Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#446
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Tim Matheson represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 46 years in, and Tim is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Tim Matheson appears in 12 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Tim. Magnum Force is the clearest case: a film rated 7.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for science fiction, horror, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Marja-Lewis Ryan, Jake Kasdan, Ivan Reitman and others, Tim Matheson helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Magnum Force (1973) as Officer Phil Sweet · Animal House (1978) as Eric 'Otter' Stratton · Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) as Old Man Vreeke (uncredited)
Career snapshot
Ranked #446 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
12
1973–2019
Career length
46 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.0
Magnum Force
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.1
Magnum Force
Most frequent director
Marja-Lewis Ryan
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Marja-Lewis Ryan
Most common genre
Comedy
7 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1970s
6.7 average MV
The 1970s are where the work and the material meet. 1941, Animal House, Magnum Force — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1970s
6.7
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
6.7
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. 1941, Animal House, Magnum Force.
Most productive era
2010s
4 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.01 film | — | — | — | 6.01 film |
| Action | 6.52 films | — | — | 5.71 film | 6.81 film |
| Thriller | — | — | 6.71 film | 5.71 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.52 films | 6.72 films | 6.31 film | — | 6.52 films |
| Crime | 7.01 film | 6.71 film | 6.71 film | — | — |
| Romance | — | 6.61 film | 6.31 film | — | 6.31 film |
| Horror | — | — | 6.71 film | — | 6.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance
1973Magnum Force
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Officer Phil Sweet. 7.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
1990Buried Alive
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2019Child's Play
The current state of the argument, as Henry Kaslan.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
12 of 12 films
as Clint Goodman
Directed by Frank Darabont
as Alan Stanwyk
Directed by Michael Ritchie
as Lt. Andre Sobinski
Directed by Alan Johnson
as Officer Phil Sweet
Directed by Ted Post
as Eric 'Otter' Stratton
Directed by John Landis
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Clint Goodman
Buried Alive (1990)
Performance score7.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Clint Goodman gives Tim Matheson a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Alan Stanwyk
Fletch (1985)
Performance score7.1
Fletch asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Alan Stanwyk is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lt. Andre Sobinski
To Be or Not to Be (1983)
Performance score7.0
To Be or Not to Be asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lt. Andre Sobinski is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Officer Phil Sweet
Magnum Force (1973)
Performance score6.9
Magnum Force asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Officer Phil Sweet is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Clint Goodman
Start here. Buried Alive is the clearest statement of what Tim Matheson does — accessible, 94 minutes, and rated 6.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Tim at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Magnum Force (1973)
Keeps the crime register of Buried Alive but asks for a colder reading of it.
Animal House (1978)
A deliberate change of key after Magnum Force — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
To Be or Not to Be (1983)
Keeps the comedy register of Animal House but asks for a colder reading of it.
Fletch (1985)
Keeps the comedy register of To Be or Not to Be but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Ted Post
Director
1 film together
Notably Magnum Force
John Landis
Director
1 film together
Notably Animal House
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably 1941
Alan Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably To Be or Not to Be
Michael Ritchie
Director
1 film together
Notably Fletch
Frank Darabont
Director
1 film together
Notably Buried Alive
Robert Iscove
Director
1 film together
Notably She's All That
Tim Matheson
Director
1 film together
Notably Behind Enemy Lines III: Colombia
Ivan Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably No Strings Attached
Jake Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Marja-Lewis Ryan
Director
1 film together
Notably 6 Balloons
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ted Post
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Magnum ForceJohn Landis
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Animal HouseJake Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jumanji: Welcome to the JungleFrank Darabont
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Buried AliveMichael Ritchie
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FletchAlan Johnson
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
To Be or Not to BeIvan Reitman
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
No Strings AttachedRobert Iscove
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She's All ThatSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
1941Marja-Lewis Ryan
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
6 BalloonsTim Matheson
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Behind Enemy Lines III: ColombiaSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Magnum Force
as Officer Phil Sweet
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
No Strings Attached
as Eli's Dad #2
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Magnum Force
as Officer Phil Sweet
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
No Strings Attached
as Eli's Dad #2
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Buried Alive
as Clint Goodman
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Tim Matheson has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
46 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
7 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Fletch
as Alan Stanwyk
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Magnum Force
as Officer Phil Sweet
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
No Strings Attached
as Eli's Dad #2
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Fletch
as Alan Stanwyk
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
as Old Man Vreeke (uncredited)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
as Old Man Vreeke (uncredited)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
To Be or Not to Be
as Lt. Andre Sobinski
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
1941
as Capt. Loomis Birkhead
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
Which Tim Matheson performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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