Carl Mathews: Movies & Filmography

Carl Mathews, who was occasionally credited as Carl Matthews, was born on February 19, 1903, on the Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, with official records in the Dawes Rolls documenting that he was 1/8 Cherokee. Raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he was the son of Sam Mathews, who worked as a butcher, and Hattie Mathews, and grew up in a family with deep roots in the region. Before embarking on his entertainment career, Mathews lived a remarkably varied life that included serving as a veteran of World War I and working in the merchant marines throughout the 1920s, followed by employment as a railroad switchman as the decade drew to a close. He married his first wife, Margaret, during the 1920s, and together they had a son named Carl Jr., born in 1930, while the family resided in Muskogee. However, shortly after relocating to Los Angeles in the early 1930s to pursue opportunities in the burgeoning film industry, his marriage to Margaret ended in divorce, with Margaret returning to Oklahoma with their son to live with her parents, while Mathews remained in California to establish his career.

Mathews launched his film career in 1935 with the low-budget western Rough Riding Ranger, where he portrayed the character Cinch Clemons, marking the beginning of a prolific career that would span over two decades until 1958. Over the course of 33 years in the industry, he appeared in more than 200 films, shorts, and television productions, demonstrating remarkable versatility as both a character actor and a highly skilled stuntman. While he secured credited roles in over 60 feature films, often typecast as one of the underlings or henchmen serving the primary antagonist, he contributed to more than 150 additional productions in smaller capacities, frequently working as a stunt performer or body double for leading actors. Notably, he served as a body double for Fred Scott and Ray "Crash" Corrigan, and his stunt work can be seen in productions such as Heroes of the Alamo (1937), Billy the Kid's Gun Justice (1940), Billy the Kid Trapped (1942), and Buffalo Bill Rides Again (1947), as well as in movie serials including The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok. In his later years, Mathews successfully transitioned to the emerging medium of television, appearing in numerous episodes of the popular series The Cisco Kid. By 1940, he had entered into a second marriage with a woman named Irene, though this union also ultimately ended in divorce. Mathews passed away on May 3, 1959, in Los Angeles County, California, from cirrhosis of the liver, leaving behind a substantial legacy in the Western genre.