'' Mathews was born in
Brooklyn, New York. Matthews's stage career began during the
Great Depression when he became manager of an Italian
stock theater company. Although he knew no Italian and had no experience as a stage manager, he took the job to end his jobless status. At one point the actor who portrayed the good cop in the play was sick, and Mathews was drafted to fill in for him. Mathews said the impresario "thought I made such a good cop that he turned the role over to me permanently. That was the beginning of my acting career." Mathews was often cast as heavies or hardened military types. He appeared in both the stage (1942–43) and film version (1944) of
The Eve of St. Mark, as Sergeant Ruby. He also portrayed a comedic thug in
Pat and Mike (1952). In a 1956 episode of
The Phil Silvers Show, he played a brutish seargent nicknamed "The Beast", whose imposing stature and brawn gets cleverly outwitted by Bilko and his platoon. He appeared on Broadway in the
Garson Kanin-directed musical comedy
Do Re Mi (1960–62), as Fatso O'Rear. He later appeared on Broadway in
Catch Me If You Can in 1965. In 1962, he appeared in
Have Gun – Will Travel, Season 6, Episode 6. That same year, he played ex-fighter, “Champ”, in the Season 7 Episode 28 of Gunsmoke, “The Dealer”. He demonstrated his comedic talent in the short-lived television comedy series
Glynis (1963), playing ex-cop Chick Rogers, who assists a mystery writer and amateur sleuth, played by
Glynis Johns, in solving "whodunnits". Perhaps his most memorable role was as the bully "Harvey" in 'The Bensonhurst Bomber' episode of
The Honeymooners. He retired from the screen in 1972. == Personal life and death ==