Credit info for Matlock
Title: Matlock, Season 4, Episode 1 & 2, The Hunting Party
Role: Background (First Time on TV!)
Director: Robert Scheerer
Production Company: Viacom Productions
Casting Director: Eric Dawson, Carol L. Dudley, Robert J. Ulrich, Reuben Cannon & Associates
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0394777/
My acting scene(s) in Matlock
Yes, I know you don’t normally post Background work, but this episode of Matlock is my very first time on television!
This is good blackmail material for when I’m making the rounds on talk shows. 😉
Background info
Andy Griffith is originally from North Carolina. His very first professional job was as Sir Walter Raleigh in The Lost Colony which is the oldest outdoor drama in America. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are SO gorgeous. Since the show was doing so well in the ratings, Andy insisted on doing the Season Opener at gorgeous locations as a Thank You to the hard working Crew.
I was working as a dancer (Native American Indian) at The Lost Colony and we were all guaranteed to work 1 day on Matlock. I was able to finagle my way into 3 days. 🙂
Unfortunately, no Behind the Scenes photos from this. This was the days before cellphones.
Synopsis
Ben Matlock travels to Manteo, North Carolina, to defend Spencer Hamilton, the brother of Frank, who was killed in a duck-hunting accident. After Ryan Bartell was shot, immediately after Spencer’s brother, Matlock also was approached by a handsome young sheriff, Conrad McMasters, to find evidence in killing Ryan.
Don’t be fooled by his down-home demeanor and country-boy ways; criminal defense lawyer Ben is worth every penny of his fee. Count on Ben to visit the crime scene, scope out the clues everyone else missed, and dramatically reveal the real criminal (usually a killer) during a climactic trial sequence.
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal-defense attorney Ben Matlock.[1] The show, produced by Intermedia Entertainment Company (first season only), The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, and Viacom Productions, originally aired from March 3, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.
The show’s format is similar to that of CBS‘s Perry Mason (with both Matlock and the 1980s Perry Mason TV movies created by Dean Hargrove), with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dramatic courtroom scenes. One difference, however, was that whereas Mason usually exculpated his clients at a pretrial hearing, Matlock usually secured an acquittal at trial, from the jury.[2] Since 1990, reruns of the show have been shown in syndication and on TBS, INSP, Hallmark Channel, CBS Drama, WGN America, FETV and MeTV.
Thank Yous
Thank you to Director Robert Scheerer, Casting Directors Eric Dawson, Carol L. Dudley, Robert J. Ulrich, Reuben Cannon & Associates for giving me my first paying job in television.
Click here to view pix/video of me as a Native American Dancer at The Lost Colony.
Click here to view more recent video work.
