Carol Matthau | Relationships
Al Hirschfeld
The pre-eminent cartoonist of the 20th Century, he created several portraits of Charlie, Carol, and Walter while on the job at the “New York Times”. He was a treasured family friend.
Anderson Cooper
Carol was Anderson’s godmother. His mother Gloria Vanderbilt and Carol met when they were young girls and remained lifelong friends.
Aram Saroyan
Aram is Carol's firstborn son, whom she had while married to William Saroyan.
Audrey Hepburn
Starred with Walter in "Charade" (1963). Her Holly Golightly character from Truman Capote's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' is inspired by Carol's personality.
Barbra Streisand
Starred with Walter in "Hello, Dolly!" (1969). She and Carol became good friends for decades.
Candice Bergen
As a photojournalist (in her pre-acting days), Bergen covered the exclusive Oscar season party for Charlie Chaplin, which was hosted by the Matthau’s and featured exclusively in “Life Magazine.”
Carol Burnett
Long time family friend of the Matthau family, she starred with Walter in "Pete 'N Tillie" (1972) and "The Front Page" (1974). While directing his fourth film, Charlie cast Carol Burnett and his father Walter as widowers who find a second chance at love in "The Marriage Fool" (1998).
Cary Grant
Starred with Walter in "Charade" (1963). He and wife Dyan Cannon were family friends of the Matthaus.
Carson McCullers
Carol met and befriended Carson, one of the most talented writers of her generation, in 1958 when Carol was a standby for Anne Baxter in McCullers play 'The Square Root of Wonderful'.
Charles Marcus
Carol’s adopted father, Charles Marcus co-founded Bendix Aviation with Vincent Bendix. He was a confidante of Howard Hughes.
Charlie Chaplin
His wife Oona was Carol Matthau’s best friend. The Matthaus and Chaplin subsequently became close. The Matthaus had a party to toast him when he returned to the U.S. to accept his honorary Oscar. The party was exclusively featured in "Life Magazine".
Charlie Matthau
Charlie is Carol’s only child with Walter.
Dyan Cannon
Cannon and her husband Cary Grant were family friends of the Matthaus. She also appears with Walter in "Out to Sea" (1997).
Edith Sitwell
Carol met Sitwell, and English writer later made Dame of the British empire while at a party with Bill Saroyan. "What are you doing with that old man?" Dame Edith asked. "You are just a little girl."
Elaine May
The multi-talented Elaine May, wrote, directed and co-starred with Matthau in "A New Leaf"(1971). She played Matthau's on-screen wife in Neil Simon's "California Suite" (1978). Matthau's real wife, Carol Grace, won critical acclaim for her riveting performance as Nellie in "Mikey and Nicky", written and directed by Elaine May.
Eli Wallach
Carol and Eli Wallach worked together on Broadway in 'The Cold Wind and the Warm'. Carol, Walter, Eli, and his wife Anne Jackson became great family friends.
Elliot Gould
Gould was a lifelong friend of the Matthaus. He helped Carol’s son Charlie obtain his first directing job by recommending him to Menachem Golan, CEO of Canon Films.
Felicia Farr
A lifelong family friend, Farr was the wife of Walter's best friend, Jack Lemmon.
Frank Sinatra
Carol spent time with Sinatra at a time when he was seeing her good friend Gloria Vanderbilt.
Fred Astaire
The legendary dancer and entertainer was a family friend to the Matthaus.
Gene Kelly
Kelly directed Walter and Barbra Streisand in "Hello, Dolly!"(1969) and "A Guide for the Married Man"(1967). It was a Matthau family tradition to spend New Year’s Eve at Gene Kelly's house.
George Burns
Starred with Walter in “The Lion Roars Again” (1975) and "The Sunshine Boys" (1975).
Gloria Vanderbilt
Carol met Gloria as a young girl on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. They remained close friends throughout life. Gloria's painting of Carol is the cover of Carol's book 'Among the Porcupines'.
Irving Lazar
Carol became friendly with Swifty, and attended his post-Oscar parties regularly.
Isak Dineson
Carol first met the British writer during her first date with William Saroyan. The two remained in touch over the years.
Jack Lemmon
Lemmon was Walter Matthau’s best friend, Carol’s dear friend and neighbor, and Charlie Matthau’s second father.
James Agee
Carol shared an intimate, yet unconsummated, love affair with the renowned poet, writer and screenwriter.
Jayne Mansfield
In 1955, Carol was Mansfield's understudy for the Broadway production "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter". She met and fell in love with Walter Matthau.
John Cassavetes
Cassavetes plays opposite Carol in "Mikey and Nicky"
Kay Kendall
Kendall, before she was Rex Harrison's wife, met Carol when she was dating Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney. Carol said, "Kay and I fell in love with each other almost at once."
Kenneth Tynan
Carol first met Tynan, the brilliant theater critic for 'The London Observer' at a dinner party in California in 1954 when she had first begun seeing Walter. That night, he asked her to come to London and marry him. She did spend time with him in Europe before breaking apart. "I know you'll go straight back to Matthau," he told her.
Leslie Howard
According to Carol's mother Rosheen, the British actor of 'Gone with the Wind' fame, was her biological father.
Lillian Ross
Ross was the editor of 'The New Yorker' and a close friend of Carol's.
Lucy Saroyan
Carol's only daughter.
Marianne Moore
Carol met the poet during one of her first dates with William Saroyan.
Marlon Brando
Marlon dated Carol before she met Walter.
Maureen Stapleton
A lifelong friend and pal, Maureen was friends with Carol and Walter in the early New York days, even before they were married. She appeared in the stage production “The Cold Wind and the Warm” (1958-1959) with Carol and later starred in "Plaza Suite" (1971) with Walter.
Oona O'Neill Chaplin
Oona, the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, and Carol met as privileged young girls on Manhattan's Lower East Side. They remained very best friends through every stage of life.
Paula Prentiss
Co-starred with Matthau in "Buddy, Buddy". She is married to Matthau's "House Calls" and "The Sunshine Boys" co-star Richard Benjamin. Paula and Richard were also close friends with Walter, Carol and Charlie.
Peter Falk
Falk appears with Carol and John Cassavetes in "Mikey and Nicky".
Rex Harrison
The star of Walter’s first Broadway play, “Anne of a Thousand Days”. He later married actress Kay Kendall, Carol's good friend.
Richard Avedon
Carol met Avedon at a friend's one Christmas. They chatted enough for him to say, "I've heard that you're extraordinary, but I don't see it." Carol replied, "I think you're right. I'm not. Because everybody is." He said, "Oh. Now I see it."
Richard Benjamin
Benjamin played Walter’s nephew in the "The Sunshine Boys" (1975), which is Charlie Matthau’s favorite film of his father's work. Benjamin again co-starred with Matthau when they played doctors in "House Calls". Richard and his wife Paula (who co-starred with Matthau in "Buddy, Buddy") were close friends of Carol and Walter. Benjamin said Walter was a mentor and role model. In watching Walter raise Charlie with such extraordinary love, he learned valuable lessons about fatherhood and was inspired to follow Matthau's nurturing example with his own children.
Richard Widmark
This film-noir legend was a close friend and neighbor of Walter and Carol as well as godfather to Matthau’s son Charlie.
Rose Matthow
Rose was Walter's tough-love mother, Carol's mother-in-law.
Rosheen Grace
Carol's mother. She later married Bendix Aviation vice-president Charles Marcus, who became Carol's father.
Ruth Gordon
Ruth and her love of many years Garson Kanin were good friends of Walter’s.
Sidney Lumet
Carol was by Gloria Vanderbilt's side when Vanderbilt married Lumet.
Suzanne Pleshette
Pleshette was a roommate of Carol's during the production of 'The Cold Wind and the Warm'. Carol said of her, "She's the best friend you could ever have, filled with the most beautiful aspirations, and very brave."
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder wrote Carol a very long letter when 'The Secret in the Daisy' was published. After seeing her perform in 'The Cold Wind and the Warm', he expressed interest in meeting her. "Don't forget who you are," he told her. "When the play is over, go back to work. You will be a great writer someday. I have never been wrong about that."
Truman Capote
Capote and Carol met when they were both thirteen. He based the personality of Holly Golightly from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on Carol’s. They remained close until Capote’s death. Carol said she told Truman all her secrets and he told her some of his own.
Walter Matthau
Carol met the love of her life while both were working on a Broadway play, 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?'. They were married for 41 years.
William Saroyan
Saroyan married and divorced Carol twice when she was a very young woman. They had two children together, Aram and Lucy.
William Schallert
A family friend and neighbor, Schallert acted with both Walter and the young Charlie Matthau in "Charley Varrick" (1973). Schallert was a Pacific Palisades neighbor and family friend of the Matthaus.