Junius Matthews
Actor · Died January 18, 1978, aged 87 · Chicago, Illinois, USA
Junius Conyers Matthews was an American actor. He was the voice of Archimedes the Owl in Disney's The Sword in the Stone in 1963. He was also the original voice of Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh franchise from 1966 to 1977. He was a private in World War I before becoming an actor, and determined to become a popular radio and television actor, his career began on stage where he got his first role in a silent film called The Silent Witness (1917). He later played the role of the Tin Woodsman on a radio version of The Wizard of Oz. His distinctive voice can be frequently heard in supporting roles in radio, particularly westerns where he was often cast as an old codger, miner, or master of the cook wagon. Matthews appeared on the short-lived series Luke Slaughter of Tombstone as Slaughter's sidekick, Wichita, and played Ling Wee, a Chinese waiter, in Gasoline Alley. He also made guest appearances on several television series in the 1950s and '60s. It was not until the last ten years of his life that Matthews became widely known for his role as Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh movies produced by the Disney studio from 1966 to 1977, including the featurettes Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974) as well as the feature-length compilation film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977). He played other roles for Disney, most notably the owl, Archimedes, in Disney's The Sword in the Stone (1963). Matthews died on January 18, 1978 at age 87 and was buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery
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Biography from TMDB.
- June 12, 1890
- January 18, 1978 (aged 87)
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Actor
- 10 on MovieCove · 17 credits in all
What are Junius Matthews' films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
Light 2 · Serious 0 · Dark 1
Grounded 0 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 1 · Intense 0
Steady 2 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 2 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 0
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Roles they play
- Allyas Archimedes in The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- Shadowas Rabbit in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Junius Matthews' films?
As of October 24, 2026, 6 of their 10 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (4).
Subscription and free streaming for Junius Matthews' titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
17 credits, 10 with a MovieCove page.
Disney's Halloween Treat(1984)
Midcredits score: 94th percentile of all films
Disney's Greatest Villains (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1974)
Winnie the Pooh (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1966)
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1966)
The Sword in the Stone(1963)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
A Summer Place(1959)
Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all films
The Lineup (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1958)
The Real McCoys(1957)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all shows
Have Gun, Will Travel (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1957)
Dragnet(1951)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all shows
The Gene Autry Show(1950)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all shows
I've Always Loved You(1946)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
Black Angel(1946)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Without Reservations(1946)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
The Silent Witness (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1917)
Career shape
Star power in the 91st percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 17 titles from 1917 to 1982; peak year 1963.
Biggest box office
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
Highest rated
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
Most popular right now
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
Film career
Peak 1963 · back in prominent film roles after a quiet stretch. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 1946Screen debut· Black Angel
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30.
How do Junius Matthews' films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 75th percentile, the median of all 7; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 83rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up4
- 50th to 74th5
- 25th to 49th1
Shape of the crowd
None of their 10 titles divides audiences: 8 are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved2
- Crowd Pleaser8
Reviewers score the acting 76/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 78, detractors 53. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Junius Matthews work with?
People who share at least 2 of Junius Matthews' MovieCove titles; Wolfgang Reitherman shares the most, 2.
- Wolfgang ReithermanShared titles: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), The Sword in the Stone (1963)See all 2 shared titles with Wolfgang Reitherman
- Sebastian CabotShared titles: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), The Sword in the Stone (1963)See all 2 shared titles with Sebastian Cabot
