The NYT reports that “the death was confirmed by his partner of 46 years, Tom Nicoll.”
In addition to playing Sinbad in 1957, Mathews has plenty of other roles.
From the obit:
“During his 20-year career, Mr. Mathews acted in 22 movies and made many television appearances. He is also known for playing Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, tied to the ground by the little people of the island of Lilliput, in Mr. Harryhausen’s 1960 movie The 3 Worlds of Gulliver. Mr. Mathews was born in Seattle on Jan. 8, 1926. After graduating from Beloit College in Wisconsin, he taught high school English in Lake Geneva, Wis. In the early 1950s he moved to California and won a part in a play at the Pasadena Playhouse. An agent spotted him and got him a contract with Columbia Pictures. Mr. Mathews retired from acting in 1978 and moved to San Francisco. Except as Sinbad and Gulliver, Mr. Nicoll said, Mr. Mathews was never satisfied with merely playing action roles. ‘He always wanted to do light comedy, or something more weighty,’ he said. Then, in 1963, Mr. Mathews was cast as Johann Strauss Jr. in the Disney television production The Waltz King. ‘He was most proud to play Strauss,’ Mr. Nicoll said, ‘and that he had to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. Whether they actually followed him I don’t know, but he tried very hard.'”
