Actor Walter Matthews Dies

Long time actor Walther Matthews died April 28 at the age of 85 from natural causes in Mountain Center, California.

Matthews was born on October 10, 1926 in New York City. He got his start on the stage and appeared in “Equus” and “King Lear”. While he appeared in numerous television and film roles, Matthews made his mark as the mechanic in the Fram Oil Filter commercials that says, “you can pay me now or you can pay me later.”

Matthews has not been on the screen since his last roles in 1986, but prior to that Matthews appeared in “Murder She Wrote”, The A Team”, “Falcon Crest”, “The Facts of Life”, “Hart to Hart”, Clyde Bingham on “General Hospital”, “Quincy M.E.”, two episodes of “Charlie’s Angels”, “Operation Petticoat”, “Starsky and Hutch”, “Barnaby Jones”, two episodes of “Emergency”, “Alice”, “Police Story”, “Medical Center”, three episodes of “Mannix”, four episodes of “The F.B.I.”, “It Takes a Thief”, “That Girl”, two episodes of “Adam-12”, three episodes of “Mission Impossible”, a truck driver in “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”, “Hazel”, six episodes of “Perry Mason”, “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”, “a storekeeper on “Rawhide”, two episodes of “Ben Casey”, “The Virginian” and his debut role as Charley Carroll in the television series “Ripcord” in 1962.

Matthews is survivied by his four children and five grandchildren.