| Carmen Mathews | |
| Birth Name: | Carmen Sylvia Mathews |
| Birth Date: | 8 May 1911 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Redding, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actress, environmentalist |
| Years Active: | 1943 - 1992 |
Carmen Sylvia Mathews (May 8, 1911 - August 31, 1995) was an American actress and environmentalist.[1]
Mathews was born in Philadelphia. She studied first at Bennett Junior College and then in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[2] She began her professional acting appearance with the Stratford-on-Avon Shakespearean Company before moving back to the United States.[1]
Her Shakespearean roles included Ophelia in Hamlet and the Queen in Richard II.[1] She also starred as Theresa Tapper in the William Roos, Jack Lawrence, and Don Walker 1951 Broadway musical Courtin' Time.[3] 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 wide variety of series over a span of four decades. A few of those 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,[4] and a 1972 episode of Cannon. One of her more 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,[5] 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.[6] [1]
Mathews died at her farm in Redding, Connecticut in 1995, aged 84, from undisclosed causes.[1]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 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 | Uncredited | |
| 1959 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Miss Hall | Season 4 Episode 28: "The Impossible Dream" | |
| 1961 | The Twilight Zone | Vinnie | Episode: Static | |
| 1962 | 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*H | Colonel Lillian Rayburn | Season 7, Episode 8:"Lil" | |
| 1980 | Top of the Hill | Minna Ellsworth | TV movie | |
| 1980 | Gauguin the Savage | Madame Jeanette | TV movie | |
| 1983 | Daniel | Mrs. Ascher |