Walter Matthau: Allan Hunter

Walter Matthau (1920 - 2000) was once described as 'about as likely a candidate for stardom as the neighbourhood delicatessen man' Walter Matthau worked long and hard to achieve public recognition. AT the age of 45 he found the perfect role in The Odd Couple and became the oldest overnight success in the business. He quickly established himself as a top box-office attraction, won an Oscar for the conniving shyster lawyer in The Fortune Cookie and continued to delight audiences with a string of movie hits: The Sunshine Boys, Kotch, Charley Varrick, The Front Page, The Bad News Bears, Pete 'n' Tillie and House Calls. Hunter chronicles Matthau's tough childhood in New York, his early jobs as boxing instructor, basketball coach and filing clerk; his lifelong (and expensive) addiction to gambling; his distinguished Air Force service record; the years as a villain in films like King Creole; his doctor's prediction on his heart: 'My Doctor gave me six months to live; when I couldn't pay the bill he gave me six months more'; the disastrous making of Hello, Dolly with Barbra Streisand and happier partnerships with Jack Lemmon, Neil Simon, George Burns and Glenda Jackson.