In Remembrance: Kerwin Mathews

     Kerwin Mathews, the square-jawed hero of the fantasy The 7^th 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 7^th 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.