Tim Matheson Talks Alec Baldwin Rust Tragedy, Meghan Markle, John Belushi Friendship

By Allison Kugel

Legendary actor and director Tim Matheson  sat down with entertainment journalist, Allison Kugel, on the latest episode of the Allison Interviews podcast, discussing all he’d learned about the safe use of fire arms on film and television sets, working with Hollywood armorers during his western days, and what went wrong on the set of Alec Baldwin’s film, Rust, that led to the death of cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.

He also discusses his experience directing Meghan Markle on the USA Network series, Suits, his close friendship with his Animal House co-star, the late John Belushi, the pressure cooker that was The West Wing, how his military service shaped him, and his hit Netflix series, Virgin River.

Tim’s new memoir, Damn Glad to Meet You: My Seven Decades in the Hollywood Trenches, is out November 12th, everywhere books are sold.

On the deadly gunfire accident on Alec Baldwin’s Rust set that claimed the life of cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins: 

I was 18 or 19 when I started working on The Virginian, and for the next four or five years I worked on it, and then the western pilots I did, and then on Bonanza, and The Quest. I would always check my own weapon. When someone handed me a weapon, I would check to see if it was empty. To make sure it was empty, I would dry fire it six times to make sure there was nothing in it. So, even if there was something I’d missed, I’d point it at the ground and go, ‘click, click, click, click.’ I’d make sure. I was trained, and never ever was there an accident on the set. But you never pointed a gun at anyone, and if I had to rehearse pointing a gun at a camera, I would use my hand (to mime a gun). I would never point a real gun at anyone. Evidently, those lessons didn’t translate to that [Rust] set where that accident happened.

You know, there’s that whole thing in Hollywood, or in movies, people are always, ‘Rush, rush, rush! C’mon we gotta go to the next thing! Forget that!’ And it sounded like there was a lot of that going on, on [the Rust set]. But I, also as a director, I would always say, ‘Show me the gun.’ I would get the gun from the armorer. I would take everybody aside and say, ‘Hold on, safety meeting!’ I would open the gun. I would make sure the gun was clear and empty. I would dry fire the gun six times. If it was a semiautomatic I would do the same thing. I would say, ‘Clean gun on set!’ If you have a real gun you are going to use on set with blanks, I’d say, ‘Hot gun on set!’

You always notify everyone, and you take your time when there is a weapon like that, because something could happen. I can’t imagine why a real round of ammunition would ever be within a mile of a set. I have no idea how that happened. That’s just insane. 

On directing Meghan Markle on Suits:

She was so great. She was a lovely actress and woman. I didn’t get to know her very well, because as a director you’re [all over the place]. There’s a hundred million things you’re doing. But she was always prepared, very, very good on set, and very nice to everyone… as all of the actors were on that set. It was really a treat. As I recall, she was engaged to someone at the time, not Prince Harry. But she was just lovely.

On making National Lampoon’s Animal House, and what led to co-star and friend John Belushi’s death at age 33:

John Landis, the director, wanted John Belushi surrounded by real actors rather than an SNL sketch. Chevy [Chase] was originally wanted for Otter (Matheson’s part in Animal House), and Landis didn’t really want Chevy. He didn’t want to do an SNL movie. He wanted real actors around Belushi. John Landis called him ‘Harpo Marx meets The Cookie Monster.’ That’s what that Bluto character was. And Belushi was so supportive and generous and gracious to me as a fledgling comedic actor. John Belushi embraced me, and I got to be a pretty good friend of his. He was a good friend of mine for many years after that, but not long enough (referring to Belushi’s death in 1982, at age 33). And he was the biggest star in the world. He was on the number one TV show, the number one movie after Animal House came out, and he had the number one album with Briefcase Full of Blues. I don’t know how anybody could survive that. Everyone wanted to party with him. They thought he was Bluto. They thought he was that crazy guy on Saturday Night Live. So there was no off time for him. I saw a big change in him from when we made Animal House to when we made the film 1941, the Steven Spielberg movie. It had taken a toll, because he became more and more isolated from the day to day things that people in a more normal life have. And that [normal] life wasn’t for him anymore.

On what’s wrong with America in 2024:

I do believe that service is something that we lack now. There’s no draft. There is no commitment to our country that every American must make. I just feel that the greatest generation - World War I, World War II, and Korea and Vietnam - where men and women served their country, risked their lives in many cases, devoted years of their life to service to their country… that is a lesson that has been forgotten. Something’s been lost because of that, and it’s opened a chasm where something like January 6th could occur. It created an environment where someone speaks so dismissively and erroneously about the government and about what it’s doing, and people believe that. We owe it to ourselves to reflect and look back and re-create a public service. Whether it’s one year, two years, or whether it’s Peace Corps, military service or school service. Some kind of debt we owe to our country. I personally think it’s a good thing that a lot of people who are running for election have served, because then they understand better, in some cases, and some people don’t.

On his experience working on The West Wing:

Martin [Sheen] was busy, busy, busy. I would pop in and out for parts of certain episodes, maybe seven or eight episodes a season. So, I was a guest actor that popped in and out [as Vice President John Hoynes]. And Martin is also kind of a method actor. I was kept at arms’ length from him, as the president. His character [President Josiah Bartlet] did not care for me that much. As Vice President, his character and mine were not enemies, we wanted the same thing, but I wanted it for me. I was the man who should have been president, and he lucked out.

You had your hands full when you were a regular on [The West Wing]. Allison Janney would come in on her day off and go and drill, drill, drill those press conferences where she had every line of dialogue that would go on for five minutes. Richard Schiff would do the same thing. There was such a high standard of performance on that show, that no one would dare not be prepared. You came on set in character. You really did. I was always nervous.

On the success of his Netflix series, Virgin River: 

Season 6 premieres December 19th, and we’ve been renewed for season 7, so we start shooting season 7 in March, of a show that we had no idea would be as successful and revered as it is. We are so happy and grateful that we have a tremendous audience that loves the show, and we love doing it. And we have a great family up in British Columbia, where we shoot, to simulate Northern California.

Tim’s memoir, Damn Glad to Meet You, is out Nov. 12th everywhere books are sold.

About Journalist and Podcast Host Allison Kugel
Allison Kugel is a veteran entertainment journalist and host of the Allison Interviews podcast. Watch and embed the entire episode with Tim Matheson @YouTube. Listen to the audio podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Follow Allison Kugel on Instagram @theallisonkugel and at AllisonInterviews.com.