Should Tim Matheson (Otter) have been a bigger star after Animal House?

He was supposed to have a big leading man career. The year after Animal House he was in 1941 which was a large-scale Hollywood Spielberg movie that was supposed to be epic and wasn't.

Whenever I see Bruce McGill in something which, as you point out, is often, I chuckle to myself about his tag line "Whereabouts unknown" at the end.

One Tim Matheson role that made me chuckle that I saw him in was as a ship pilot on the EPCOT ride Body Wars. Of the entire cast, here is my take on who had the best career:

Tom Hulce(Pinto)-Had a decent career. Starred in the academy award winning film Amadeus as Mozart. He voiced Quasimodo on the animated film Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also had a supporting role in Parenthood. Other than that, he hasn't done much.

Stephen Furst(Flounder)-I only remember him in The Dream Team with Michael Keaton and he was a regular on St. Elsewhere. Other than that, not much.

Mark Metcalf(Neidermeyer)/Mary Louise Weller(Mandy)/Martha Smith(Babs)/James Daughton(Marmalard)-I lumped these 4 together as aside from this movie, I can't name a single thing they'e done.

Kevin Bacon(Chip)-Little did we know that while he was screaming "all is well" while getting flattened by a stampeding mob that all was going to be well with him. This was his first role and it really spring boarded him. Not only was he in this iconic movie, he was also in the first Friday the 13th and then Footloose as well as countless roles on TV and on the big screen. By far the most successful of this cast.

John Belushi(Bluto)-Aside from SNL, this movie shot him into stardom. He was the only saving grace in 1941 then he, along with Dan Akroyd, became the Blues Brothers and made another smash hit. Sadly, his own demons brought him down as he died from a cocaine overdose leaving us to wonder what if.

Karen Allen(Katie)-She was able to find steady work most notably in 2 of the 4 Indiana Jones movies. She's still working today(and she's aged very well and looks great).

James Widdoes(Hoover)-I don't know anything he did after this.

Tim Matheson(Otter)-Already discussed.

Peter Reigert(Boone)-I've seen him in roles here and there(The Mask for one) but nothing big.

Bruce McGill(D-Day)-As was said, has had a very solid career. Other than Kevin Bacon I believe he's been the most successful.

Sarah Holcomb(Clorette)-Got to star in another iconic movie of the time as Maggie in Caddyshack. Sadly, her demons got the best of her as she didn't do anything past Caddyshack.

That pretty much summarizes the main cast(students only as Donald Sutherland was already a huge star by the time this came out). Kevin Bacon by far has had the most successful career.

That sounds interesting, what film was that?




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Matheson was big before Animal House. I remember a tv series in which he and Kurt Russell played reunited Western brothers: one raised by Native Americans, the other by Whites.

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Tim Matheson and Kurt Russell started out as child stars, kept going as teen stars(with Russell lucking into a few leads in Disney B movies) and...struck me as "two sides of the same coin." That TV show pegged it: one of them was blond, one of tthem was brunette, but they were pretty much the same strong-jawed All-American guy.

Matheson got the huge comedy hit of "Animal House" to re-work himself into a suave comedy star; two years later, Russell got the lesser comedy hit of "Used Cars" to prove that HE had great cool comedy chops, too.

But ultimately as the 80s rolled out, I think Kurt Russell came out ahead because he could be one way that Tim Matheson could not:

Macho. For John Carpenter mainly -- Elvis, Escape from New York, The Thing. And then, in a "serious macho mode" for Mike Nichols with Meryl Streep in Silkwood.

Its my theory that of Tim Matheson and Kurt Russell , only one could get the star ring...and it was Russell. And even that was "second tier stardom."

Too bad...and clearly after all these years, Tim Matheson is really the star of Animal House. Belushi zips in and out of it as a comic force, but Matheson holds it all together as the Cool Mean Guy with a Heart of Gold.

And one of my favorite lines in movies:

"You f'ed up....you trusted us."