Walter Matthau Net Worth

Walter Matthau was an American actor known for his dry comedy. Born October 1st 1920 in New York City and passing away July 2000 at age 79. A true icon and true star of Hollywood.

He was born into a poor Jewish family living on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, with his mother working as a seamstress and his father working as an electrician-turned-process server who rarely saw his family due to nonpayment of rent. From an early age, he showed great promise as an actor, performing in various Yiddish theaters while attending Tranquility Camp (an overnight camp) and Surprise Lake Camp, both non-profit sleepaway camps before graduating Seward Park High School.

As a young actor, Matthau appeared in several low-budget films until finding success with Charade in 1963, both critically and commercially. Charade catapulted Matthau to stardom; following its release he then appeared in Neil Simon’s play The Odd Couple for which he earned both critical acclaim and commercial success; winning him both Tony Awards as well as film adaptation success – then going on to appear in many more hit movies such as First Monday in October Dennis the Menace and Grumpy Old Men among others.

Matthau was married twice, first to Grace Johnson from 1948 to 1958 and then to Carol Marcus afterward in 1959. Together they had two children – son David and daughter Jenny. Matthau smoked heavily during his career and suffered numerous health problems, such as heart disease. Unfortunately he died of a heart attack at 79.