Beloved Film Actress Found Dead At Her Home

Toian Matchinga, who guest-starred three times on the 1960s CBS series The Wild Wild West and appeared on such other shows as Death Valley Days, I Dream of Jeannie and The Odd Couple, has died. She was 82.

Matchinga, who later in her acting career went by her birth name, Caryn Matchinga, died Sunday of natural causes at home in Belmont, Massachusetts, her family announced.

In films, Matchinga appeared for Don Siegel in Madigan (1968), for Irvin Kershner in Up the Sandbox (1972) and NBC’s Raid on Entebbe (1977) and, in her final onscreen role, for Costa-Gavras in Mad City (1997).
The Ohio native booked gigs on The Wild Wild West, which starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin, in 1965, 1967 and 1969. Her résumé also includes episodes of The Wackiest Ship in the Army, The Rat Patrol, The Flying Nun, The Big Valley, Rango, Ellery Queen and Rich Man, Poor Man.

Caryn Lee Matchinga was born in Painesville, Ohio, on Nov. 23, 1941, to Rudolph and Alma Matchinga. She received an acting and playwright scholarship to Carnegie Mellon, then moved to New York, where she made her first TV appearance on the late night talk show PM East/PM West, hosted by Mike Wallace and Joyce Davidson.
While she was an actress, Matchinga also worked as a ghostwriter for MGM, NBC and Paramount Pictures, and she wrote an erotic novel, The Girl, that was published in 2012 under her stage name.

She married Harold Brown on New Year’s Eve in 1976, and they were together until his death in 2004.

Survivors include her son, Jeremy; her daughter-in-law, Betsy; her grandchildren, Zoe and Zachary; and her siblings, Bonnie and Rudy.

“Caryn was a gifted storyteller, often sharing outrageous and hilarious tales from her colorful life in New York and Hollywood,” her family noted. “She had a knack for leaving everyone around her in stitches and maybe just a bit uncomfortable.”