Walter Matthau dead at 79

Veteran comedic actor Walter Matthau died Saturday at the age of 79 at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica.

He was in full cardiac arrest.

The actor was most famous for his role in Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” for which he won a Tony award for the stage version in 1965. Until the mid-1960s, Matthau played mostly supporting roles in stage and screen dramas.

From the mid-1960s until the mid-1980s, Matthau played a host of comedic leading roles in films including “The Bad News Bears,” “Hello, Dolly,” “Plaza Suite,” “California Suite,” “Cactus Flower” and “A New Leaf.”

Matthau won Best Actor Oscar nominations for playing a grumpy grandfather in “Kotch” in 1971 and George Burns’ feuding vaudeville partner in “The Sunshine Boys” in 1975.

At the height of his career, Matthau earned $1.5 million per film and even more from profit participation in “The Bad News Bears,” according to Reuters/Variety.

He also had a reputation as a compulsive gambler who owed $175,000 to bookies in 1958.

Matthau was one half of one of Hollywood’s most famous and best-loved comedy partnerships with Jack Lemmon, whom he appeared with in films such as “The Front Page,” “Buddy Buddy,” “Grumpy Old Men,” “Grumpier Old Men,” “The Odd Couple” and “The Odd Couple II.”

Lemmon, in a statement released through his agent, said: “I have just lost someone I’ve loved as a brother, as my closest friend and a remarkable human being. We have also lost one of the best damn actors we’ll ever see.”

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Sean Connery knighted in Scotland

James Bond star and aging ladies’ man Sean Connery has been formally knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

“It’s one of the proudest days of my life,” Connery, the star of seven James Bond films, told reporters, according to Reuters/Variety. Connery was accompanied by his wife, Micheline, and brother, Neil.

The ceremony was last week.

At 69, Connery knelt before the Queen who touched his shoulders with a sword. Connery then rose and bowed while the Queen placed a red sash around his neck that held his medal.

Connery said, in a brief conversation following the ceremony, the Queen asked him how often he came to Scotland.

Connery, a native of Scotland bearing a tattoo that says “Scotland Forever” told reporters when asked if he would be returning to Scotland to live soon, “I haven’t gone yet.”

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Young Dracula seeks damages in Texas court

A young college actor playing Vlad the Impaler in a Texas A&M production of “Vlad Dracula” is suing the school after he was accidentally stabbed with a real knife during a production, according to Reuters.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled last week that the school may be held liable for a $250,000 judgment awarded to the actor, Paul Bishop.

Bishop was stabbed with a bowie knife in a 1994 production at Texas A&M’s Galveston, Texas, campus when an actor missed his protective “stab pad” sending the knife into his chest.

The wound sent Bishop to the hospital for eight days with a collapsed lung, but not before he ad libbed his exit in which he opened the coffin, displayed the knife and said, “I have been beaten now. I need time to regain my strength and I will be greater later,” according to his attorney, Richard Hogan.

Bishop then whispered to one of the actors that she needed to call an ambulance.

According to the lawsuit, the plays directors chose to use a real Bowie knife because a collapsible stage knife was not as convincing as the real thing. The directors agreed to pay Bishop $100,000 in damages.

The lawsuit was challenged by Texas A&M on the grounds that the school should not be held responsible for the actions of directors, who were not school faculty but only volunteers.

An appeals court overturned an earlier jury verdict that had awarded Bishop $25,000, but the Supreme Court said last week that the lower court must reconsider the ruling.

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Texas town recalls Conan’s creator as eccentric

Across the world, Conan the Barbarian has gained a worldwide following among fantasy fans for his sword-swinging and bulging muscles. But in Cross Plains, Texas, Conan creator Robert Howard has been only dimly remembered as an eccentric man many would cross the street to avoid, according to Reuters/Variety.

Howard lived most of his life in the small West Texas ranching and farming town that is even today home to no more than 1,000 people. Howard committed suicide in 1936 at the age of 30 after a short but prolific life creating memorable characters for the pulp-fiction market of his day.

Besides Conan the Barbarian, Howard also created Kull the Conqueror and Puritan wanderer Solomon Kane for the Depression-era audiences eager for escapist literature.

He was one of many authors who pioneered a gritty genre of pulp sword and sorcery fiction that was darker and more realistic than the “happily ever after” fairy tales that had also been popular at the time.

In recent years, fans the world over have gathered in Cross Plains every year in June for Robert E. Howard Remembrance Day. In spite of his international following, Howard was referred to in Cross Plains, Texas, as “Dr. Howard’s crazy son,” according to Reuters.

“I went through 12 years of school here and never heard of him until the movie came out,” said Jack Baum, who inherited rights to several of Howard’s works and publishes them with his wife. “It’s a crime that a kid can complete high school here and never even hear of him.”

Baum’s mother, Zora Mae Bryant, 85, knew Howard growing up. She said that mothers would tell their children to avoid Howard if he was seen without his mother, Hester.

“He used to walk down the street singing loudly or talking loudly to himself,” Bryant said. “I used to cross the street to avoid him. That’s not good.”

Howard told friends that he talked out loud to develop scenes in his head that he would later write.

Howard later had to care for his sick mother, who had contracted tuberculosis. In 1936, when she entered a terminal coma, Howard shot himself. His mother died the next day, and Cross Plains had its first double funeral.

In recent years, librarians at the Cross Plains Library have tried to raise awareness of the author who went largely unnoticed in their midst. A civic group called Project Pride, purchased Howard’s house to refurbish it and use it as the local headquarters for his annual day of remembrance.

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Fox to air ‘Wanted’

Reality-based television is getting another boost as Fox recently ordered six episodes of “Wanted,” a show that combines elements of “The Fugitive,” “Survivor” and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” according to Reuters.

Developed in Britain, the show will follow three teams of “runners” who try to avoid capture by teams of “trackers” made up of former professional bounty hunters and law- enforcement officers.

“Runners” will be forced to show themselves in public by performing tasks as assigned by the show’s producers, thus giving members of the home-viewing audience a chance to capture them as well.

All “arrests” will take place live during the show’s broadcast.

ABC is also planning a similar show from creators Matt Damon and Ben Affleck called “The Runner.”