Walter Matthau
Anybody else love his character in this movie? He had a great supporting role and is so perfectly smarmy and creepy as the neighbor (ironically named Felix) but serves as Larry's conscience.
shareLike other actors who actually had a career before taking a long-running role on television from which we know them most, Walter Matthau's character in the movie is a lot more "smarmy and creepy" (good descriptions; "slimy" and "back-stabbing" also come to mind) than the Felix we know from "The Odd Couple" fame.
BTW, probably the most extreme "out-of-character" role you probably never saw is Andy Griffith as "Lonesome Rhodes" in the little-known film, "A Face in the Crowd."
I had never heard of that film until I happened to catch part of it on TCM one night. A powerful film and cautionary allegorical tale (although if you read the IMDB viewer comments, it supposedly was a thinly-veiled movie about the public and private faces of 1950's media sensation, Arthur Godfrey).
You watch this film and you can't imagine Lonesome Rhodes ever being in the same room with Aunt Bea and little Opie. It is Andy Griffith doing a veritable cornpone, backwoods Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. An amazing piece of acting!
Catch it the next time it's on TCM (or order it from Netflix). And ironically, Walter Matthau just happens to be in this movie too ("Six Degrees of Walter Matthau," anyone?) although his character isn't named "Felix" this time, LOL...
raketex--I agree with your comments on Andy Griffith's role in "A Face in the Crowd." I watched it just so I could see him play a character that was so against type.
And, yes, Walter Mattheau was really yucky as Felix in "Strangers," but he did serve a purpose.
Like other actors who actually had a career before taking a long-running role on television from which we know them most, Walter Matthau's character in the movie is a lot more "smarmy and creepy" (good descriptions; "slimy" and "back-stabbing" also come to mind) than the Felix we know from "The Odd Couple" fame.Confusing post. First, Matthau was never known primarily as a television actor. Second, his character in 'Strangers When We Meet' is named Felix, but in 'The Odd Couple' (the movie, not the television show) he plays Oscar rather than Felix. share
You're right of course - I was thinking of Matthau in the movie version of "The Odd Couple" and I got the Felix Unger/Oscar Madison character names backwards. Mea culpa.
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