Kerwin Mathews (January 8, 1926 – July 5, 2007) was a handsome American actor who became the quintessential fantasy hero of the 1950s, best known for battling mythical creatures in a string of beloved special effects adventures.
Mathews is forever immortalized as the heroic captain in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), a classic adventure that featured the groundbreaking stop-motion animation of the legendary Ray Harryhausen. The film’s success led to Mathews starring in two more iconic fantasy films: The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960), another Harryhausen collaboration, and the fairy tale epic Jack the Giant Killer (1962).
A former high school teacher and WWII veteran, Mathews also starred in the prestigious Spencer Tracy drama The Devil at 4 O’Clock (1961) and a series of French spy films as agent OSS 117. His favorite role was portraying the composer Johann Strauss Jr. in the Disney television movie The Waltz King (1963). He retired from acting in 1978 and opened an antiques shop, leaving behind a legacy as the brave hero who fought some of cinema’s most memorable monsters.
