George Mathews

Burly, craggy-faced tough guy actor George Mathews was brought up in Manhattan and educated in Brooklyn. He had an extensive career on stage, which began in the early 1930s, after he failed to get a job with the US Post Office. Instead, he joined the WPA (Works Progress Administration) Theatre Program, a government agency that provided jobs for the unemployed on public works projects during the Depression. He first appeared on Broadway in the key role of Dynamite Jim in "Processional" (1937). With his broad face, strong eyebrows, gravelly voice and jutting lower lip, Mathews was invariably cast as heavies or hard-as-nails military types. He appeared to great effect on stage in 1942-43 as Sgt. Ruby in "The Eve of St. Mark" on Broadway, and repeated his role in the film version (The Eve of St. Mark (1944)), a perfect showcase for his screen personae. Not just a one-note "plug ugly", he was equally as effective at portraying comic toughs, which he did in Pat and Mike (1952), becoming the recipient of some judo action meted out by Katharine Hepburn; and the Garson Kanin-directed musical comedy 'Do Re Mi' (1960-62), as Fatso O'Rear, starring Phil Silvers.