Prince

 Opening Remarks

 The two sides of Prince. Prince is very much a dichotomy. On the one hand, he appears very quiet, shy, and reserved. And at times, very religious. Then, the musical, creative, performing side. He explodes on stage as a performer and expresses his wilder side within his music and playing. 
 Alicia Keys described it best. There are many kings..but only one Prince.

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Prince Rogers Nelson was born June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw. Prince's father was a pianist and songwriter and his mother was a jazz singer. Prince was named after his father, whose stage name was Prince Rogers, and who performed with a jazz group called the Prince Rogers Trio.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TirbrU9Gzic


In a 1991 interview with A Current Affair, Prince's father said, "I named my son Prince because I wanted him to do everything I wanted to do."
Prince also said that "my mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, 'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said 'Why?' and I said 'Because an angel told me so.' "
As a child, Prince was epileptic.

He has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label. He writes, produces and plays most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings. In addition, Prince has been a "talent promoter" for the careers of many artists.

Sheila E 

 The Time

Vanity 6

His songs have been recorded by these artists and others including:

Chaka Khan

The Bangles

Sinéad O'Connor

Rolling Stone has ranked Prince No.27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

 Prince's artistic influences include

Sly & the Family Stone

Parliament-Funkadelic

Johnny "Guitar" Watson

Jimi Hendrix

Marvin Gaye

As well as Joni Mitchell, The Beatles,  James Brown, Led Zeppelin,  Miles Davis, Carlos Santana,  the Isley Brothers, Duke Ellington, Curtis Mayfield, and Stevie Wonder.

Prince pioneered the "Minneapolis sound", a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave that has influenced many other musicians.

 According to the Rolling Stone Album Guide, "the Minneapolis sound... loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno."

 Prince's third album Dirty Mind from 1980 also gives credit. Pepe Willie, who brought his brand of music to Minneapolis from Brooklyn, New York, in the mid-70's, is credited with being the first to bring Prince into the studio professionally to play on his group, 94 East's, demo.

Prince has a wide vocal range and is known for his flamboyant stage presence and costumes.

Prince's sister Tika Evene (usually called Tyka) was born in 1960. Both siblings developed a keen interest in music, and this was encouraged by their father. Prince wrote his first tune, "Funk Machine" on his father's piano when he was seven. 


Prince's parents then separated when Prince was ten years old. Following their separation, Prince constantly switched homes. Sometimes he lived with his father, and sometimes with his stepfather. Finally he moved into the home of a neighbor, the Andersons, and befriended their son, Andre Anderson who later became known as André Cymone.

Prince and Anderson joined Prince's cousin, Charles Smith, in a band called Grand Central while they were attending Minneapolis's Central High School. Smith was later replaced by Morris Day on the drums. Prince played piano and guitar for the band which performed at clubs and parties in the Minneapolis area. Grand Central later changed its name to Champagne and started playing original music.

In 1976, Prince created a demo tape with producer Chris Moon in Moon's Minneapolis studio. Unable to secure a recording contract, Moon brought the tape to Minneapolis businessman Owen Husney. Husney signed Prince, at the age of 17, to a management contract and helped Prince create a demo recording.

With the help of Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros..Prince's first album, For You, was recorded and released in 1978.

In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin, Shauntel, formed the band 94 East. Willie hired Andre Cymone and Prince to record tracks with 94 East. Those songs were written by Willie and Prince contributed guitar tracks. Prince also co-wrote, with Willie, the 94 East song, "Just Another Sucker". The band recorded tracks which later became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. Prince also recorded, but never released, a song written by Willie, "If You See Me" (also known as, "Do Yourself A Favor")

According to the For You album notes, Prince produced, arranged, composed and played all 27 instruments on the recording. The album was written and performed by Prince, except for the song "Soft and Wet" which had lyrics co-written by Moon.

The cost of recording the album was twice Prince's initial advance. Prince used the Prince's Music Co. to publish his songs. "Soft and Wet" reached No. 12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Just as Long as We're Together" reached No.91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

In October 1979, Prince released a self-titled album, Prince, which was No.4 on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums charts, and No.22 on the Billboard 200, going platinum. It contained two R&B hits: 

"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?"

"I Wanna Be Your Lover".

"I Wanna Be Your Lover" sold over a million copies, and reached No.11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No.1 for two weeks on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

In 1980 Prince released the album, Dirty Mind, which he recorded in his own studio. The album was certified gold and the attendant single "Uptown" reached No.5 on the Billboard Dance chart and No.5 on the Hot Soul Singles charts.

Prince was also the opening act for Rick James' 1980 Fire it Up tour.

Dirty Mind contained sexually explicit material, including the title song, "Head", and the song "Sister".

In February 1981, Prince made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing "Partyup".

In October 1981, Prince released the album, Controversy. He played several dates in support of it, at first as one of the opening acts for The Rolling Stones, who were then on tour in the U.S. He began 1982 with a small tour of college towns where he was the headlining act. 

In 1981, Prince formed a side project band called The Time. The band released four albums between 1981 and 1990, with Prince writing and performing most of the instrumentation and backing vocals, with lead vocals by Morris Day.

In late 1982, Prince released a double album, 1999, which sold over three million copies  The title track was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten hit in countries outside the U.S. Prince's "Little Red Corvette" was one of the first  videos by a black artist played in heavy rotation on MTV.

The song "Delirious" also placed in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain sold more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart. the album is ranked 72nd Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

The film of the same name won an Academy Award and grossed more than $80 million in the U.S.

Purple Rain is a 1984 film directed by Albert Magnoli and written by Magnoli and William Blinn. Prince makes his film debut in this movie, which was developed to showcase his particular talents, hence, the film contains several extended concert sequences. The film grossed more than US$80 million at the box office and became a cult classic.This film was the only feature film starring Prince that he did not direct.

"The Kid" (Prince) is an aspiring and talented, but troubled Minneapolis musician with a difficult home life. He meets a singer named Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero), and they become involved in an untidy romance. The plot centers on Prince trying not to repeat the pattern of his abusive father,and keep his band, The Revolution, and his relationship with Apollonia, together. His main antagonist is fellow musician Morris Day and his group The Time.

 "Darling Nikki"was originally released on his Grammy Award-winning 1984 album, Purple Rain. Though the song was not released as a single, it gained wide notoriety for its sexual lyrics. Partly because of the lyrical content of "Darling Nikki", Tipper Gore founded the Parents Music Resource Center,which eventually led to the use of "Parental Advisory" stickers and imprints on album covers. Compared with the slick production of the other songs on the album, Darling Nikki was deliberately engineered to have a raw, live feel.

In 1985 Prince announced that he would discontinue live performances and music videos after the release of his next album. His subsequent recording Around the World in a Day held the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks.

In 1986 his album Parade reached No.3 on the Billboard 200 and No.2 on the R&B charts. The first single, "Kiss", reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The album Parade served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film, Under the Cherry Moon.
 Under the Cherry Moon is a 1986 film directed by and starring Prince as a gigolo named Christopher Tracy and Time member Jerome Benton as his partner, Tricky. Together, the pair swindle wealthy French women. The situation gets complicated when Christopher falls in love with heiress Mary Sharon (Kristin Scott Thomas) after planning to swindle her when he finds out that she receives a $50 million trust fund on her 21st birthday. 

Prior to the disbanding of The Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects, The Revolution album Dream Factory and a solo effort, Camille. Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball. However, following the low sales of his previous two albums, Warner Bros. forced Prince to trim the triple album to a double album and Sign o' the Times was released on March 31, 1987.

The album peaked at No.6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.^.The first single, "Sign o' the Times", would chart at No.3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" charted poorly at No.67 on the Hot 100, but went to No.12 on R&B chart.

 The third single, a duet with Sheena Easton, "U Got the Look" charted at No.2 on the Hot 100, No.11 on the R&B chart

 and the final single "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" finished at No.10 on Hot 100 and No.14 on the R&B chart.

 The film Sign o' the Times was released on November 20, 1987. Much like the album, the film garnered more critical praise than the previous year's Under the Cherry Moon; however, its box office receipts were minimal, and it quickly left theaters.

The next album intended for release was to be The Black Album. More instrumental and funk and R&B themed than recent releases, The Black Album also saw Prince experiment with hip hop music on the songs "Bob George" and "Dead on It." Prince was set to release the album with a monochromatic black cover with only the catalog number printed, but after 500,000 copies had been pressed, Prince had a spiritual epiphany that the album was evil and had it recalled. It would later be released by Warner Bros. as a limited edition album in 1994.

Prince went back in the studio for eight weeks and recorded Lovesexy.
Released on May 10, 1988, Lovesexy serves as a spiritual opposite to the dark The Black Album. Every song is a solo effort by Prince, with exception of "Eye No" which was recorded with his backing band at the time, dubbed the "Lovesexy Band" by fans. Lovesexy would reach No.11 on the Billboard 200 and No.5 on the R&B albums chart. The lead single, "Alphabet St.", peaked at No.8 on the Hot 100 and No.3 on the R&B chart, but finished with only selling 750,000 copies.

In 1989, Prince appeared on Madonna's studio album Like a Prayer, co-writing and singing the duet "Love Song"

  He was asked by Batman director Tim Burton to record several songs for the upcoming live-action adaptation. Prince went into the studio and produced an entire nine-track album that Warner Bros. released on June 20, 1989. Batman peaked at No.1 on the Billboard 200, selling 4.3 million copies.The single "Batdance" topped the Billboard and R&B charts.

Additionally, the single "The Arms of Orion" with Sheena Easton charted at #36, and "Partyman" (also featuring the vocals of Prince's then-girlfriend, nicknamed Anna Fantastic) charted at No.18 on the Hot 100 and at No.5 on the R&B chart, while the love ballad "Scandalous!" went to No.5 on the R&B chart.^. However, he did have to sign away all publishing rights to the songs on the album to Warner Bros. as part of the deal to do the soundtrack.

In 1990,  As the year progressed, Prince finished production on his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge, and the album of the same name. Initially, Warner Bros. was reluctant to fund the film, but with Prince's assurances it would be a sequel to Purple Rain as well as the involvement of the original members of The Time, the studio greenlit the project.
The film, released on November 20, 1990, was a critical and box office flop, grossing just $4.2 million. After the release of the film and album, the last remaining members of The Revolution, Miko Weaver and Doctor Fink, left Prince's band.

 Released on August 20, 1990, the album reached No.6 on the Billboard 200 and R&B albums chart. The single "Thieves in the Temple" reaching No.6 on the Hot 100 and No.1 on the R&B chart. 

 Also from that album, "Round and Round" placed at number 12 on the U.S. charts and Number 2 on the R&B charts. 

1991 marked the debut of Prince's new band, The New Power Generation. With significant input from his band members, Diamonds and Pearls was released on October 1, 1991.

Reaching No.3 on the Billboard 200 album chart, Diamonds and Pearls saw 4 hit singles released in the United States.

"Gett Off"

"Cream"

"Diamonds and Pearls"

"Money Don't Matter 2 Night"

1992 saw Prince and The New Power Generation release his twelfth album, 'Love Symbol Album', bearing only an unpronounceable symbol on the cover (later copyrighted as Love Symbol #2).  The album, generally referred to as the Love Symbol Album, would peak at No.5 on the Billboard 200. While the label wanted "7" to be the first single, Prince fought to have "My Name Is Prince" as he "felt that the song's more hip-hoppery would appeal to the same audience" that had purchased the previous album.  Prince got his way but "My Name Is Prince" only managed to reach No.36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.23 on the R&B chart. 

The follow-up single "Sexy MF" fared worse, charting at No.66 on the Hot 100 and No.76 on the R&B chart. 

The label's preferred lead single choice "7" would be the album's lone top ten hit, reaching #7. 'Love Symbol Album' would go on to sell 2.8 million copies worldwide.

1993 also marked the year in which Prince changed his stage name to the Love Symbol, which is a combination of the symbols for male (♂) and female (♀). In order to use the symbol in print media, Warner Bros. had to organize a mass mailing of floppy disks with a custom font. Because the symbol is unpronounceable, he was often referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince."

Prince pushed to have his next album The Gold Experience released simultaneously with Love Symbol-era material. Warner Bros. allowed the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" to be released via a small, independent distributor, Bellmark Records, in February 1994. The release was successful, reaching No.3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No.1 in many other countries, but it would not prove to be a model for subsequent releases.

When, free of any further contractual obligations to Warner Bros., he released Emancipation, a 36-song, 3-CD set (each disc was exactly 60 minutes long). The album was released via his own NPG Records with distribution through EMI. To publish his songs on Emancipation, Prince did not use Controversy Music – ASCAP, which he had used for all his records since 1981, but rather used Emancipated Music Inc. – ASCAP.

Emancipation is the first record featuring covers by Prince of songs of other artists: Joan Osborne's "One of Us"; "Betcha by Golly Wow!" "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "La-La (Means I Love You)" 

On February 8, 2004, Prince appeared at the Grammy Awards with Beyoncé Knowles. In a performance that opened the show, Prince and Knowles performed a medley of "Purple Rain", "Let's Go Crazy", "Baby I'm a Star", and Knowles' "Crazy in Love" to positive reviews. The following month, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

As well as performing a trio of his own hits during the ceremony, Prince also participated in a tribute to fellow inductee George Harrison in a rendition of Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", playing a long guitar solo that ended the song. In addition, he performed "Purple House" on the album Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, Prince offered a personal response by recording two new songs, "S.S.T." and the instrumental "Brand New Orleans", at Paisley Park in the early hours of September 2. Prince again performed all instrumental and vocal parts.


In late 2005 Prince signed with Universal Records to release his album, 3121, The first single was the Latin-tinged "Te Amo Corazón", the video for which was directed by actress Salma Hayek and filmed in Marrakech, Morocco, featuring Argentine actress and singer Mía Maestro.

Prince wrote and performed a song for the hit 2006 animated film Happy Feet. The song, entitled "The Song of the Heart", appears on the film's soundtrack, which also features a cover of Prince's earlier hit "Kiss", sung by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. In January 2007, "The Song of the Heart" won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

 Prince performed at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in Miami, Florida on February 4, 2007.  The event was carried to 140 million television viewers, the largest audience of his life. On February 4, 2010, Billboard.com ranked the performance as the greatest Super Bowl performance ever.

On April 25, 2008, Prince performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he debuted a new song, "Turn Me Loose".




Prince became a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2001 following a two-year-long debate with friend and fellow Jehovah's Witness, musician Larry Graham. Prince said he didn't consider it a conversion, but a "realization"; Prince has reportedly needed double-hip-replacement surgery since 2005 but won't undergo the operation unless it is a bloodless surgery because Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions.


Prince is a vegetarian. 

In 1993, during negotiations regarding the release of Prince's album The Gold Experience, a legal battle ensued between Warner Bros. and Prince over the artistic and financial control of Prince's output. During the lawsuit, Prince appeared in public with the word "slave" written on his cheek. Prince explained his name change as follows:

The first step I have taken toward the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to the Love Symbol. Prince is the name that my mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros... I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was the Love Symbol, a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.

On September 14, 2007, Prince announced that he was going to sue YouTube and eBay because they "are clearly able [to] filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success."

Walter Matthau

 Opening Remarks

During the 1965 filming of Mirage, director Edward Dmytryk told Walter Matthau:


"you're going to become the greatest character actor in the business."

The actor rejected that assessment, insisting he would become a leading man. He was an actor who lacked leading man looks, whose own mother wanted him to have his nose fixed and who achieved stardom through sheer individuality and talent.
Walter Matthau proved that a leading man didn't have to be handsome or slick, or charismatic.  He made a career and became a leading man playing the every man. The guy you knew who played poker with you, or bowled in your league, or you saw at the racetrack. In addition to his obvious acting talent, that was his appeal. No glitz, no glamor, but so much substance. As we zoom through his long and prolific television, stage and film career, we will see how substance carried him for the whole journey.


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Walter Matthau  best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon

as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears.

He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie.

Walter John Matthow was born in New York City's Lower East Side on October 1, 1920. The son of Jewish immigrants, his father Milton Matthow, an electrician and peddler (from Russia) and mother Rose ; from Lithuania), who worked in a sweatshop.

Matthau was married twice; first to Grace Geraldine Johnson (1948–58), and then from 1959 until his death in 2000 to Carol Marcus. He had two children, Jenny and David, by his first wife, and a second son, Charlie Matthau, with his second wife.

 Matthau grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side and recalled his childhood as "a dreadful, horrible, stinking nightmare." His father deserted the family and his mother couldn't show affection, yet young Walter discovered a love of acting that led him to Broadway.

As a young boy, Walter attended a Jewish non-profit sleep away camp, Tranquility Camp, where he first began acting in the shows the camp would stage on Saturday nights.

During World War II, Matthau served in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in England as a B-24 Liberator radioman-gunner, in the same 453rd Bombardment Group as James Stewart. He reached the rank of staff sergeant and became interested in acting.

He took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator. He often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict.

One reviewer said, "The others just looked like actors in make-up, Walter Matthau really looks like a skid row bum!" 

Matthau was a respected stage actor for years in such fare as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and A Shot in the Dark. He won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a play.

In 1952, Matthau appeared in the pilot of Mr. Peepers with Wally Cox. For reasons unknown he used the name Leonard Elliot. His role was of the gym teacher Mr. Wall.

In 1955, he made his motion picture debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in The Kentuckian opposite Burt Lancaster.

Matthau appeared as a villain in subsequent movies, such as 1958's King Creole.

That same year, he made a western called Ride a Crooked Trail with Audie Murphy

 and Onionhead starring Andy Griffith and Erin O'Brien, which was a flop.

Matthau had a featured role opposite Griffith in the well received drama A Face in the Crowd, directed by Elia Kazan.

Matthau also directed a low-budget 1960 movie called The Gangster Story.

In 1962, he was a sympathetic sheriff in Lonely are the Brave, which starred Kirk Douglas.

He appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade, which also starred Cary Grant.

Appearances on television were common too, including two on ABC's police drama, Naked City 

as well as the 1963 episode "A Tumble from a Tall White House" of The Eleventh Hour.

He appeared eight times between 1962 and 1964 on The DuPont Show of the Week and as Franklin Gaer in 1964 in the episode "Man Is a Rock" on Dr. Kildare.

Lastly, he starred in the syndicated crime drama Tallahassee 7000, as a Florida-based state police investigator, in the 1961-1962 season.



Comedies were rare in Matthau's work at that time. He was cast in a number of stark dramas, such as 1964's Fail-Safe, in which he portrayed a White House adviser during a catastrophic global incident.

In 1965, however, a plum comedy role came Matthau's way when Neil Simon cast him in the hit play The Odd Couple playing the slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison opposite Art Carney as Felix Unger. Matthau would later join Jack Lemmon in the movie version.

Also in 1965, he played detective Ted Casselle in the thriller Mirage, with Gregory Peck.

He achieved great film success in a 1966 comedy as a shyster lawyer called "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich in The Fortune Cookie, the first of numerous collaborations with Billy Wilder, and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Matthau starred in Kotch, a 1971 American comedy film which tells the story of an elderly man who runs away so as not to be put into a nursing home, and strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenage girl.  Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman and Ellen Geer also starred in the movie.
 Matthau  was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role while his friend and frequent costar Jack Lemmon directed; it was Lemmon's only film behind the camera.

Broadway hits turned into films continued to cast Matthau in the leads with 1969's Hello, Dolly! 
In that movie, it is common knowledge that he hated Barbra Streisand.

"When Streisand became a star, she quickly became one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, but not always the most popular. Andersen told the story of her relationship with Walter Matthau during the filming of "Hello, Dolly."

"He hated Barbra Streisand," "He had just won an Oscar for 'The Fortune Cookie.' She was running the show. She was telling the director, Gene Kelly, how to direct that movie. Walter Matthau went to the head of the studio, Richard Zanuck, and Zanuck said, 'I'd love to help you but this is not 'Hello, Walter' we're making.' "

    --excerpt from the Biography of Barbra Streisand.

Cactus Flower is a 1969 comedic film directed by Gene Saks and starring  Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and Goldie Hawn, who won an Oscar for her performance.  The film was the seventh highest grossing film of 1970.

A New Leaf (1971) is a dark comedy film based on the short story The Green Heart by Jack Ritchie, starring Elaine May, Matthau, George Rose and James Coco.
Spoiled, pompous, self-involved Henry Graham (Matthau)  has a big problem: he has run through his entire inheritance and is completely unequipped to provide for himself. His childhood guardian, Uncle Harry, refuses to give him a dime.
Desperation sets in as Henry's attempts to meet a suitable mate all fail. With only days remaining on his deadline, Henry bumps into clumsy, painfully shy heiress Henrietta Lowell. She is the answer to his prayers.
The film was a critical success upon its initial release and is now considered a cult classic. However, despite several accolades, award nominations, and a Radio City Music Hall run, A New Leaf fared poorly at the box office and remains little known by the general public.

Plaza Suite is a 1971 American comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his 1968 play of the same title. The film stars Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant.
Like the play, the film is divided into three acts, all set in Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel. The first focuses on not-so-blissfully wedded couple Sam and Karen Nash, who are revisiting their honeymoon suite in an attempt - by Karen - to bring the love back into their marriage.
The second act involves a meeting between Hollywood movie producer Jesse Kiplinger and his old flame, suburban housewife Muriel Tate.
The third act revolves around married couple Roy and Norma Hubley on the wedding day of their daughter Mimsey, who has locked herself in the suite's bathroom and stubbornly refuses to come out.
For the film adaptation, director Arthur Hiller decided to cast  Matthau in the three male roles.

Pete 'n' Tillie is a 1972 American comedy-drama film starring  Matthau and Carol Burnett in the title roles. Its advertising tagline was "Honeymoon's over. It's time to get married."

The Laughing Policeman (1973) is an American police procedural film loosely based on the novel The Laughing Policeman by Sjöwall and Wahlöö and features Matthau as Detective Jake Martin.
 A busload of passengers, including off-duty police detective Dave Evans, is gunned down and killed. Evans, on his own time, has been following a man named Gus Niles in search of information linking businessman Henry Camarero to the murder of his wife, Teresa, two years earlier.
 Evans was the partner of Detective Sergeant Jake Martin, a veteran but cynical member of the Homicide Detail working the bus massacre investigation.

Charley Varrick is a 1973 crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring  Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. The film was based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese.
Charley Varrick is a crop-duster and former stunt pilot by trade.  Together with three others, including his wife Nadine and edgy Harman Sullivan, a heavily disguised Varrick robs a small bank in  New Mexico. During the robbery, two policemen and the fourth robber are killed and Nadine is mortally wounded.
Realizing they have stolen the proceeds of a mob money laundering operation, Varrick and Sullivan find themselves in trouble not only with the police but with several shady characters, in particular mob money man Maynard Boyle and an amoral hired killer called Molly.

If you want to see this whole movie I advise you to watch the link below ASAP, it is likely to be taken down shortly.

The Taking of Pelham 123 is a 1974 American thriller film starring Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Héctor Elizondo., from the novel of the same name by Morton Freedgood (under the pen name John Godey).

In New York City, four heavily armed men with code names (Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Brown), wearing similar trenchcoat and mustache disguises, board at different station stops on the Pelham 123 subway train run  The men take the train, securing a group of seventeen passengers who they hold hostage, whom they isolate in one car of the train, then disconnect this car from the rest of the train.

The Front Page is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the 1928 play of the same title by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, which was previously adapted for the screen under its original title in 1931 and as His Girl Friday in 1940.

The Sunshine Boys is a 1975 comedy film  based on the play of the same name by Neil Simon. The cast included real-life experienced vaudevillian actor George Burns, Walter Matthau and Richard Benjamin.
Initially, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were proposed for the leads, but Simon was opposed to the idea, as he felt the roles required Jewish comedians.Several actors, including Phil Silvers auditioned, and the roles eventually were given to real-life vaudevillian veterans Red Skelton and Jack Benny. 
Benny was forced to withdraw after being diagnosed with the pancreatic cancer that would soon kill him and recommended his friend and fellow real-life vaudevillian veteran Burns, who had not been in a film since 1939, for the role. Burns' Academy Award-winning role revived his career and redefined his popular image as a remarkably active old comedy star. When Skelton eventually dropped out as well, possibly because he considered the material too "blue", he was replaced by the younger Matthau. 

The Bad News Bears is a 1976 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. It stars Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal. The film was followed by two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training in 1977 and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan in 1978, a short-lived 1979-80 CBS television series, and a remake titled Bad News Bears.

Morris Buttermaker ( Matthau), an alcoholic and former minor-league baseball player, is recruited by a city councilman and attorney who filed a lawsuit against an ultra-competitive Southern California Little League which excluded the least skilled athletes (including his son) from playing. In order to settle the lawsuit, the league agrees to add an additional team - the Bears - which is composed of the worst players. Buttermaker becomes the coach of the unlikely team, which includes (among others) a near-sighted pitcher, an overweight catcher, a foulmouthed shortstop with a Napoleon complex, an outfielder who dreams of emulating his idol Hank Aaron, and a motley collection of other "talent". Shunned by the more competitive teams (and competitive parents), the Bears are the outsiders. They play their opening game, and do not even record an out, giving up 26 runs before Buttermaker forfeits the game.
Realizing the team is nearly hopeless, he recruits a couple of unlikely prospects: sharp-tongued Amanda Whurlizer (Tatum O'Neal), a skilled pitcher (trained by Buttermaker when she was younger) who is the 12-year-old daughter of one of Buttermaker's ex-girlfriends.  Rounding out the team, Buttermaker recruits the "best athlete in the area," who also happens to be the local cigarette-smoking, loan-sharking, Harley-Davidson-riding troublemaker, Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley). With Whurlizer and Leak on board, the team starts gaining more confidence, and the Bears start winning games.

Casey's Shadow is a 1978 drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Matthau who is a down on his luck horse trainer who risks it all on a two-year-old colt at the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico.

House Calls is a 1978 film comedy starring Matthau and Glenda Jackson,
Charles Nichols (Matthau)  is a respected doctor. He is also a new widower, and as soon as he returns from a tropical vacation and period of mourning, he finds himself propositioned by a number of women.

In 1979, CBS debuted a television sitcom version of House Calls, starring Wayne Rogers  now named Dr. Charley Michaels. The television series ran through 1982.

California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his play of the same title. Similar to his earlier Plaza Suite, the film focuses on the dilemmas of guests staying in a suite in a luxury hotel.

Little Miss Marker is a 1980 American comedy-drama written and directed by Walter Bernstein, based on a short story by Damon Runyon. The film stars Matthau, Tony Curtis, Julie Andrews, Bob Newhart and Sara Stimson. It is a remake of the 1934 film of the same name starring Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou.
Sorrowful Jones (Matthau) is a gloomy, cantankerous bookie circa 1934, who is confronted by a gambler who cannot pay a $10 debt. He ultimately gives his 6-year-old daughter (Stimson) to Sorrowful's gangster-run gambling operation as a "marker" (collateral) for a bet. When the desperate gambler loses his bet and commits suicide, the gangsters are left with the "Kid" on their hands. Sorrowful's nervous assistant, Regret (Newhart), is concerned about the legalities of this, particularly the kidnapping statutes.

Hopscotch is a 1980 American film comedy starring Matthau as Miles Kendig, a renegade CIA agent intent on publishing a memoir exposing the inner workings of the CIA and the KGB. Sam Waterston and Ned Beatty play Cutter and Myerson, Kendig's protege and his bumbling former boss, respectively, and are repeatedly foiled in their attempts to capture him and stop the publication of the damaging memoir.

First Monday in October is a 1981 American film based on the play of the same name by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, and directed by Ronald Neame.  Matthau and Jill Clayburgh (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical) performed the principal roles.
At the start of the story, the death of Associate Justice Stanley Moorehead has created a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. The new appointee turns out to be Ruth Loomis (Clayburgh) , a staunch conservative, who is confirmed as the first female US Supreme Court Justice. She and Associate Justice Daniel Snow (Matthau) , a committed liberal and many years older than Loomis, clash intellectually on just about every judicial issue before them. One case involves a pornographic film and arguments about freedom of speech. With time, the two characters develop a liking and respect for each other.

 Buddy Buddy is a 1981 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder that stars Jack Lemmon, Matthau, Paula Prentiss and Klaus Kinski. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the 1973 French language film L'Emmerdeur, which screenwriter Francis Veber had adapted from his play Le contrat. The film proved to be the last directed by Wilder.
 Hitman Trabucco (Matthau)  has been hired to eliminate Rudy "Disco" Gambola before he testifies against fellow members of the Mob, but completing the contract becomes problematic once he encounters suicidal Victor Clooney (Lemmon) , an emotionally disturbed television censor staying in the room adjacent to his in the Ramona Hotel in Riverside, California. When Victor climbs onto the ledge outside his window, Trabucco convinces him not to jump by agreeing to drive him to the Institute for Sexual Fulfillment, the nearby clinic where Victor's wife Celia (Prentiss) , a researcher for 60 Minutes, is gathering information for a segment on the program.

In 1982, Matthau portrayed Herbert Tucker in I Ought to Be in Pictures. There he worked with Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff, the daughter of the actress whom Matthau starred with in Plaza Suite, Lee Grant.

The Survivors is a 1983 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. It stars Matthau and Robin Williams.
The trailer,  which I posted, is awful and probably killed any chance of the film being a success,  which it wasn't.

Movers & Shakers is a 1985 comedy which stars Walter Matthau. The cast includes Tyne Daly, Gilda Radner, and Vincent Gardenia. Steve Martin makes a cameo appearance as Fabio Longio.

Hollywood studio mogul Joe Mulholland vows to produce the pet project of a dying acquaintance, who has been trying to find a way to make a film out of a best-selling sex manual. He and screenwriter Herb try to make it happen, but fail in every possible way.

http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/movers-and-shakers-trailer/2685

His partnership with Lemmon became one of the most successful pairings in Hollywood. They became lifelong friends after making The Fortune Cookie and would make a total of 10 movies together—11 counting Kotch, in which Lemmon has a cameo as a sleeping bus passenger. 

Aside from their many comedies, each appeared (though not on screen together) in the 1991 Oliver StoneJFK. drama about the presidential assassination,

Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 American romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Matthau, and Ann-Margret.

 Retired school teacher and divorcee John Gustafson (Lemmon) and former TV repairman and widower Max Goldman (Matthau) have lived next door to each other in Wabasha, Minnesota for decades, but have not gotten along since childhood. With not much else to do with their boring and lonely single lives except watch television and fishing, Max and John compete and argue with each other on just about everything.
 The two had once been friends, but their rivalry began many years earlier when John had stolen Max's high school sweetheart

Matthau played Albert Einstein in the film "IQ", also starring Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan.

Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 romantic comedy film, and a sequel to the 1993 film Grumpy Old Men. The film stars Lemmon, Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren

Out to Sea is a 1997 romantic comedy film starring  Matthau, Lemmon, Rue McClanahan and Dyan Cannon.

 

 Hanging Up, a 2000 film directed by Diane Keaton, was Matthau's final appearance on screen.

 Matthau was an obsessive gambler, which he describes as "worse than alcoholism... worse than cancer." Matthau never overcame his addiction, frequently working just to pay off debts.

Matthau died from complications of colon cancer in Santa Monica on July 1, 2000.
Less than a year later, remains of Jack Lemmon (who died of colon and bladder cancer) were buried at the same cemetery.


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As reported by the authors of Matthau: A Life by Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg (along with Charlie Matthau), Walter Matthau often told tall tales. In his youth, he found that the joy of embellishment lifted a story (and the listener) to such enjoyable heights that he could not resist trying to pass off the most bogus of information, just to see who was gullible enough to believe it.