Actor Al Matthews, Sgt. Apone From ‘Aliens,’ Dies At 75

Al Matthews, the actor who played Sergeant Apone in the 1986 sci-fi horror classic film Aliens, died at his home in Spain on Saturday at age 75.

Matthews — who was also a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam — was found dead in his home in Alicante, Spain on Saturday around 10 p.m., according to Spanish international news agency EFE and newspaper El Pais. 

“All right, sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed?” his character famously shouted to his crew near the beginning of Aliens. “Another glorious day in the Corps. A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal’s a banquet. Every paycheck a fortune. Every formation a parade. I LOVE the Corps!”

Aside from his role as the cigar-smoking, no-nonsense Apone in Aliens — the sequel to 1979’s Alien — Brooklyn native Matthews also starred in movies like Superman III (1983), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The Fifth Element (1997).

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Matthews’ Facebook page said he had won two Purple Hearts. He worked in television and radio in France in the 1970s. Matthews also briefly released music, like the 1975 hit single “Fool.”

In 2006, one news report falsely claimed Matthews had died, and he later joked about this in an online interview.

The actor also voiced Apone in the 2013 video game Aliens: Colonial Marines. 

“I was the only person in the movie not pretending to be a Marine, in fact I taught the other actors how to look and act,” Matthews said in 2006 of working on Aliens, which was directed by James Cameron. “Mr. Cameron was pleased with my input, in fact he said to me, he had no idea I was that good, had he known, my part would have been bigger.”