Talk:Walter Matthau

Jewish
Mr. Matthau is an American of Jewish decent. His "Jewishness" belongs somewhere in the article but not in the first line listing him as a Jewish-American.Tom 20:44, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

outdated or otherwise non-working link
The link to the web page "Official Walter Matthau Website (run by his son, Charles)" is a non working link. I have no experience in editing and did not want to risk doing it incorrectly 13:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)13:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)13:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)13:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)Cwm7128 13:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Cwm7128 13:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC) cwm7128 Cwm7128 13:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Lemmon&matthau.jpg
Image:Lemmon&matthau.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 23:35, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

*
look, what does it take to get some useful information in?? I have had my edits reverted mercilessly and I am fed up with it. I was a contributor as far back as 2004 ... hell I can still find some pages with my edits still in place, but nowadays it seems I cannot add anything without it being immediately reverted. What the fudge??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.80.164.216 (talk) 07:46, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

someone just talk to me: artistjake@gmail.com and I can be found - dunno what is this SineBot that has marked up my text left and right; I don't know why my spam style is "font size smaller" but I'm really trying not to spam here; just attempting to make small contributions and give minor repairs to articles but I have been turned away harshly and I can't say I like it at all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.80.164.216 (talk) 08:08, 3 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Never mind about the SineBot: it is simply a small program that adds the time and the identity of people making comments in Talk pages, if they didn't do so themselves. And it is not "spam etc.", but "span": it just means that the line added by the SineBot is to be shown in a small character.
 * As to you edits, I have just seen - I believe - your latest one, about what would the "real" Matthau's surname mean, and why it is not a realistic word. Unfortunately, you cannot just say "I know Slavic languages, so I can tell you that ...". You have to quote some book, or paper, or reliable website saying so. See WP:OR for more. Happy editing, Goochelaar  (talk) 09:18, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Death Section
His remains are supposedly next to three different people in the current article. None of it is referenced, so who's to know what to delete? JesseRafe (talk) 04:55, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

How is he buried in an unmarked grave when the attached photo clearly shows a headstone with his name on it?--69.166.24.148 (talk) 04:51, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * 2 years and 4 months after - better late than never. The findagrave site shows him near George C. Scott. In any case, he has someonebody on one side and somebody on the other, and for all we know maybe somebody behind him on the other side of the hedge. So 3 is a possibility. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:57, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * It is claimed that the "unmarked" grave to the left of Matthau is Scott's. There's a stone there, so it's not exactly "unmarked", but there's no name carved into it. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ —Preceding undated comment added 05:01, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * The other adjacent grave is, of course, his wife Carol Marcus. Those are 2. There's no third one mentioned in the article that I can see. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 05:05, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Heart attack?
If he didn't die from a heart attack, what did he die from? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:09, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Never mind - looks like you've got that covered now. But your earlier logic seemed to be that no one actually dies from a heart attack. That's nuts. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:14, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Please see below. There is no reason to start an edit war. Anne Maxight (talk) 16:23, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * People do die from heart attacks. It's just that heart attacks are NOT the same thing as cardiac arrest. That's where the confusion is stemming from. --Hnsampat (talk) 16:28, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Hopefully, Bugs understands that if he wants to add the information back in, that he needs to first provide a reliable source and develop consensus. Anne Maxight (talk) 16:33, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Hopefully, the user Anne Maxight, who's impostoring the indef'd user Axmann8, is gone for good. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:12, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Cause of death -- "full cardiac arrest"?
I'd like to first express my regret that this matter as to the cause of Walter Matthau's death has become a revert war. Rather than keeping it going, I've brought it here to this talk page in order to once and for all bring an end to this discussion -- as well as hopefully be able to use this discussion as a springboard for widespread correction across Wikipedia of a very common error.

As somebody who works in the medical profession, let me make a few things clear before we begin this discussion. First, some definitions:
 * "Cardiac arrest" is defined as the cessation of blood flow to the body. It's when the heart has stopped beating, usually because it has developed a life-threatening arrhythmia. If cardiac arrest is not immediately treated (usually by shocking the patient with a defibrillator) then the lack of blood flow will cause the patient's brain to die. At that point, the patient is dead.
 * A "heart attack" is what is technically known as a myocardial infarction. This is when there is a blockage of some sort (usually a blood clot) in the coronary arteries, which are the blood vessels that feed the heart muscle itself. If this is not treated, then the heart muscle will die, which will cause the heart to go into cardiac arrest and eventually the patient will die. A heart attack and cardiac arrest are two VERY DIFFERENT things, even though people sometimes use them interchangeably.

Anytime anybody dies, the heart will go into cardiac arrest. It has to do this, since there are no dead people anywhere with heartbeats. Cardiac arrest is a necessary precursor to death. When we talk about a "cause of death," what we're really trying to figure out is what was the illness or event that set off the chain of events that led to somebody going into cardiac arrest and then dying. As such, in Walter Matthau's case, his "cause of death" was complications from colon cancer -- he had complications of colon cancer which led to other bad things happening which led to his heart stopping and him dying.

The popular press likes to often say that somebody "died of cardiac arrest." I don't know what exactly this means to the lay community, but it is a medically meaningless phrase. You're saying, "He died because his heart stopped." The heart doesn't just randomly stop; something CAUSES the heart to stop and THAT is what we call the "cause of death." (The only time you ever talk about the heart randomly stopping is if they simply cannot figure out why the heart stopped, in which case the phrase "sudden cardiac death" is used, but that wasn't the case with Matthau -- he died from complications of colon cancer.)

And, it is absolutely 100% meaningless to say that somebody died of "full" cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is a binary state: either the heart is beating or it's not. How can somebody be in "full" cardiac arrest? Does that mean there's such a thing as a "partial" cardiac arrest?

I hope this clarifies. Thanks for understanding! --Hnsampat (talk) 16:22, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your effort on this. Anne Maxight (talk) 16:24, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


 * So though the heart be attacked it is not necessarily arrested. Thanks! Rothorpe (talk) 16:38, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Original Name
Walter Matthausen — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.110.35.110 (talk) 01:24, 1 June 2013 (UTC)
 * You won't be able to find any reliable sources for that claim because it's nonsense. See http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/matthau.asp and the other sources in the article for rumors about other "original" names. --Espoo (talk) 07:23, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Colon Cancer and filming in Germany.
Early in the article it states that a tumour in Matthau's colon was benign. Later that colon cancer spread to his other organs. Granted, there could have been a a second tumour but perhaps some clarification is in order.

Secondly I found a reference to something on IMDB that may be worth following up on. In an unsourced trivia item for his 1980 film Hopscotch, IMDB reports 'Walter Matthau, who lost family and friends in the Holocaust, only agreed to travel to Germany to shoot the opening Oktoberfest scene on condition that his son, David Matthau, was cast as Ross.' What the first item has to do with the second makes it seem like a garbled report but there may be something of interest in this nugget. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.157.172.231 (talk) 19:23, 26 July 2014 (UTC)

Interred next to George C Scott
The article says George C Scott is interred in a grave to the left of Matthau's grave. To the left, if Im facing which direction? 206.192.35.125 (talk) 13:22, 5 July 2016 (UTC) Facing the front of the tombstone?Robinrobin (talk) 00:53, 11 September 2018 (UTC)

Correct pronunciation of “Matthau”?
Reference no. 1 says /ˈmataʊ/ instead of /ˈmæθaʊ/. This is obviously wrong.--Wikiraven65 (talk) 21:42, 5 October 2020 (UTC)