Biography of Tim Matheson (a.k.a.: Timothy Lewis Matthieson)

Tim Matheson is an American actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of the smooth-talking Eric "Otter" Stratton in the comedy film National Lampoon's Animal House . And of Vice President John Hoynes in the NBC drama The West Wing. Which earned him 2 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

Matheson has had a variety of other well-known roles, including the voice role of the lead character in the animated series Jonny Quest 1964-1965, and President Ronald Reagan in the 2019 TV movie Killing Reagan.

Matheson was born in Glendale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, the son of Sally and Clifford Matthieson, a training pilot. He served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

At age 13, Matheson appeared as Roddy Miller in Robert Young's CBS nostalgia comedy series Window on Main Street during the 1961â€“1962 television season. In the 1962-1963 season he appeared in two episodes of Leave It to Beaver, cast as Mike Harmon, a friend of Beaver. In 1964, he provided the voice of the lead character in the animated series Jonny Quest. He also supplied the voices of Sinbad Jr. the Sailor in the 1960s Hanna-Barbera animated series Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt and Jace in the original animated series Space Ghost. He co-starred as Joe Hardy, opposite Richard Gates as Frank Hardy, in a 1967 pilot episode for what would have been a TV series called The Hardy Boys, based on the novel series of the same name, but the series was not picked up.

He played the role of the oldest son, Mike Beardsley, in the film Yours, Mine and Ours , which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.

In 1969, Matheson joined the cast of NBC's television western The Virginian 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 tutelage. He portrayed a young motorcycle cop, Phil Sweet, in the film Magnum Force . Matheson also appeared earlier in the CBS situation comedy My Three Sons. In 1975, he guest starred in CBS's short-lived family drama Three for the Road.

In 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. In 1980 he auditioned for the role of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which Harrison Ford won the part.

Matheson appeared in the film To Be or Not to Be starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. He 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. Then Matheson starred in the comedy films Up the Creek and Fletch . In 1989, he starred in the short-lived sitcom Nikki and Alexander produced by Reinhold Weege.