Biography
Al Matthews was an American actor and singer. Born Alexander Basil Matthews on 21 November 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, he served in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, receiving thirteen combat awards including two Purple Hearts, and was the first black Marine in the 1st Marine Division to be meritoriously promoted to sergeant.
Matthews moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked as a folk singer, scoring a UK hit with "Fool" in 1975, and became the first black disc jockey on BBC Radio 1. He turned to acting in the mid-1970s and appeared in British television and theatre. He is best known for playing Gunnery Sergeant Apone in Aliens (1986). Other film roles include appearances in Superman III (1983), The Fifth Element (1997) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). He reprised the role of Apone for the video game Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013).
Matthews died on 22 September 2018 in Orihuela, Alicante, Spain, aged 75.
