Tim Matheson Biography

Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and the bitter Vice President John Hoynes in the NBC drama, The West Wing, and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character in the cartoon TV program Jonny Quest.

Career

At the age of 13, Matheson appeared as Roddy Miller in Robert Young's CBS nostalgia comedy series Window on Main Street during the 1961-1962 television season. In 1964, he provided the voice of the lead character in the cartoon program Jonny Quest. He was also the voice of Jace in the original animated series of Space Ghost. In addition, he played the role of the oldest son, Mike Beardsley, in the film Yours, Mine and Ours, which also starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.

In 1969, he joined the cast of NBC's The Virginian western series in the eighth season, as Jim Horn. He had a guest role in the 14th episode of the second season of Night Gallery, in the story "Logoda's Heads". In the final season of the television western Bonanza in 1972-1973, Matheson played Griff King, a parolee who tries to reform his life as a worker at the Ponderosa Ranch under Ben Cartwright's watch. He portrayed a young motorcycle cop, Phil Sweet, in the 1973 film Magnum Force. Matheson also appeared earlier in the ABC television comedy series My Three Sons and Leave It to Beaver. In 1975, he guest starred in CBS's short-lived family drama, Three for the Road.

In the fall of 1976, Matheson appeared with Kurt Russell in the 15-episode NBC series The Quest, the story of two young men in the American West seeking the whereabouts of their sister, a captive of the Cheyenne. In 1978, he co-starred in National Lampoon's Animal House opposite John Belushi; the following year, he appeared opposite Belushi again in Steven Spielberg's 1941. Matheson starred in the 1984 comedy movie Up the Creek and the comedy Fletch.

Matheson also appeared in the 1983 To Be or Not to Be starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft.

Matheson and Catherine Hicks played Rick and Amanda Tucker, who operate a detective agency in Laurel Canyon in CBS' Tucker's Witch, which aired during the 1982-1983 season.

In 1989, he starred in the short-lived sitcom Nikki and Alexander produced by Reinhold Weege.

Matheson, along with business partner Dan Grodnik, bought National Lampoon in 1989 when the magazine was facing financial decline. They were unable to reverse the magazine fortunes, however, and sold it in 1991.

He went on to act in over 100 film and television projects. Matheson had a recurring role as Vice President John Hoynes on The West Wing. His work on The West Wing earned Matheson two Primetime Emmy award nominations for Best Guest Star in a Drama Series. In addition to playing Sheriff Matthew Donner in the short-lived Wolf Lake, he has directed episodes of Third Watch, Ed, The Twilight Zone, Cold Case, Without a Trace, The West Wing, Psych, The Good Guys, Shark, White Collar, Criminal Minds, Suits, and Burn Notice (on which he also performed in a recurring role).

In 1996, Matheson took on the role of a con man who claims to be Carol Brady's thought-to-be-dead husband in A Very Brady Sequel. Matheson appeared in the movie Van Wilder in 2002, playing the father of the title character, who was inspired by his own character in Animal House; Matheson's character even makes a veiled reference to the fun times he had had at Dartmouth, where the fraternity upon which Animal House is based is rumored to have "had a strong tradition of existence." He appeared in the auto-racing film Redline. He also appeared in a Volkswagen commercial in 2008.

In 2009, Matheson directed the pilot episode of Covert Affairs, premiered on USA Network in 2010. Matheson has also directed the pilot episodes of "The Good Guys" (2010) for the Fox Network, "Criminal Behavior" (2010) for Lifetime, and "Wild Card" (2011) for USA Network. He currently plays Dr. Brick Breeland on Hart of Dixie.

Personal life

Matheson was born in Glendale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. In 2010, he was divorced from Megan Murphy Matheson after a 25-year marriage and three children. He was previously married to actress Jennifer Leak, whom he met on the set of Yours, Mine, and Ours.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Divorce American Style	Mark Harmon
1967	'	Joe Hardy
1968	Yours, Mine and Ours	Mike Beardsley
1969	How to Commit Marriage	David Poe
1973	Magnum Force	Phil Sweet
1978	National Lampoon's Animal House	Eric 'Otter' Stratton
1978	Almost Summer	Kevin Hawkins
1979	Dreamer	Dreamer
1979	'	Private Jeff Reed aka Captain Phillips
1979	1941	Captain Loomis Birkhead
1982	'	Michael Donovan
1983	To Be or Not to Be	Lieutanent Andre Sobinski
1984	'	Roy Basch
1984	Up the Creek	Bob McGraw
1984	Impulse	Stuart
1985	Fletch	Alan Stanwyck
1989	Sometimes They Come Back	Jimmy
1989	Speed Zone!	Jack O'Neill
1989	Body Wars	Captain Braddock
1990	Solar Crisis	Steve Kelso
1990	Buried Alive	Clint Goodman
1991	Drop Dead Fred	Charles
1996	Black Sheep	Al Donnelly
1996	Midnight Heat	Tyler Grey
1996	'	Roy Martin / Trevor Thomas
1998	'	Howard Wilson
1998	Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Families	Adolf Althoff
1999	She's All That	Harlan Siler
1999	'	Marty
2000	Chump Change	Simon 'Sez' Simone
2002	Van Wilder	Vance Wilder Sr.
2003	Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update	Dr. Eric 'Otter' Stratton, OB / GYN
2005	Don't Come Knocking	Producer 1
2005	Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D	Houston Capcom	voice
2007	Redline	Jerry Brecken
2009	Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia	Carl Dobbs
2009	American Pie Presents: The Book of Love	Alumnus Guy #4

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961–62	Window on Main Street	Roddy Miller	First acting role
1962–63	Leave It to Beaver	Michael 'Mike' Harmon
1962–63	My Three Sons	Alan Edgerton
1963	Ripcord	David
1964–65	Jonny Quest	Jonny Quest	voice
1965	Sinbad Jr.	Sinbad Jr.	voice
1965	O.K.Crackerby!	Huntington Hawthorne
1966	Space Ghost	Jace	voice
1966	Thompson's Ghost	Eddie Thompson
1966	Summer Fun	Eddie Thompson
1967	Samson & Goliath	Samson	Voice
1967	NBC Children's Theatre	Randy
1969	Adam-12	Leroy
1969–70	'	Jim Horn
1970	San Francisco International Airport	SFX
1970	Bracken's World	Teek Howell
1971	Matt Lincoln
1971	Room 222	Jerry Cates
1971	Hitched	Clarence Bridgeman
1971	Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law	Jim McGuire
1971	Lock, Stock and Barrel	Clarence Bridgeman
1971	'	Howard Goodman
1971	'	Miles Parker
1971	Night Gallery	Henley
1972	Here's Lucy	Peter Sullivan
1972	Ironside	Darryl Podell
1972	Smith Family, The	Mark
1972–73	Bonanza	Griff King
1972–78	Insight	Chris
1973	Wide World Mystery	Tommy
1973	Medical Center	Sam Miller
1973	Kung Fu	Lieutanent Bill Wyland	Season 2, Episode 8 "The Soldier"
1974	'	Jerry Purcell
1974	Police Story	Allen Rich
1974	Remember When	Warren Thompson
1975	'	Emmet Dalton
1975	'	Danny Worth
1975	Three for the Road	Tom Aberling
1976	Rhoda	Michael Stearns
1976	Jigsaw John	Nick Pappas
1976	Petrocelli	Mike Fisher
1976	'	Quentin Beaudine
1976	'	Amy's Husband	voice
1976	Visions	Leonard	voice
1977	'	Wemidge - Young Hemingway
1977	Hawaii Five-O	Brent Saunders
1977	Mary White	William L. White
1977	What Really Happened to the Class of '65?	Jay Miller
1978	Baa Baa Black Sheep	Bud Warren
1978	How the West Was Won	Curt Grayson
1982	Bus Stop	Beauregard 'Beau' Decker
1982–83	Tucker's Witch	Rick Tucker
1983	Listen to Your Heart	Josh Stern
1984	'	Mark Fisher
1985	Obsessed with a Married Woman	Tony Hammond
1985	George Burns Comedy Week	"The Girl With Something Extra"
1986	Blind Justice	Jim Anderson
1987	Warm Hearts, Cold Feet	Mike Byrd
1987	Bay Coven	Jerry Lebon
1987	Trying Times	Mitch
1988	Just in Time	Harry Stadlin
1989	Nikki and Alexander	Alexander
1989	'	Doctor James Oleske
1989	Little White Lies	Dr. Harry McRae
1990	Buried Alive	Clint Goodman
1990	Joshua's Heart	Tom
1991	Stephen King's Sometimes They Come Back	Jim Norman
1991	'	Michael Robeson
1991	Charlie Hoover	Charlie Hoover
1992	Quicksand: No Escape	Scott Reinhardt
1993	Relentless: Mind of a Killer	Dr. Peter Hellman
1993	Dying to Love You	Roger Paulson
1993	Batman: the Animated Series	D.A. Gil Mason	Shadow of the Bat, parts 1 & 2
1993	Fallen Angels	Howard Hughes
1993	Shameful Secrets	Daniel
1993	'	William Tauber
1993	Trial & Error	Peter Hudson
1993	Harmful Intent	Dr. Rhodes
1994	Target of Suspicion	Nick
1994	While Justice Sleeps	Winfield 'Win' Cooke
1995	Cybill	Teddy
1995	Fast Company	Detective Jack Matthews
1995	Tails You Live, Heads You're Dead	Detective McKinley
1995	Jonny Quest Versus the Cyber Insects	4-Dac	voice
1996	'	Alex Connor
1996	Twilight Man	Jordan P. Cooper
1996	Buried Secrets	Clay Roff
1996	Christmas in My Hometown	Jacob (Jake) Peterson	Also known as Holiday For Love
1997	'	Captain John O'Rourke
1997	Sleeping with the Devil	Dick Strang
1997	Buried Alive II	Clint Goodman
1998	Dead Man's Gun	Reverent Jeremiah Early
1998	Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Families	Adolf Althoff
1998	Forever Love	Alex Brooks
1998	'	Michael Vreeland
1998	Catch Me If You Can	Norm
1999	At the Mercy of a Stranger	John Davis
1999–2006	'	Vice President John Hoynes	Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (2002–03)
2000	Navigating the Heart	John Daly
2000	Hell Swarm	Kirk Bluhdorn
2000	Sharing the Secret	John Moss
2000	Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	John F. Kennedy
2001	Second Honeymoon	George
2001–02	Wolf Lake	Sheriff Matthew Donner
2002	Mom's on Strike	Alan Harris
2002	'	Dr. Farber
2002	Breaking News	Bill Dunne
2003	Without a Trace	Dr. Aaron Morrison
2003	Ed	Peter Evashavik
2003	Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart	Andy Stewart
2003	'	Al Dodge
2004	Judas	Pontius Pilate
2004	Justice League Unlimited	Maxwell Lord
2006	'	Soloman
2006	Augusta, Gone	Ben Dudman
2007	'
2007	Shark	Judge Andrew Bennett
2008	Entourage	Steve Parles
2008	To Love and Die	James White
2008–2013	Burn Notice	Larry Sizemore	Recurring role
2009	Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Jarvis Kord
2009	Body Politic	Senator Webster
2010	White Collar	Edward Walker	Season 2, Episode 1: "Withdrawal"
2011-Present	Hart of Dixie	Dr. Brick Breeland	Recurring role episodes 1"14; regular role episodes 15"present
2013	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation