Biography
A former child actor who voiced several memorable cartoon characters in the late 1960s, he made the jump to adult roles in the early 1970s but struggled to find a worthwhile project until the blockbuster comedy "Animal House." His role as fraternity ladies' man Otter served as the template for his career after the film's release. As he moved into middle age, he found more worthwhile projects in "The West Wing" and as a prolific director for …
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Career Milestones
| Appeared in episodes of "Leave It to Beaver" and "My Three Sons" (both ABC), among other series; provided voice for "Sinbad Jr" segment of CBS' animated "The Alvin Show" | ||
| As a contract player for Universal, played Jim Horn for a season on "The Virginian" (NBC, 1969-1970) and Griff King for a year on "Bonanza" (NBC, 1972-1973) | ||
| Bought (with Daniel Grodnick) NATIONAL LAMPOON magazine, becoming executive officer and chairman; after 18 months at the helm, Matheson and Grodnik engineered a merger with a video company, J-2 Communications | ||
| Founding member of L.A.'s breakthrough comedy troupe, The Groundlings | ||
| Served in the Marine Corps Reserves | ||
1958 | Enrolled in an acting class at age ten | |
1961 | Made TV acting debut as Roddy Miller in "Window on Main Street" (CBS), a series starring Robert Young, fresh from "Father Knows Best" | |
1964 | Was the original voice of Johnny Quest on Hanna-Barbera's animated "The Adventures of Johnny Quest" (ABC) | |
1967 | Feature debut, "Divorce American Style" | |
1968 | Appeared with Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda and Van Johnson in "Yours, Mine and Ours", an intelligently-scripted, well-made family comedy | |
1973 | Played Sweet, one of the rogue cops in "Magnum Force" | |
1976 | Starred opposite Kurt Russell in short-lived NBC Western series "The Quest", blown out of the water by the competition ABC's "Charlie's Angels" | |
1978 | Breakout feature performance as preppy snob Eric 'Otter' Stratton in "National Lampoon's Animal House", directed by John Landis | |
1979 | Reteamed with "Animal House" co-star John Belushi in Steven Spielberg's "1941" | |
1982 | Starred opposite Margot Kidder in HBO adaptation of William Inge's play "Bus Stop" | |
1982 | Was a series regular on "Tucker's Witch" (CBS), starring opposite Catherine Hicks as husband-and-wife partners in a private-detective agency | |
1983 | Portrayed Lieutenant Andre Sobinski in remake of "To Be or Not to Be", starring Mel Brooks, wife Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning | |
1984 | Acted the part of Austin in NYC stage production of Sam Shepard's "True West" | |
1984 | Directing debut, an episode of NBC's "St. Elsewhere" | |
1985 | Hired Chevy Chase to kill him in the feature "Fletch" | |
1985 | Set up own production company at Burbank Studios | |
1988 | Executive produced and starred in six-part ABC series "Just in Time" | |
1989 | Produced (with Grodnick) the feature "Blind Fury", directed by Phillip Noyce; did not act in the film | |
1990 | Starred in the USA Network thriller "Buried Alive" | |
1991 | Played title role in short-lived (a mere seven episodes) Fox series "Charlie Hoover" | |
1991 | Starred as a high school teacher in "Stephen King's 'Sometimes They Come Back'" (CBS) | |
1993 | Portrayed Howard Hughes in Johnathan Kaplan's "Since I Don't Have You" segment of Sowtime's "Fallen Angels" film noir anthology | |
1994 | Executive produced and directed USA Network movie "Breach of Conduct" | |
1995 | Helmed "Tails You Live, Heads You're Dead" (USA Network); also portrayed Detective McKinley | |
1996 | Posed as Carol Brady's (Shelley Long) long-lost first husband in the even-better-than-the-original "A Very Brady Sequel"; previously, Long and Matheson had starred onstage in a long-running Los Angeles production of A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters" | |
1997 | Directed and reprised role in the sequel "Buried Alive II" (USA Network) | |
1998 | Starred opposite Daryl Hannah in "We Are Circus" part of Showtime's "Resuers: Stories of Courage-Two Families" as a non-Jewish married couple running a traveling circus in Germany during World War II who hide Jews at great personal risk to themselves | |
1999 | Acted the part of Marty in Rob Reiner's "The Story of Us", yet another project for Universal Studios | |
1999 | Directed Showtime's "In the Company of Spies", with Tom Berenger and Ron Silver | |
1999 | Had recurring role as the US Vice President in the NBC drama "The West Wing"; earned an Emmy (2003) nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor | |
2001 | Co-starred in the TNT series "Breaking News" | |
2006 | Cast as the father of an assassin in the USA comedy "To Love and Die in L.A." | |
2006 | Cast in Wim Wenders' neo-Western "Don't Come Knocking" starring Sam Shepard | |
Awards
2002 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor In a Drama Series in The West Wing |
2003 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor In a Drama Series in The West Wing |