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Hanging Up
on DVD
(2000)
Starring: Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow
Director: Diane Keaton
Certificate: 
Daddy's favorite daughter is over-extended in this Diane Keaton-directed comedy about loving, laughing, and learning to let go. Meg Ryan plays party-planner Eve, a streched-too-thin mother, wife, sister, and dutiful daughter. Eve's harried life has become even more complicated by her reliance on ..read more »
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49%
from 824 members
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Neil Simon's The Odd Couple 2
(1997)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Christine Baranski
Director: Howard Deutch
Certificate:
In this sequel, decades have passed since uncompromising slob Oscar (Walter Matthau) and fussy neatnick Felix (Jack Lemmon) shared the trials and tribulations of apartment life together. After years of going their separate ways, the two are suddenly thrown together again, en route to the wedding of ..read more »
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65%
from 599 members
Not currently released
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Out To Sea
on DVD
(1997)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Jack Lemon, Dyan Cannon
Director: Martha Coolidge
Certificate: 
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are reunited in this hysterically funny high seas romantic adventure. Gambler and con artist Charlie (Walter Matthau) is desperate to meet single, rich ladies with large bank accounts. When he persuades his lonely widower brother-in-law, Herb (Jack Lemmon), into ..read more »
Rate this:
63%
from 136 members
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I'm Not Rappaport
on DVD
(1996)
Starring: Ossie Davis, Walter Matthau, Craig T. Nelson
Director: Herb Gardner
Certificate:
Nat Moyer (Walter Matthau) and Midge Carter (Ossie Davis) are a comically mismatched duo of geriatric New Yorkers, who observe the idiosyncrasies of modern urban life while seated on a bench in Central Park. When Midge, who also serves as the manager of Nat's apartment building, becomes threatened ..read more »
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73%
from 13 members
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I.Q.
(1995)
Starring: Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins, Walter Matthau
Director: Fred Schepisi
Certificate: 
On a sunny afternoon in Princeton, New Jersey, of the 1950s, love strikes in the oddest way: Albert Einstein's niece Catherine (Meg Ryan), and her uptight fiance James (Stephen Fry), stop at a gas station for car repairs, and when dim-witted grease monkey Ed Walters (Tim Robbins) appears, he falls ..read more »
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56%
from 2,391 members
Not currently released
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JFK
(1991)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones
Director: Oliver Stone
Certificate:
Oliver Stone's self-proclaimed 'countermyth', JFK mocks the doubtful veracity of the Warren Commission's findings on the Kennedy assassination and summarizes some of the myriad theories that have been proposed in its stead. Focusing on the investigation by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison ..read more »
Rate this:
69%
from 14,030 members
Not currently released
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The Couch Trip
on DVD
(1988)
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau, Charles Grodin
Director: Michael Ritchie
Certificate:
Based on the novel by Ken Kolb, Michael Ritchie's comedy THE COUCH TRIP poses the theory that psychiatrists are even more screwed up than their clients. The story concerns Dr. George Maitlin (Charles Grodin), a stuffy, pretentious radio shrink who decides to take a sabbatical after his own mental ..read more »
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61%
from 359 members
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Pirates
(1986)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Charlotte Lewis, David Kelly
Director: Roman Polanski
Certificate: 
Captain Red runs a hardy pirate ship with the able assistance of Frog, a dashing young French sailor. One day Capt. Red is captured and taken aboard a Spanish galleon, but thanks to his quick thinking, he rises the crew to mutiny, takes over the ship, and kidnaps the daughter of the governor of ..read more »
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53%
from 99 members
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The Survivors
on DVD
(1983)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Robin Williams, Jerry Reed
Director: Michael Ritchie
Certificate:
Michael Ritchie's comedy concerns an unlikely friendship that forms between two down-on-their-luck men who have just recently lost their jobs. Donald Quinelle (Robin Williams) was fired by his boss's parrot because his boss couldn't bear to confront Donald with the terrible news. Meanwhile, Sonny ..read more »
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50%
from 289 members
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Buddy Buddy
(1981)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau
Director: Billy Wilder
Certificate:
This black comedy stars the comic duo of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as a pair of antagonists. Trabucco (Matthau) is a hitman who, having already dispatched two of the witnesses to an act of criminal fraud is about to ice the third, mobster Rudy Gambola (Fil Formicola) before he can testify. As ..read more »
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57%
from 37 members
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Hopscotch
on DVD
(1980)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam Waterston
Director: Ronald Neame
Certificate:
Miles Kendig is a veteran CIA agent who finds himself reduced to a desk job after the arrival of new boss Myerson. Refusing to take it lying down he disappears and begins to write his memoirs, threatening to lift the lid on the world's top intelligence agencies. He soon has both the CIA and the KGB ..read more »
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67%
from 453 members
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Kotch
on DVD
(1980)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr
Director: Jack Lemmon
Certificate: 
Jack Lemmon's debut as a director is helped by the fine performance of his longtime buddy Walter Matthau as Kotch, an elderly widower who is at odds with his family but doesn't give up on life. When his children announce their plans to take him to a retirement home, he hits the road and meets Erica ..read more »
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59%
from 106 members
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Bad News Bears
(1976)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow
Director: Michael Ritchie
Certificate:
One of director Michael Ritchie's most universally recognised comedies, 'The Bad News Bears' is a film that continues to entertain audiences of all ages. The story concerns a hopeless Little League team that eventually scores big when it acquires a new coach, Morris Buttermaker, a grouchy, beer-..read more »
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52%
from 70 members
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Earthquake
on DVD
(1974)
Starring: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy
Director: Mark Robson
Certificate:
This essential 1970s disaster epic, with a script co-authored by Mario Puzo (THE GODFATHER), centers around a devastating earthquake in Los Angeles and the shocking aftermath it causes. The all-star cast is led by Charleton Heston as a construction engineer whose marital problems supply him with ..read more »
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57%
from 711 members
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The Taking Of Pelham 123
on DVD
(1974)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam
Director: Joseph Sargent
Certificate:
Four ruthless gunmen (played by Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, and Earl Hindman) take over a New York City subway and hold the passengers for ransom. They threaten to shoot one each minute until a million dollar ransom is fully paid. Walter Matthau portrays the transport cop ..read more »
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73%
from 1,974 member
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The Front Page
(1974)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Susan Sarandon
Director: Billy Wilder
Certificate: 
In perhaps the most honest of the remakes, director Billy Wilder satisfies the 1970s craze for nostalgia in this third filming of the Hecht-MacArthur play about wild and woolly Chicago newspapermen in the 1920s. Sparks fly as Walter Matthau plays a ruthless managing editor who learns that his ace ..read more »
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69%
from 24 members
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Charley Varrick
on DVD
(1973)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Felicia Farr
Director: Don Siegel
Certificate:
Charley Varrick and his friends rob a small town bank. Expecting a small sum to divide amongst themselves, they are surprised to discover a very large amount of money. Quickly figuring out that the money belongs to the MOB, they must now come up with a plan to throw the MOB off their trail.
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69%
from 594 members
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Plaza Suite
(1971)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris
Director: Arthur Hiller
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
Based on Neil Simon's hit Broadway play, PLAZA SUITE is a collection of three comic episodes set in Suite 719 of New York City's famed Plaza Hotel, each starring comic legend Walter Matthau. In the first vignette, Matthau's wife (Maureen Stapleton) discovers--on their 23rd wedding anniversary--that ..read more »
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51%
from 16 members
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Cactus Flower
on DVD
(1969)
Starring: Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman
Director: Gene Saks
Certificate:
Bachelor dentist Julian Winston (Walter Matthau) wants an excuse to keep from marrying his flighty younger girlfriend, Jill (Goldie Hawn), so he calls upon his stoic receptionist, Stephanie (Ingrid Bergman) to masquerade as his wife. Much to his surprise, Stephanie emerges from her shell during the ..read more »
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63%
from 396 members
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Hello Dolly
on DVD
(1969)
Starring: Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford
Director: Gene Kelly
Certificate:
In early-20th-century Yonkers, a wealthy local merchant (Horace Vandergelder, played by Walter Matthau) hires matchmaker Dolly Levi (Barbra Streisand) to find a mate for him--but instead she decides to win him over for herself. His life is further complicated by his young niece, Ermengarde, who is ..read more »
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67%
from 1,819 member
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The Odd Couple
on DVD
(1967)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, John Fiedler
Director: Gene Saks
Certificate:
After being thrown out of his home and marriage, fastidious Felix (Jack Lemmon) decides the only thing for him to do is to move in with his best friend, Oscar (Walter Matthau), a divorced man living alone in an Upper Eastside New York City apartment. Oscar is a total slob, with week-old sandwiches ..read more »
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72%
from 4,059 members
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A Guide for the Married Man
(1967)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Inger Stevens, Sue Ane Langdon
Director: Gene Kelly
Certificate:
Robert Morse convinces his best friend Walter Matthau that he should fool around with other women in order to preserve his happy marriage. Morse illustrates his point with a series of vignettes acted out by a lot of famous celebrities. Among them are Jayne Mansfield, Lucille Ball, Art Carney, Jack ..read more »
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41%
from 6 members
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The Fortune Cookie
on DVD
(1966)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ron Rich
Director: Billy Wilder
Certificate:
Starring the legendary duo of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, Wilder's characteristically cynical comedy again explores the corrupting influence of money. When TV-cameraman Harry Hinkle (Lemmon) is slightly injured while covering a football game, Willie Gingrich (Matthau), his ambulance-chasing ..read more »
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62%
from 919 members
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Fail-Safe
on DVD
(1963)
Starring: Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton
Director: Sidney Lumet
Certificate:
Following closely on the heels of Stanley Kubrik's DR. STRANGELOVE (all too closely for Kubrick and company, who quickly filed a lawsuit alleging plagiarism), Sidney Lumet's FAIL-SAFE employs a similarly stylized and heightened dramatic structure in its nerve-crushing moral tale. Taking place over ..read more »
Rate this:
77%
from 270 members
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Charade
on DVD
(1963)
Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
Director: Stanley Donen
Certificate:
Audrey Hepburn plays a Parisienne whose husband is murdered and who finds she is being followed by four men seeking the fortune her late spouse had hidden away. Cary Grant is the stranger who comes to her aid but his real motives aren't entirely clear--could he even be the killer? The 1963 film is ..read more »
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71%
from 2,699 members
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Lonely Are the Brave
(1962)
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau
Director: David Miller
Certificate:
Kirk Douglas, as cowboy Jack Burns, breaks jail to help an old friend and heads for the state border with the sheriff, played by Walter Matthau, in pursuit. Based on Edward Abbey's elegiac novel "The Brave Cowboy" and written by Dalton Trumbo, Burns's flight for freedom on his old horse, pursued by ..read more »
Rate this:
60%
from 14 members
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Strangers When We Meet
(1960)
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs
Director: Richard Quine
Certificate:
Architect Larry Coe has a wife and family, but becomes embroiled in an affair with beautiful Maggie Gault, a neighbor with her own family. The two lovers are forced to face the choice between love and loyalty.
Rate this:
36%
from 3 members
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King Creole
on DVD
(1958)
Starring: Elvis Presley, Dean Jagger, Walter Matthau
Director: Michael Curtiz
Certificate:
Considered by many to be the best Elvis movie, KING CREOLE stars the young Mr. Presley as Danny Fisher, a singer with a knack for getting into trouble. After the cops nab him for stealing, Danny vows never to violate the law again. He manages to land a gig singing at a hip nightclub in the French ..read more »
Rate this:
70%
from 762 members
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Bigger than Life
on DVD
(1956)
Starring: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau
Director: Nicholas Ray
Certificate:
Schoolteacher and family man Ed Avery, who's been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts, is hospitalized with what's diagnosed as a rare inflammation of the arteries. Told by doctors that he probably has only months to live, Ed agrees to an experimental treatment: doses of the hormone ..read more »
Rate this:
71%
from 259 members
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The Kentuckian
on DVD
(1955)
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Diana Lynn, Walter Matthau
Director: Burt Lancaster
Certificate:
A rugged frontiersman and his son travel to Texas in search of a place to begin a new life. They face numerous rough characters in their struggle to survive on the Texas prairie. Burt Lancaster directs and stars, with Walter Matthau making his film debut as a whip-wielding brute in this solid, ..read more »
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59%
from 267 members
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The Indian Fighter
on DVD
(1955)
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Walter Matthau, Diana Douglas
Director: Andre De Toth
Certificate:
In Andre de Toth's rough and tumble Western, Kirk Douglas stars as Johnny Hawks, a cocky, brash cowboy notorious as the Indian fighter throughout the Oregon territories. Captain Trask (Walter Abel), commander of the local fort, calls in Hawks due to trouble with the neighboring Sioux tribe, lead by ..read more »
Rate this:
54%
from 155 members
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The Hollywood Collection - Walter Mattha...
on DVD
Starring: Walter Matthau
Certificate: 
This documentary charts the career of Academy Award-winning actor and funnyman Walter Matthau; from his beginnings in the U.S. Army Air Forces, to his emergence in critically acclaimed television dramas, through to his legendary double act with Jack Lemmon.
Rate this:
66%
from 6 members
Walter Matthau - watch online
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IQ
to Watch Now
(1994)
Starring: Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, Walter Matthau
Director: Fred Schepisi
Certificate: 
Watch now: £2.49
Run time: 95 minutes
Legendary scientist Albert Einstein (played here by Walter Matthau) takes a break from theoretical physics to try to set up his intellectual niece with a handsome auto mechanic in this romantic comedy. The movie's central conceit is that Einstein's brilliance extends to matters of the heart, ..read more »
Rate this:
62%
from 23 members
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Plaza Suite
to Watch Now
(1971)
Starring: Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris
Director: Arthur Hiller
Certificate: 
Watch now: £2.49
Run time: 116 minutes
Plaza Suite is a confection of three witty comedic episodes starring one of America's finest comic actors, Walter Matthau. The scene is Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel. In the first scene, Matthau's wife (Maureen Stapleton), discovers that he is fooling around with his secretary. In the ..read more »
Rate this:
10%
from 1 member
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Walter Matthau facts
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kotch 1 April 2005
...Walter Matthau departs somewhat from type in this film. convincingly plays an elderly and independent old man sho becomes involved in helping a pregnant unmarried young woman...
