Dakin Matthews

Dakin Matthews
Born	Melvin Richard Matthews (1940-11-07) November 7, 1940 Oakland, California, U.S.
Occupations	Actor director scholar
Years active	1965–present
Spouse	Anne Marie McNaughton ​ ​ (m. 1969)​
Children	4

Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews (born November 7, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. Best known as Herb Kelcher in My Two Dads (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in Gilmore Girls (2000–2007), Joe Heffernan in The King of Queens (1998-2007),and as Reverend Sikes in Desperate Housewives (2004–2012).

Early life

Melvin Richard Matthews was born in Oakland, California. He initially aspired to become a Roman Catholic priest, studying in San Francisco and then at Gregorian University in Rome in the 1960s. However, his growing interest in drama led him to the Juilliard School, where he taught, among others, Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone.

He acted and taught at the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco where Annette Bening was one of his students.

He also attended graduate school at New York University. He is an Emeritus Professor of English at California State University, East Bay in Hayward, California.

Career

He began his stage career in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area, appearing in both the Marin and California Shakespeare Festivals, eventually becoming a member of the acting ensemble of the American Conservatory Theater. In the late 1980s, settling permanently in Los Angeles, Matthews began guest-starring in television series and appearing in films. He starred in series such as Down Home, Soul Man and, most successfully, The Jeff Foxworthy Show.

In 1989 he starred in the preshow for EPCOT Center's Body Wars attraction in The Wonders Of Life Pavilion. He also has made many guest appearances on television, including Remington Steele, Dallas, Murder She Wrote, L.A. Law, The Nanny, True Blood, Just Shoot Me!, Star Trek: Voyager, The West Wing, Gilmore Girls (as Headmaster Charleston), Ally McBeal, Coach, The Practice, Who's the Boss?, Charmed, Diagnosis Murder, The King of Queens (as Doug Heffernan's father Joe), NYPD Blue, Desperate Housewives (appearing in every Season except 5 as Reverend Sykes), House M.D. (appearing in 2004 in "Damned If You Do" the 5th episode of the 1st season playing the role of Marvin/Santa Claus), The Big Bang Theory as Santa (season 6 episode 11), Blue Bloods (as of 2016 appearing in "Help Me Help You" the 16th episode of the 6th season playing the role of Judge Wilson), Two and a Half Men, and Carnivàle.

Matthews has appeared in more than 25 feature films, including Nuts, Like Father Like Son, Clean and Sober, Thirteen Days, Funny Farm, True Grit (as Colonel Stonehill), Steven Spielberg's' Lincoln, Flubber, and Zero Charisma. He played the role of Col. Cochrane in Child's Play 3, and has also appeared in a number of television films, including And the Band Played On, Baby M, and White Mile.

As a stage actor, he is known for his many Shakespearean roles, especially King Lear, Bottom, and Falstaff, and most recently for his portrayals of C. S. Lewis in South Coast Repertory's Shadowlands, as "Warwick" in Shakespeare's Henry IV at the Lincoln Center Theater, as "Undershaft" in Major Barbara and "Tarleton" in Misalliance for South Coast Repertory, as "The Fixer" in Water and Power for the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, as "Leonato" in Shakespeare Center L.A.'s production of Much Ado About Nothing with Helen Hunt, as "Cardinal Wolsey" in A Man For All Seasons with Frank Langella at the Roundabout, and as "Senator Carlin" in Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway.

In 2010, Matthews joined the cast of the ABC soap opera General Hospital as Judge Peter Carroll, the judge in Sonny Corinthos' trial.

He is also a playwright, director, and theater scholar who has published books and articles on Shakespeare and translations of 17th-century Spanish theater. He has been a dramaturg on numerous theatrical productions, including the 2005 Broadway revival of Julius Caesar starring Denzel Washington and the 2003 revival of Henry IV, winning a Drama Desk Award Special Award for his adaptation of the latter.

Matthews was also Artistic Director of the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, the California Actors Theatre, The Antaeus Theatre Company (which he co-founded in 1991), and the Andak Stage Company; he is an Associate Artist of the Old Globe Theatre; and a founding member of the John Houseman's The Acting Company and Sam Mendes' Bridge Project.

Matthews appeared in the 2009 world tour of The Bridge Project as "Pishchick" in The Cherry Orchard and "Antigonus" in The Winter's Tale. In the 2011 summer season of The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, he performed as "the Provost" in Measure for Measure and "Lafew" in All's Well That Ends Well. and as "Sir Humphrey" in the American premiere of Yes Prime Minister at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. He was nominated for an Ovation Award for Book and Lyrics of an original musical entitled Liberty Inn, which he co-wrote with B. T. Ryback.

In 2011, his verse translation of The Capulets & The Montagues played at the Andak Stage Company and the International Siglo de Oro Festival, winning the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Adaptation. Matthews appeared twice as Santa Claus in The Big Bang Theory season 6 episode, "The Santa Simulation" and season 8 episode "The Clean Room Infiltration".

He was the dramaturg for the Lincoln Center production of Macbeth (2013), directed by Jack O'Brien and starring Ethan Hawke. He appeared as "Richard Russell" in Robert Schenkkan's award-winning L.B.J. play All The Way, starring Bryan Cranston, at A.R.T. in Cambridge in September 2013.

He appeared as "Mickey Goldmill" in the Broadway musical Rocky the Musical in 2014, then in 2015, he went on to play Winston Churchill opposite Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience on Broadway. Matthews portrayed Judge Byers in the 2015 film Bridge of Spies.

He originated the role "Joe" in the musical Waitress that opened on Broadway in April 2016. He returned to the role for the 2021 restaging on Broadway. From 2018 to 2020 and for a limited engagement in January 2022, he played Judge Taylor in To Kill a Mockingbird. In 2023, he played the dual role of Merlyn/Pellinore in the fourth Broadway revival of Camelot.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Remington Steele	Michael Fleming
1986	St. Elsewhere
	Fresno	Prosecutor
1987	Easy Street	Tim Weathergate
	Matlock	Prosecutor	Episode: "The People vs. Matlock"
	Like Father Like Son	Old Man Morrison
	Nuts	1st Judge
1987–1989	My Two Dads	Herb Kelcher
1988	Hostile Witness	Catlett
	Newhart	Jim
	Aaron's Way	Wyler
	Permanent Record	Mr. McBain
	Sunset	William Singer
	Funny Farm	Marion Corey, Jr.
	Clean and Sober	Bob
	Something Is Out There	Agent Simon
	Dallas	Detective Kane
	TV 101	Tanner
	Dear John USA	David Hennessey
1989	Naked Lie	Adam Berger
	American Playhouse	Sam Mitgang
	Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North	Edwin Meese	TV movie
	Out on the Edge	Dr. Cutler
	Wired	Washington Post Editor
	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Charlie
	Body Wars	Mission Commander
	Cross of Fire	Hiram Evans
	Christine Cromwell	Carter Dickinson III
	My Brother's Wife	Charles Rusher	TV movie
1989–1991	Doctor Doctor	Dr. Harold Stratford
1990	Blind Faith	Uncle Gene
	Ghost Dad	Mr. Seymour
	Fine Things	Judge Aaron S. Mitofsky
1990–1991	Down Home	Walt McCrorey
1991	The Whereabouts of Jenny	Cox	TV movie
	Eve of Destruction	Singleton
	Who's the Boss?	Judge
	The Perfect Tribute	Dr. Thomas
	White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd	DA Buron Fitts	TV movie
	Jailbirds	Sheriff
	Child's Play 3	Col. Cochrane
	...And Then She Was Gone	Francis Haynes	TV movie
	The Company	Director Waugh
1991–1992	Drexell's Class	Roscoe Davis
1992	Murder without Motive: The Edmund Parry Story	Howards
	For Richer, for Poorer	Larry
	Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive	Attorney
	Revolver	Tom McCall
	Criminal Behavior	Albee Ferguson
1993	The Temp	Dr. Feldman
	Undercover Blues	Police Captain
1994	The Swan Princess	King William	Voice
1997	Bean	Tucker, Passenger
	Flubber	Minister
1998	The Siege	Senator Wright
1999	Star Trek: Voyager	Admiral Patterson	Episode: "Relativity"
2000	The West Wing	Simon Blye	Episode: Take Out The Trash Day
	Thirteen Days	Arthur C. Lundahl
2000-2007	Gilmore Girls	Headmaster Hanlin Charleston
2001-2007	The King of Queens	Joe Heffernan	13 episodes
2002	Charmed	Angel of Destiny
2003	The Fighting Temptations	Mr. Fairchild
2004	House M.D.	Marvin	Episode: “Damned If You Do”
2004-2012	Desperate Housewives	Rev. Sikes	9 episodes
2010	Parks and Recreation	David Moser	Episode: "Summer Catalog"
	True Grit	Col. Stonehill
2011 & 2013	The Mentalist	Professor Christo Papadakis	Episodes: "Red Queen" & "Red in Tooth and Claw"
2011	Two and a Half Men	Father Shaunassey	Episode: "That Darn Priest"
2012	Lincoln	Secretary John Palmer Usher
	The Big Bang Theory	Santa
2013	Mr. Box Office	Ernie
2015	Bridge of Spies	Judge Byers
2016	Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life	Headmaster Hanlin Charleston
2023	The Gilded Age	Mr Winterton
	Waitress	Joe	Live stage recording of musical

External links

• Dakin Matthews at IMDb
• Dakin Matthews at the Internet Broadway Database