2/11/2024 0 Comments Tim matheson animal house![]() Handsomely produced in Arizona in 1976, the movie and its 15 episodes are among the best Western television nobody watched. He knew how to shoot a Western, and they were beautiful shots and beautifully composed.”Īfter Bonanza came The Quest, a TV take on 1956’s The Searchers, with Matheson and Kurt Russell as brothers searching for their sister, a hostage held by Cheyennes. He wrote ’em, he directed ’em, and he acted in ’em, and he handled it all with tremendous ease. “He finally forgave me, but those were the kinds of things I learned from doing Westerns how to comport yourself on a set. “Not the wisest thing to say as a new actor on a show,” Matheson admits ruefully. TV Guide quoted Matheson as saying, “I don’t think either Gunsmoke or Bonanza can last much longer their formats are outdated, new concepts are coming up to take their place.” “I got into a jam with Michael Landon before I’d even started on the show,” he says. ![]() Matheson, who played a prison parolee who Pa (Lorne Greene) takes in, got off to a rough start. Not only had Dan “Hoss” Blocker suddenly died the show’s ratings had fallen and Chevrolet had dropped its sponsorship. In the fourth year of my contract, Universal loaned me out to Bonanza.”īonanza needed help in 1972. I did my version of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I studied acting, took fencing, took Shakespeare, took voice, took movement. Still, Universal proved a great experience for Matheson. “We finished shooting the season, and I literally read in the trades that I was no longer in the show,” he says. So if he didn’t want to show up, he’d say, ‘Let the kid play my part,’ and they’d rewrite it for me.” I got to work with Tim Holt! He was in an episode, as was Joan Crawford.” While working on his first Western The Virginian, Tim Matheson (at left) got more screen time thanks to Doug McClure (at right).ĭoug McClure’s restlessness paid off for Matheson: “He had contract problems he was grossly underpaid. Always hiding in the catwalks above the sets and dropping water balloons on unsuspecting crew members…. ![]() “I enjoyed working with James Drury, a gentleman and a cut-up. “All of a sudden, I got a call saying that they would like me as a regular on The Virginian. I think I did a credible Southern accent. ![]() I played a young Southern boy who was high on LSD and stole a horse because he was going to ride back to Texas. “I got a guest-starring role in an episode of Adam-12. He had knowledge of horses because, in Burbank, California, “I used to work in the kennels and get free riding lessons,” he says.Īfter getting his first acting job when he was in eighth grade, Matheson broke into Westerns via a cop show. One of my all-time favorites was Have Gun, Will Travel.” Matheson grew up loving Westerns: “Davy Crockett, The Rifleman, Jim Bowie, Wanted: Dead or Alive. That era was over, and I was happy to have been a part of it.” “Then Kurt Russell and I did The Quest it was sort of the last Western. “Either that,” he concedes modestly, “or you can blame me for killing the Western. Yet he already occupied a unique position in television: when a Western series needed new blood, Matheson was the transfusion. Tim Matheson got his start in Westerns when he joined The Virginian cast in its eighth season as Jim Horn.ĭespite 183 acting credits, two Emmy nominations and no signs of slowing down, the suave and funny actor Tim Matheson will be forever remembered as Otter the ladies man in 1978’s Animal House.
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