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In Remembrance: Kerwin Mathews
Kerwin Mathews, the square-jawed hero of the fantasy The 7th
Voyage Of Sinbad (1958), has passed away on July 5, 2007 in San
Fransisco, CA. He was 81.
Born January 8, 1926 in Seattle, Washington, Mathews unknowingly
prepared for a career in fantasy and adventure films by studying
fencing while attending Beloit College. After a brief stint as a
high school speech teacher in Wisconsin, Mathews turned to acting,
making his film debut in director Phil Karlson’s noir 5 Against
The House in 1955. With a small number of television appearances
and another small role in 1957’s The Garment Jungle under his
belt, Matthews landed his first lead role in the war film Tarawa
Beachhead (1958).
It was Mathews’ next role, the legendary adventurer Sinbad fighting
off a man-eating Cyclopes and giant birds created by special-effects
wizard Ray Harryhausen, in 7th Voyage Of Sinbad,
that cemented his screen persona of a charming, swashbuckling hero.
He soon found himself fighting for the love of Tina Louis in The
Warrior Empress 91980) and against Christopher Lee in Hammer
Studio’s The Pirates Of Blood River (1962). He also squared
off against more Harryhausen creations in The Three Worlds Of
Gulliver (1960) and Jack The Giant Killer (1962).
As the fantasy films he was starring were shot in Europe, Mathews
found himself in various other Euro productions including spy films
like OSS117 (1963), Panic And Bangkok (1964) and
The Killer Likes Candy (1968), the thriller Maniac
(1963), the crime drama The Viscount (1967) and the British produced
Battle Beneath The Earth (1967). Returning to the United
States, he starred in director John Derek’s A Boy… A Girl in
1969. Unfortunately, the quality of roles Mathews’ was offered
declined to appearances in such film as Octaman (1971) and
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973). After headlining the
low-budget horror film Nightmare In Blood (1978), he retired
from acting. |
