Tim Matheson Talks Virgin River’s Success, Doc’s Evolution, Memoir Catharsis & Lessons Learned from Lucille Ball

Tim Matheson has been gracing the big and small screens for seven decades.

With such an illustrious career, he’s a man who has left an indelible mark on many projects, from the classic Animal House to Hart of Dixie and, of course, the global sensation that is Virgin River.

We had the distinct privilege of catching up with this legendary actor for a chat. And when interviews flow like easy conversations, it’s when they’re the most compelling.

Matheson spoke to us about Virgin River, Doc’s incredible evolution, how Doc’s journey with grandfatherhood mirrors his own, and what he hopes his memoir, “Damn Glad to Meet You: My Seven Decades in the Hollywood Trenches,” inspires in up-and-coming actors.

Our interview doesn’t reveal any major spoilers for the upcoming season of Virgin River.

And after a 20-minute conversation, we’ve edited the interview for length and clarity, but please enjoy this lovely conversation with the insightful, esteemed Matheson below!

Virgin River is like the Energizer Bunny. It just keeps going!

I know it’s a little engine that could, right?

Are you surprised by just how much of a global success the series has become?

Yeah. I mean, it’s ironic, too, because it was the first streaming show I’ve done, and we reached the end of the third season before it even aired.

They kept renewing the show twice, and we kept shooting. And then, on the last day we were all shooting, we got word from Netflix that we had premiered two days earlier. It was the number one show all over the world.

And it was like, “Oh God.” I mean, that was the first time we’d heard that people had seen the show and liked the show. We didn’t know. We just kept shooting.

It found a home because it’s about heart. It’s about people who care about each other and helping people. And I think at times like COVID and now the crazy times in this world, and with all the social media stuff going on, I think it’s about people who connect with people, and that’s really important.

And, of course, Doc has had such a compelling journey within the series. How do you think he’s evolved from the first season to now?

Well, it’s like many other people in this town. He’s trying to right some wrongs that he committed. He cheated on Hope and destroyed a trust and a relationship that he valued, and he’s resolved that.

And he is living out his dream of helping people and working with patients rather than running a big department in a hospital.

I think that’s rewarding for him. And he’s grown since Mel started working with him. He’s probably gotten smarter about medicine and about letting it change with the times, embracing the change rather than holding it off.

This season, we’ll see him tested in some new ways. What can you tease about his battles?

Yeah. It really came to a head, and he’s risked everything for his patients. And now he’s being put to a test and a trial, being judged by his peer doctors.

And then there’s also the threat of Grace Valley Hospital trying to invade Virgin River and take over the medical care there. So there are all sorts of balls in the air, and how it affects his relationship with Hope, and it may perhaps even endanger that.

Yeah. And getting into that a bit. Their relationship is the cornerstone of the series and community in many ways. So, we can anticipate them facing new challenges rather than smooth sailing?

I think there are more challenges. Life is a test, and it’s how you respond to the tests you’re facing.

He had the professional test this past season, and then perhaps personal tests this time. That’s what’s exciting to me about the show. It changes every year what the throughline is for each character in a way.

And the exciting thing about being an actor is that you are sort of like a detective.

You’re looking at a human being and what they’re going through and trying to find the truth to their situation, and then finding the truth to that situation in yourself as an actor and as a person, and embracing that and using that to create the reality of the character and the moments on the screen.

So that’s what’s exciting to me.

And you’re always digging deeper and trying to find analogous situations in your own life that you can relate to the ones you’re playing on screen.

Of course, Doc is going to be a great-grandfather now. Doc went from not having much family to having this huge family, and it’s been one of my favorite arcs. What can viewers look forward to on that front?

Oh yeah. I agree. And it’s so rewarding.

I mean, as the new grandfather of three young ones, the oldest is four and a half, and my youngest is probably five months old. And from my two daughters, my son’s not married yet.

It’s a wonderful thing to have grandchildren. And so I love that aspect of the story with Doc. It’s sort of this family that he didn’t even know about, collecting around him. It’s life imitating art, imitating life.

I would say Doc is the emotional anchor for so many people in a community. What do you enjoy most about those interactions?

I think what especially resonates with me is this world, where there is so little person-to-person communication. We’re doing it here via Zoom. That’s at least real. We can see each other, and that’s vital.

I think he is that grounded person people can come to and relate to. I just love that he has set up a facility where people can get help, and it’s getting bigger with Mel, and he’s making it available to more and more people.

And in this coming season, too, he’s taking steps to make it more available to as many people as possible in the best possible manner, and learning to embrace change again, perhaps as things modernize.

Do you have any plans to direct more episodes? I remember you directed a few of them.

I’ve directed four, yeah, the first two years. No, and it’s better if I don’t. Martin Henderson is directing again this season. He’s directing, I think, one of the first two episodes.

It was so hard to schedule because the best episodes for an actor who’s in a show to direct are the first two; since then, you don’t have to be acting and prepping to direct, which cuts both things short.

But I love the show and our directors, and it allows me to focus on the acting and the character and, hopefully, go a little deeper there.

I loved what I did in the first two seasons, where we helped find what the show was and help create the reality of those characters and work through some moments where we were making choices, and all of that was done before it was ever shown on the air.

So I like to feel like I was a part of the infrastructure of the beginning of the show, and I feel proud and happy to be part of that.

If you could describe this season in a few words for viewers, what would you say?

Hold on to your hats. Happy endings, new beginnings.

I love the title of your memoir.

Damn, Glad to Meet You. It’s a line that my character, Eric Stratton, had in Animal House.

Over the years, there have been so many quotable lines from Animal House for fans.

For me, it’s sort of me to the viewers, the fans out there, and the people who viewed my work; it’s reaching out to them and saying, “Hey, thank you. Thank you for supporting me. And these are the lessons I’ve learned, the mistakes I’ve made, and the triumphs I’ve had.” And I want to share that with you.

What inspired you to write a memoir at this stage of your life?

I was just so lucky to start as a young actor at 10, 11, 12 years old. And I got to work with so many amazing actors that a lot of people don’t even remember anymore. Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney. I mean, all those were big stars.

I learned more from Lucy in the eight or ten weeks we shot Yours, Mine, and Ours together than I probably would have in ten different acting classes I’ve taken. She was so influential to me and so supportive and giving. We were always talking. She was always counseling me.

She was tough. When you came to work, she was just there to work. But between takes, between setups and stuff, she would invite me to talk, and she’d counsel me. I think she felt I was a good actor, a good young actor, but I think she thought I was a little too sensitive, and she wanted to toughen me up.

That’s my takeaway because she came up through Vaudeville, where you did eight shows a day, and was a movie star and never really achieved the level of fame as a movie actress, but became the biggest star on TV and was the first female executive of a studio in Hollywood.

Nobody remembers that, but she ran Desilu and owned it.

And they put on shows like The Untouchables, Star Trek, and Mission Impossible. I mean, so she was brilliant and a great artist. And I am just grateful to have shared time with her and gotten her input.

Wow. She was such a trailblazer for the industry at large, not just as a woman, which was its own feat, but in general. No one could really touch that.

Did writing your memoir change the way you looked at your life and career?

Yeah, it’s true. It was sort of a combination of therapy and confession.

I wanted to acknowledge my mistakes and what I learned from them, so that hopefully young actors and directors won’t make the same mistakes that I made and won’t have to go through some of the pitfalls that I fell into, and to celebrate just some of the wonderful people that I did work with, Kurt Russell, Henry Fonda, and Clint Eastwood.

Such good actors, good people, and good life examples for me to have learned from.

That was the kind of thing I wanted to share with the reader, the things I’ve learned from people like that, and how lucky I was to have worked with them. The list goes on and on. I love the people I work with now and the younger generation.

And gosh, last week I just sat in on an acting class with some young students and helped them with some scenes.

It was fun to work with young actors who are starting in the business and don’t know about its ups and downs. I’m just trying to counsel them a little bit about it. It’s always fun to do that and get out of your bubble and get out there and mix it up with people.

When was the exact moment you went from working with legends to realizing you are one and that people were actually looking up to you? Did it ever hit you at all?

Well, that’s very kind of you to say that. Thank you.

Perhaps not really. I never really think of myself like that. I think of the people who are fans of the different things I’ve done, but I want to keep growing, keep learning, keep trying new things, and keep being challenged. And so I’m sort of looking forward rather than backward.

What has been the most challenging aspect of staying in this industry for so long? It’s ever-evolving.

Well, I think it’s not knowing … as a freelance actor, you don’t know. When you finish a job, you’re done. You may never make another dollar in your life.

But that was one of my early lessons: that, in addition to being an artist and an actor and having a craft, you have to learn and understand how to create the reality of a character on stage, in film, or however you want to do it.

The other part of it is that you have to nurture yourself as a business.

And you have to have an agent, you have to have an attorney, you have to make sure you’ve got a manager, an agent who wants the same things that you want in your career, and that is working for you. And if they’re not, find somebody new.

You always have to keep finding a job and getting ready for the next audition.

So I think it’s those challenges that keep you on your toes. And those are the lessons that I learned, that it’s the business …

You may only act in a good year, 20 weeks a year, so there’s 30 weeks you’re not acting, but you’re working at getting work, or you’re working on your craft, or you’re going out and meeting people who might be a better representative for you, or you’re meeting a producer, or a writer, or other actors you want to work with.

Early on, I realized that I had to work very hard — to swim hard to keep my head above water. It’s a full-time occupation as well as a craft.

I imagine even now, because the shift between streaming, of course … It’s a totally different ballpark. That would be just such an incredible shift to make over the years that you’ve been in the business. It’s evolved drastically.

Oh, I know. And the changes that are going on in Hollywood right now with studios condensing and combining Paramount by Warner Brothers, or if that goes through, and the networks are going away. The streamers are becoming the predominant way of viewing.

My only worry is that people stop going to the movies, and I love movies. I love being in a room or a theater full of people, sharing an experience together.

That’s more profound and more enjoyable than sitting at home with a big-screen TV and watching something alone, because there’s a shared sense of humanity in watching a play or film together. You learn from the reactions of others what’s going on and which things you may miss when you’re watching it alone.

Yeah, I agree. I definitely miss that as well.

You touched on it already, but what advice do you have for up-and-coming actors who strive for the longevity you’ve had in this business?

I think the most important thing is to find your truth, your path, your technique, your way of telling a story, and just do that. That way you’ll feel happy when you finish a project or an audition, or whether you get it, even like an audition.

I wanted to give my best on an audition. Whether I get it or not isn’t as important as my performing as well as I could in the audition. Because if I did that and didn’t get it, that’s fine, but I didn’t want to walk away feeling like, “Oh, I didn’t do it right, and that’s why I didn’t get it.”

Find your own truth, find your own technique and path, believe in yourself, and find others that you love to work with and learn from.

I was fortunate enough to work with Clint Eastwood. By the end of the first day, I’m going, “Boy, is this guy the real deal?”

I hadn’t seen too much of his stuff, except Rawhide, when I did Magnum Force. At the end of the first day, I said, “Wow, he is such a good actor. He is so smart and a good director and a role model, and he was a wonderful human being.”

You can be that big a movie star, a good actor, all those things, and still direct and still be a human being.

And so it’s about finding those role models you work with and embodying the strengths they give you.

You can find Tim Matheson starring as Vernon “Doc” Mullins in Virgin River. An all-new season streams on Netflix March 12.

The paperback release of Matheson’s heartfelt and insightful memoir, Damn Glad to Meet You: My Seven Decades in the Hollywood Trenches, hits shelves on June 2, so grab yourself a copy!

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