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Atomic Attack (1954)
Character: Dr. Spinelli
A family living 50 miles away try to flee from the fallout of an atomic bomb that fell on New York City.
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Awake and Sing! (1972)
Character: Moe Axelrod
The Bergers, a blue-collar Jewish family living in an overstuffed tenement and undone by the Depression, struggle through hard times and dream of a better future in this 1972 production of Clifford Odets' pungent play. Personalities and politics clash as Odets' mélange of characters try to survive on pennies a day. Walter Matthau plays cynical World War I amputee Moe Axelrod, and Leo Fuchs portrays the family's iron-willed leftist grandfather.
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Jack Benny's Bag (1968)
Character: Self
Jack Benny's 1968 TV specials features topical references including a parody of The Graduate.
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Last of the Independents: Don Siegel and the Making of 'Charley Varrick' (2015)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Don Siegel’s classic crime thriller "Charley Varrick," made in 1972 in the wake of the immensely successful "Dirty Harry," stars Walter Matthau in what is probably the actor’s finest dramatic role, airshow pilot turned crop duster turned bank robber turned mob target Charley Varrick. This feature-length documentary takes the viewer back to the time of the shooting of this cult item and features original interviews with Siegel’s son, Kristoffer Tabori, actors Andy Robinson and Jacqueline Scott, stunt driver and actor Craig R. Baxley, composer Lalo Schifrin and Howard A. Rodman, whose father co-wrote the screenplay.
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The Lion Roars Again (1975)
Character: Self
A chronicle of the 1975 International Press Conclave hosted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer over two days in May 1975.
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Revisiting 'Fail-Safe' (2000)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Documentary featuring interviews with director Sidney Lumet, "Fail-Safe" (2000) producer George Clooney, star Dan O’Herlihy and screenwriter Walter Bernstein.
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Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman (1996)
Character: Self
Jack Lemmon made over 60 films and received numerous awards, including eight Academy Award Nominations and two Oscars. Later in life, his achievement was enriched by new challenges in which he exposed the vulnerability and emotion of the later years as few had dared. He reveled in his ongoing screen partnerships with directors like Billy Wilder and stars like Walter Matthau. Narrated on-camera by Jack Lemmon, this documentary includes interviews with Lemmon's son, the actor Chris Lemmon. Also appearing are such legends as Jack's life-long friend, the writer and director Billy Wilder, writer-director Garson Kanin, drama teacher Uta Hagen and actor Gregory Peck.
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'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War (2020)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Film critic J. Hoberman discusses the best-selling 1962 novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler on which "Fail-Safe" is based, along with the pervasiveness of nuclear paranoia in films of the sixties.
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Incident in a Small Town (1994)
Character: Harmon Cobb
Lily and her son John live alone in a small town as her husband has been killed fighting the war in France. Or at least that is what she told John, but the arrival of Frank back in the town leads him to find out that she not only has been lying about that but also about the fact that she never married him. When Frank tussles with Lily in her yard she applies for a restraining order, calling on the help of her father (the esteemed judge Stoddard Bell) and his partner (lawyer Harmon Cobb). The case fails and when Frank is found murdered later that night Stoddard is arrested and Cobb has a defence case on his hands.
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Funny Business (1978)
Character: Self - Host
A documentary hosted by Walter Matthau, which discussed and showed examples from cinematic comedy classics. Long portions of the documentary were devoted to the comedy teams of Abbot & Costello and Laurel & Hardy, and to the films of director Ernst Lubitsch.
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The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995)
Character: Self
Based on the first centenary of the largest exporter of films in the world, that is Hollywood, is the story told by its protagonists, actors and writers and other people who made life in this business, interspersing images of famous movies.
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How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1992)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This short video features illustrations from the Dr Seuss story book with narration by Walter Matthau. A hermit known as the Grinch hates Christmas and is tired of the Whos of Who-ville celebrating it. This year, he plans to steal it from them. Video also includes the story If I Ran The Zoo.
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Big Deal in Laredo (1962)
Character: Meredith
A timid man with money problems gets into a big card game with some high-rollers.
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Actor (1978)
Character: Boris Thomashevsky
A musical play based on the early years of actor Paul Muni.
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I.Q. (1994)
Character: Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein helps a young man who's in love with Einstein's niece to catch her attention by pretending temporarily to be a great physicist.
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Cactus Flower (1969)
Character: Dr. Julian Winston
A dentist pretends to be married to avoid commitment, but when he falls for his girlfriend and proposes, he must recruit his lovelorn nurse to pose as his wife.
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Grumpier Old Men (1995)
Character: Max Goldman
A family wedding reignites the ancient feud between next-door neighbors and fishing buddies John and Max. Meanwhile, a sultry Italian divorcée opens a restaurant at the local bait shop, alarming the locals who worry she'll scare the fish away. But she's less interested in seafood than she is in cooking up a hot time with Max.
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Charley Varrick (1973)
Character: Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.
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House Calls (1978)
Character: Dr. Charley Nichols
Charley is a surgeon who's recently lost his wife; he embarks on a tragicomic romantic quest with one woman after another until he meets up with Ann, a singular woman, closer to his own age, who immediately and unexpectedly captures his heart.
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The Kentuckian (1955)
Character: Stan Bodine
A frontiersman and his son fight to build a new home in Texas.
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A New Leaf (1971)
Character: Henry Graham
After running out of funds, Henry Graham, a carefree playboy, plots to marry and murder wealthy botanist Henrietta Lowell.
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Candy (1968)
Character: Gen. R.A. Smight
A high school girl encounters a variety of kookie characters and humorous sexual situations while searching for the meaning of life.
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I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982)
Character: Herbert Tucker
Grandmother has nothing to say when Libby tells her that she is off to LA to look up Dad, a Hollywood screenwriter. Grandmother has been in a New York cemetery for six years and Dad has been out of Libby's life for 16 of her 19 years. Libby arrives in LA on a Tuesday and phones Dad the one night that Stephanie, who does Jane Fonda's hair, stays over. Stephanie is there the next morning when Libby decides she needs to tell her story face-to-face.
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Carol Channing and 101 Men (1968)
Character: Self
Carol Channing hosts musical variety special with guests Walter Matthau, George Burns, U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Chorale, The Association, Eddy Arnold.
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Island of Love (1963)
Character: Tony Dallas
Con artist Steve Blair persuades Tony Dallas, a Manhattan gangster, to finance a movie about Adam and Eve by offering the female lead to Tony's stripper girl friend, Cha Cha Miller. The film is such a disaster, however, that Steve and his writer, Paul Ferris, decide to escape on a freighter to Greece. En route, Steve learns that the island of Paradeisos has lost its tourist trade because it has no apparent historical or mythological heritage. Intrigued, he hits upon the scheme of turning Paradeisos into a legendary island of love and taking a cut from all commercial enterprises. After planting Greek antiquities in the waters surrounding the island, Steve induces Paul to "recover" them, thus causing the tourist trade to increase.
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Buddy Buddy (1981)
Character: Trabucco
During a high-profile Mafia testimony case in Riverside County, a hired killer checks into a hotel room near the courthouse, while his depressed neighbor contemplates suicide over marital problems.
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The Marriage Fool (1998)
Character: Frank Walsh
Recently widowed after 41 years of marriage, Frank Walsh meets the outgoing Florence, sparking joy back into his life again. However, there is clear disapproval of her from his grown children, especially his eldest son Robert. As Frank and Florence grow closer in their relationship, Robert begins to change his perspective on their commitment and devotion to one another.
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Voice in the Mirror (1958)
Character: Dr. Karnes
Jim Burton, chronic alcoholic, is cared for by Ellen, his incredibly patient, sexy, hard-working wife. A doctor's warning that Jim could become mentally ill strikes enough fear into him that he really wants to cure himself...but can't. One night, he meets William Tobin, a fellow drunk, and finds that he helps himself by trying to help Tobin. Thus is born, amid setbacks, a group resembling Alcoholics Anonymous.
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Lonely are the Brave (1962)
Character: Sheriff Morey Johnson
A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.
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Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy (1993)
Character: Self
This spellbinding documentary re-examines the issues raised by Oliver Stone's JFK, and explores the late Jim Garrison's contention that there was a "second conspiracy" to cover up the truth, including attempts to ruin his own reputation.
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Mirage (1965)
Character: Ted Caselle
After a blackout in his office building, accountant David Stillwell emerges outside to find out a man he did not know either jumped or was pushed out a window to his death — and that he can't remember the past two years of his life. Enlisting the help of a rookie private eye and a reluctant old flame, Stillwell uncovers the mystery detail by unexpected detail.
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Hanging Up (2000)
Character: Lou Mozell
Three sisters - Georgia, Eve, and Maddy - do what they do best with life, love, and lunacy on the telephone lines that bind - when their curmudgeonly father, Lou, is admitted to a Los Angeles Hospital. After years of wild living, intermittent affection, and constant phoning, he is finally threatening to die.
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Ride a Crooked Trail (1958)
Character: Judge Kyle
After robbing a bank Murphy assumes the identity of his pursuer, a famous US Marshal, when he stumbles into a town and is confronted by the local judge, Matthau. Murphy is forced to remain as the new Marshal; an old flame, Scala, nearly unmasks him by accident, only to be forced to assume the ruse of being Murphy's wife. The "couple" given a house and respectability, which neither has had before. They maintain the charade to avoid hurting a young orphan boy, Matthau's ward. Scala is torn by her loyalty to boyfriend planning to rob the bank and growing feelings for Murphy
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Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
Character: Pete Seltzer
A fun-loving bachelor woos and weds a secretary, but the bonds of this marriage aren't strong enough to stop his philandering from continuing.
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The Laughing Policeman (1973)
Character: Sgt. Jake Martin SFPD
When a gunman opens fire on a crowded city bus in San Francisco, Detective Dave Evans is killed, along with the man he'd been following in relation to a murder. Evans' partner, Sgt. Jake Martin, becomes obsessed with solving the case.
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Gangster Story (1959)
Character: Jack Martin
Gangster and cop killer Jack Martin is on the run from the law, and hides out in a small town. Low on funds, he engineers a clever bank robbery that yields him a big bundle. Now he has not only the cops and the FBI after him, but also the local crime boss, who's outraged that an outsider can pull off a heist like that in his territory and not cut him in on it.
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The Stingiest Man in Town (1978)
Character: Ebenezer Scrooge (voice)
An animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol from Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass -- the duo behind some of the most enduring Christmas specials ever (including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). Reinvented as a 49-minute musical, this charming cartoon stars the voice of Walter Matthau as the bedeviled Scrooge and Tom Bosley as the Jiminy Cricket-type narrator, B. Humbug, Esq. It features animation by Japanese studio Topcraft, known for their work on other Rankin/Bass films such as The Hobbit, The Flight of Dragons, and The Last Unicorn.
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California Suite (1978)
Character: Marvin Michaels
The misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
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Onionhead (1958)
Character: 'Red' Wildoe
An irresponsible student enlists in the Coast Guard expecting to sit out World War II.
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Il piccolo diavolo (1988)
Character: Padre Maurizio
Father Maurice, a priest living in a residential college for priests in Rome, is called out one day to "exorcise" the devil from someone. The devil turns out to be in the form of a fun-loving man called Giuditta. What Father Maurice doesn't know is that this type of devil will turn his life around.
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King Creole (1958)
Character: Maxie Fields
Danny Fisher, young delinquent, flunks out of high school. He quits his job as a busboy in a nightclub, and one night he gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and the local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at his night club The Blue Shade. Danny refuses, but Fields won't take no for an answer.
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Out to Sea (1997)
Character: Charlie Gordon
Care-free Charlie cons his widower brother-in-law Herb into an expenses-paid luxury cruise in search of rich, lonely ladies. The catch is that they are required to be dance hosts! With a tyrannical cruise director, and the luscious Liz and lovely Vivian, our heroes have lots of mis-adventures before they finally return to port.
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Goodbye Charlie (1964)
Character: Leo Sartori
When a cavorting Hollywood writer is killed by the angry husband of a woman he was having an affair with, he comes back as a spirit in the form of a beautiful woman and moves in with his/her best friend as a base operation for enacting sweet revenge.
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Dennis the Menace (1993)
Character: George Wilson
Mr. Wilson's ever-present annoyance comes in the form of one mischievous kid named Dennis. But he'll need Dennis's tricks to uncover a collection of gold coins that go missing when a shady drifter named Switchblade Sam comes to town.
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Pirates (1986)
Character: Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red
The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.
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Ensign Pulver (1964)
Character: Doc
1945, on an old cargo ship somewhere deep in the Pacific ocean: Captain Morton strives to become commander, so he demands the maximum quality of work from his crew, without granting them any freedom or favors - ignoring that they're thousand of miles away from the front. In one word: he drives his crew crazy. They are near mutiny, but no-one dares to do the first step. Until Ensign Pulver plays a prank on the captain that triggers fatal consequences...
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Bigger Than Life (1956)
Character: Wally Gibbs
A friendly, successful suburban teacher and father grows dangerously addicted to cortisone, resulting in his transformation into a household despot.
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Charade (1963)
Character: Hamilton Bartholemew
After Regina Lampert falls for the dashing Peter Joshua on a skiing holiday in the French Alps, she discovers upon her return to Paris that her husband has been murdered. Soon, she and Peter are giving chase to three of her late husband's World War II cronies, Tex, Scobie and Gideon, who are after a quarter of a million dollars the quartet stole while behind enemy lines.
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I'm Not Rappaport (1996)
Character: Nat Moyer
Old Nat Moyer is a talker, a philosopher, and a troublemaker with a fanciful imagination. His companion is Midge Carter, who is half-blind, but still the super of an apartment house. When he is threatened with retirement, Nat battles on his behalf. Nat also takes on his daughter, a drug dealer, and a mugger in this appealing version of a really 'odd couple'.
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The Odd Couple (1968)
Character: Oscar Madison
In New York, Felix, a neurotic news writer who just broke up with his wife, is urged by his chaotic friend Oscar, a sports journalist, to move in with him, but their lifestyles are as different as night and day are, so Felix's ideas about housekeeping soon begin to irritate Oscar.
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The Odd Couple II (1998)
Character: Oscar Madison
Brucey, the son of Oscar, calls his father to invite him to his wedding to Felix's daughter next Sunday in California. Oscar and Felix meet again at Los Angeles International Airport and rent a car in order to go to San Malina for the wedding.
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The Couch Trip (1988)
Character: Donald Becker
The escaped mental patient and delinquent John W. Burns Jr. replaces Dr. Maitlin on a radio show, saying he's the psychiatrist Lawrence Baird.
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Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre (1989)
Character: Self (voice)
A study of the Group Theatre, a company that changed the face of American drama. The Group was founded in 1931 by Cheryl Crawford, Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg, who were strongly influenced by the naturalistic acting of Konstantin Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theatre.
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The Sunshine Boys (1975)
Character: Willy Clark
Lewis and Clark, aka The Sunshine Boys, were famous comedians during the vaudeville era, but off-stage they couldn't stand each other and haven't spoken in over 20 years of retirement. Willy Clark's nephew is the producer of a TV variety show that wants to feature a reunion of this classic duo. It is up to him to try to get the Sunshine Boys back together again.
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Casey's Shadow (1978)
Character: Lloyd Bourdelle
Young Casey comes from a family of racehorse trainers, and his best friend, a foal called Casey's Shadow, may just be a champion.
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The Indian Fighter (1955)
Character: Wes Todd
A scout leading a wagon train through hostile Indian country gets involved with a Sioux chief's daughter.
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Movers & Shakers (1985)
Character: Joe Mulholland
Studio head Joe Mulholland promises his dying producer and mentor, Saul Gritz, to adapt a popular sex manual into a film, despite his better judgment. Unable to figure out how to turn the nonfiction book into a narrative movie, Mulholland enlists the services of Herb Dorman, a screenwriter of popular romantic films with a bad marriage, and volatile director Sid Spokane to help him create a movie.
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The Front Page (1974)
Character: Walter Burns
Ruthless Chicago newspaper editor Walter Burns resorts to dubious motives in order to get top reporter Hildy Johnson to cover one more big crime story before retirement.
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First Monday in October (1981)
Character: Dan Snow
For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.
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A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Character: Mel Miller
The rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell.
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JFK (1991)
Character: Senator Long
Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.
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The Bad News Bears (1976)
Character: Coach Morris Buttermaker
An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league.
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The Gentleman Tramp (1976)
Character: Self / Narrator
A film about the life and work of the master comedy filmmaker, Charles Chaplin.
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Kotch (1971)
Character: Joseph P. Kotcher
When retired salesman Joseph Kotcher begins to feel pressure to move out of the house he shares with the family of his son, he opts to embark on a road trip instead of settling in a retirement home. Befriending Erica, a young pregnant woman and his grandson's former nanny, Kotch begins to finds new meaning in life as he helps her prepare to welcome her baby into the world.
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Fail Safe (1964)
Character: Prof. Groeteschele
Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.
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Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1957)
Character: Al Dahlke
A rookie assistant DA is assigned to investigate the murder of a longshoreman, killed for exposing gangster involvement on the piers, and meets up with a "code of silence" amongst all potential witnesses.
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Chaplin (1992)
Character: Self (archive footage)
An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI.
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The Incident (1990)
Character: Harmon Cobb
Small town lawyer, Harmon Cobb, defends a Nazi prisoner of war against murder charges. Set during World War II, Cobb has to contend with the difficulties of defending the devil when the town's only doctor (Barnard Hughes) dies while at "Camp Bremen" in the fictitious town of Bremen, Colorado.
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The Survivors (1983)
Character: Sonny Paluso
Having both lost their jobs, two strangers become unlikely friends after a run in with a would be robber, who is actually a hitman with a grudge against the two.
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The Secret Life of an American Wife (1968)
Character: The Movie Star
A bored housewife poses as a call girl for a movie star sex-symbol, hoping she can prove to her husband, the star's agent, that she is still desirable to other men and thereby, rekindle the spark in their marriage.
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Hopscotch (1980)
Character: Miles Kendig
When CIA operative Miles Kendig deliberately lets KGB agent Yaskov get away, his boss threatens to retire him. Kendig beats him to it, however, destroying his own records and traveling to Austria where he begins work on a memoir that will expose all his former agency's covert practices. The CIA catches wind of the book and sends other agents after him, initiating a frenetic game of cat and mouse that spans the globe.
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Little Miss Marker (1980)
Character: Sorrowful Jones
Sorrowful Jones is a cheap bookie in the 1930s. When a gambler leaves his daughter as a marker for a bet, he gets stuck with her. His life will change a great deal with her arrival and his sudden love for a woman also involved in gambling operations.
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Grumpy Old Men (1993)
Character: Max Goldman
For decades, next-door neighbors and former friends John and Max have feuded, trading insults and wicked pranks. When an attractive widow moves in nearby, their bad blood erupts into a high-stakes rivalry full of naughty jokes and adolescent hijinks.
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Earthquake (1974)
Character: Drunk
Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.
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Elvis: A Life in Music (2026)
Character: Self (archive footage)
A retrospective on the life of the legendary entertainer Elvis Presley, featuring the most significant moments of his career.
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Strangers When We Meet (1960)
Character: Felix Anders
A suburban architect loves his wife but is bored with his marriage and with his work, so he takes up with the neglected, married beauty who lives down the street.
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Plaza Suite (1971)
Character: Sam Nash / Jesse Kiplinger / Roy Hubley
Film version of the Neil Simon play has three separate acts set in the same hotel suite in New York's Plaza Hotel with Walter Matthau in a triple role. In the first, Karen Nash tries to get her inattentive husband Sam's attention and help save their failing marriage. In the second, brash film producer Jesse Kiplinger tries to seduce his former one-time flame Muriel. In the third, Roy Hubley and his wife Norma try and persuade their daughter, a bride to-be with cold feet, out of the bathroom before her approaching wedding ceremony.
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The Fortune Cookie (1966)
Character: Willie Gingrich
TV cameraman Harry Hinkle is injured while filming a football game. Seeing big dollar signs, his unscrupulous ambulance-chasing lawyer brother-in-law Willie Gingrich enters the picture, and convinces Harry to overstate his injuries and claim $1 million in pain and suffering. Harry's similarly-minded ex-wife suddenly reappears in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.
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The Grass Harp (1996)
Character: Judge Charlie Cool
Based on the novel by Truman Capote, this often-witty coming-of-age drama looks at a young man growing up with an unusual family in the Deep South in the 1940s. Becoming an orphan in 1935, Collin moves to his dad's cousins Verena and Dolly. Verena is a rich, bossy businesswoman. Dolly, Collin and the maid revolt, moving to a tree house.
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Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Character: Horace Vandergelder
Dolly Levi is a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to see the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so, she convinces his niece, his niece's intended, and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York City.
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