Actor Walter Matthau, who got his start doing bit parts in New York’s Yiddish theater, died at 79. Matthau, who was known for playing wisecracking, slovenly characters, was born into poverty to immigrant parents on New York’s Lower East Side. He won an Academy Award in 1966 for his role in “The Fortune Cookie.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
