Guy’s History Book: Remembering Walter Matthau

“I’m number 10 at the box office. Right under Barbra Streisand. Can you imagine being under Barbra Streisand? Get me a bag. I may up.”

There are two words that will forever be associated with Walter Matthau: Odd and Grumpy. It’s not the epitaph that anyone would choose, but in Matthau’s case it’s something to be proud of.

Born in New York City on October 1, 1920, Matthau was always destined to be an entertainer, specifically an actor. After serving as a radio operator and gunner in the war (while receiving six battle stars, thank you very much), he returned home to study at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York before beginning a successful stage career. The most notable of these performances was of course as Oscar Madison in Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, a role that thrust him into the limelight and eventually into Hollywood.

Looking more like Droopy, with his saggy jowls and hang dog expression, than a leading man, Matthau’s natural wit and razor sharp tongue lent itself well to comedy. After appearing in the likes of A Face in the Crowd and Lonely are the Brave (among others) Matthau got to put those comedy stylings to good use when he starred in Billy Wilder’s 1966 film The Fortune Cookie, his first role with the great Jack Lemmon.

There are two words that will forever be associated with Walter Matthau: Odd and Grumpy.

In the long history of Hollywood double acts, very few come close to Matthau and Lemmon. Lemmon’s well mannered and erudite way was always the perfect foil for Matthau’s grumpy and biting on screen persona. The Fortune Cookie was a success and landed Matthau an academy award for best supporting actor. It’s impossible not to celebrate Walter Matthau without mentioning his work with Lemmon. Their undeniable chemistry dominated both careers and saw them reunited time and time again. In fact, their very next pairing would cement them as one of the first Hollywood Power couples.

While The Fortune Cookie was the first film to pair Matthau with Lemmon, The Odd Couple in 1968 become and immediate hit and announced them. Matthau obviously slipped back into the role of the slovenly sports writer Oscar Madison and he helped make The Odd Couple and instant comedy classic.

Hundreds of films (whether starring the pair or not) have tried to emulate the success of The Odd Couple but it remains the most beloved. Matthau and Lemmon repeated the recipe years later with Grumpy Old Men which introduced the pair to a new generation. The Odd Couple itself spawned a sequel but was met with a critical mauling.

In his personal life Matthau was, despite his cantankerous and cynical screen counterparts, a bit of a prankster. Quite the joker, and always ready with a tall tale, Matthau would delight in embellishing a story just to get a rise, often even completely bullshitting a group of people to see which of his friends were the most gullible.

We’re sure he’d be thrilled to know his most famous prank still hoodwinks people today. Matthau, perhaps out of boredom, perhaps because he was a genius, used to try and convince people he was born Walter Matuschanskayasky. He stuck to this so firmly that he went as far as to insist his cameo in the 1974 film Earthquake be credited to Walter Matuschanskayasky.

As hilarious as that is (and as much as we love it), it pales in comparison to him telling the Social Security Administration that his name was Walter Foghorn Matthau.

Matthau passed away on July 1, 2000 due to complications of colon cancer. Allegedly Lemmon never left his side.

So here at Guy.com we want to commemorate and celebrate this comedic legend. Happy birthday, Mr. Matuschanskayasky. We hope you’re winding Jack up right now.

Here’s more Matthau: