Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#20791
of 909177 performers
Top 5%
Lester Matthews works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Lester Matthews appears in 16 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Lester. Monsieur Verdoux is the clearest case: a film rated 7.2 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for adventure, drama, history. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Fritz Lang, Henry Hathaway, Robert Wise and others, Lester Matthews helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Monsieur Verdoux (1947) as Prosecutor (uncredited) · The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) as Sir Ivor · The Sea Hawk (1940) as Guard Officer
Career snapshot
Ranked #20791 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
16
1935–1955
Career length
20 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.2
Monsieur Verdoux
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.7
Monsieur Verdoux
Most frequent director
Fritz Lang
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Fritz Lang
Most common genre
Adventure
7 titles
Average runtime
1h 40m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.4
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1930s
6.6 average MV
The 1930s are where the work and the material meet. The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Prince and the Pauper, Werewolf of London — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1930s
6.6
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1940s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1930s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Prince and the Pauper, Werewolf of London.
Most productive era
1940s
8 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.51 film | 6.74 films | 6.52 films |
| Action | — | 6.61 film | 6.42 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.53 films | 6.71 film |
| Comedy | — | 7.21 film | — |
| Crime | 6.51 film | 6.92 films | 6.71 film |
| Romance | 7.21 film | 6.81 film | — |
| Horror | 6.32 films | 6.01 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Paul Ames.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1938The Adventures of Robin Hood
7.2 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
1955Moonfleet
The current state of the argument, as Major Hennishaw.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
16 of 16 films
as Prosecutor (uncredited)
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
as Sir Ivor
Directed by William Keighley
as Dr. Jerry Holden
Directed by Lew Landers
as Guard Officer
Directed by Michael Curtiz
as Doctor (uncredited)
Directed by Henry Hathaway
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Prosecutor (uncredited)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Performance score7.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Prosecutor (uncredited) gives Lester Matthews a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sir Ivor
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Performance score7.1
The Adventures of Robin Hood asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sir Ivor is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Dr. Jerry Holden
The Raven (1935)
Performance score7.0
The Raven asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dr. Jerry Holden is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Guard Officer
The Sea Hawk (1940)
Performance score6.7
The Sea Hawk asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Guard Officer is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Prosecutor (uncredited)
Start here. Monsieur Verdoux is the clearest statement of what Lester Matthews does — accessible, 124 minutes, and rated 7.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Lester at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
The Raven (1935)
Keeps the crime register of Monsieur Verdoux but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
A deliberate change of key after The Raven — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Sea Hawk (1940)
Keeps the romance register of The Adventures of Robin Hood but asks for a colder reading of it.
Niagara (1953)
A deliberate change of key after The Sea Hawk — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Fritz Lang
Director
3 films together
Notably Ministry of Fear
William Keighley
Director
2 films together
Notably The Adventures of Robin Hood
Henry Hathaway
Director
2 films together
Notably Niagara
Lew Landers
Director
1 film together
Notably The Raven
Stuart Walker
Director
1 film together
Notably Werewolf of London
Michael Curtiz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sea Hawk
King Vidor
Director
1 film together
Notably Northwest Passage
John Huston
Director
1 film together
Notably Across the Pacific
Ford Beebe
Director
1 film together
Notably The Invisible Man's Revenge
Raoul Walsh
Director
1 film together
Notably Objective, Burma!
Charlie Chaplin
Director
1 film together
Notably Monsieur Verdoux
Robert Wise
Director
1 film together
Notably The Desert Rats
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Fritz Lang
Director
3 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Ministry of FearWilliam Keighley
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Adventures of Robin HoodHenry Hathaway
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
NiagaraCharlie Chaplin
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Monsieur VerdouxMichael Curtiz
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Sea HawkRaoul Walsh
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Objective, Burma!Lew Landers
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The RavenJohn Huston
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Across the PacificKing Vidor
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Northwest PassageRobert Wise
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Desert RatsStuart Walker
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Werewolf of LondonFord Beebe
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Invisible Man's RevengeSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Monsieur Verdoux
as Prosecutor (uncredited)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Adventures of Robin Hood
as Sir Ivor
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Adventures of Robin Hood
as Sir Ivor
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Monsieur Verdoux
as Prosecutor (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Monsieur Verdoux
as Prosecutor (uncredited)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Lester Matthews has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
20 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Adventure Legend
Awarded
7 catalogue titles in adventure, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Ministry of Fear
as Dr. Norton at Lembridge Asylum (uncredited)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Niagara
as Doctor (uncredited)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Sea Hawk
as Guard Officer
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Ministry of Fear
as Dr. Norton at Lembridge Asylum (uncredited)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Adventures of Robin Hood
as Sir Ivor
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Objective, Burma!
as British Maj. Fitzpatrick
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Monsieur Verdoux
as Prosecutor (uncredited)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Invisible Man's Revenge
as Sir Jasper Herrick
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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