Carmen Sylvia Mathews (May 8, 1911 – August 31, 1995) was an American actress and environmentalist.
Biography Mathews was born in Philadelphia. She studied first at Bennett Junior College and then in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for three semesters. She considered herself to be a "disciple" of Charles Rann Kennedy and Edith Wynne Matthison. She began her professional acting appearance with the Stratford-on-Avon Shakespearean Company before moving back to the United States. She described her parts there as "mostly furniture" with a few exceptions.
Matthews's career made little progress in the United States until Fall 1938 when she had the lady-in-waiting role in Maurice Evans's company of Hamlet. When Katherine Locke left the role of Ophelia in the Broadway production of Hamlet, Mathews replaced her and continued in that role when the play went on tour.
Her Shakespearean roles included Ophelia in Hamlet and the Queen in Richard II. She also starred as Theresa Tapper in the William Roos, Jack Lawrence, and Don Walker 1951 Broadway musical Courtin' Time. Her film credits include Butterfield 8 (1960), A Rage to Live (1965), Rabbit, Run (1970), Sounder (1972), Top of the Hill (1980) and Daniel (1983). On television, she performed on a variety of series over a span of four decades. A few of these series include appearances on six episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65) as well as roles in a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone, a 1964 episode of The Fugitive, and a 1972 episode of Cannon. One of her memorable televised performances is as Colonel Lilian Rayburn on Episode 150 of M*A*S*H. Toward the end of her career, in 1990, she was cast in the Last Best Year with Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters.
In 1975, Mathews set up and ran a residential summer camp for disadvantaged children on her 100-acre farm in Redding, Connecticut. Toward the end of her life, Mathews, a passionate environmentalist, made a perpetual donation of her 100-acre New Pond Farm to the Redding Land Trust, to ensure that it would retain its woods, fields, pond and marsh. The United Nations Association of the United States of America named Mathews one of Connecticut's outstanding women in 1987.
Death Mathews died at her farm in Redding, Connecticut in 1995, aged 84, from undisclosed causes.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1956 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Lizzie Borden Season 1 Episode 17: "The Older Sister"1956 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Katherine Oldham Season 2 Episode 4: "Kill With Kindness"1956 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Joanna Enright Season 2 Episode 8: "Conversation Over a Corpse"1958 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Celia Boerum Season 3 Episode 31: "The Festive Season"1958 Butterfield 8 Mrs. Jescott Uncredited1959 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Miss Hall Season 4 Episode 28: "The Impossible Dream"1961 The Twilight Zone Vinnie Episode: Static1962 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Thelma Malley Season 7 Episode 28: "The Kerry Blue"1965 A Rage to Live Emily Caldwell 1970 Rabbit, Run Mrs. Springer 1972 Sounder Rita Boatwright 1975 Ellery Queen Laticia Alley Episode 8: "The Mad Tea Party"1978 M*A*S*HColonel Lillian RayburnSeason 7, Episode 8:"Lil"1980 Top of the Hill Minna Ellsworth TV movie1980 Gauguin the Savage Madame Jeanette TV movie1983 Daniel Mrs. Ascher
References
External links
Carmen Mathews papers, 1921-1995, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts New Pond Farm's page on Carmen Mathews Remembering Carmen Mathews