Dakin Matthews (born 7 November 1940; age 83) is a highly-prolific actor who played Admiral Patterson in the Star Trek: Voyager fifth season episode "Relativity".
A theater scholar, playwright, and former drama teacher, Matthews has had a lengthy career on the stage, but only broke into television in the 1980s. His first television role was a guest appearance in Remington Steele. Also guest starring in this episode were fellow Trek guest performers Daniel Davis and Deborah May. Matthews followed this with a 1986 appearance on St. Elsewhere, starring William Daniels,Ed Begley, Jr., Norman Lloyd, Christina Pickles, Deborah May, France Nuyen, Alfre Woodard, Jeff Allin, and Jane Wyatt. That same year, Matthews had a small role in the mini-series Fresno, which also featured the likes of Henry Darrow, Terri Garr, Jack Kehler, and George D. Wallace.
Matthews went on to guest star in many other TV shows, including Dallas (starring Glenn Corbett, Leigh J. McCloskey, Derek McGrath, William Smithers, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Morgan Woodward), Picket Fences (starring Roy Brocksmith, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Ray Walston), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (starring Scott Bakula), The West Wing (starring Martin Sheen), NYPD Blue (starring Gordon Clapp), House, Carnivàle (starring Adrienne Barbeau, Clancy Brown, and John Savage and guest-starring John Fleck and Scott MacDonald), and Stargate SG-1. He also guest-starred in an episode of Touched by an Angel with Voyager star Connor Trinneer and an episode of The Lyon's Den with Voyager stars Roxann Dawson and Robert Picardo (as well as Scott MacDonald, Steven Weber, and Rick Worthy). He later appeared on Boston Legal, starring René Auberjonois and William Shatner (in an episode also featuring Ann Cusack).
Matthews has also had recurring roles on a number of series, including L.A. Law (starring Corbin Bernsen and Larry Drake), The Practice (along with Daniel Davis, Bruce Davison, Randy Oglesby, and Tracy Middendorf), Jack & Bobby (along with Ron Canada, Cliff DeYoung, Lawrence Pressman, and Paul Sorvino), Desperate Housewives (starring Steven Culp, Teri Hatcher, Mark Moses, and Alfre Woodard and also guest-starring Bob Gunton), and Gilmore Girls (along with John Billingsley, Larry Cedar, and Biff Yeager). In addition, Matthews was one of the many Trek performers to appear in the 1998 mini-series From the Earth to the Moon. His co-stars on this series include David Andrews, David Clennon, Ronny Cox, Ann Cusack, Clint Howard, John Carroll Lynch, Deborah May, Andy Milder, Holmes R. Osborne, Ethan Phillips, Harve Presnell, Mark Rolston, Stephen Root, and Alan Ruck.
In 1987, Matthews made his film debut in Like Father Like Son, starring Catherine Hicks, Armin Shimerman and Kitty Swink. Since then, he has appeared in such films as Sunset (1988, with Malcolm McDowell and Andreas Katsulas), Eve of Destruction (1991, with Tim Russ), Flubber (1997, starring Robin Williams, with Clancy Brown, Christopher McDonald, and Wil Wheaton), and Thirteen Days (2000, with Steven Culp, Kevin Conway, Bill Smitrovich, Tim Kelleher, Len Cariou, Ed Lauter, Boris Krutonog, and Charles Esten).
Other Trek connections[]
Additional projects in which Matthews appeared with other Trek performers include:
- Matlock (1987) with Jason Wingreen
- Something Is Out There (1988) starring Gregory Sierra
- Dear John (1988) with William Sadler
- TV 101 episode "Home" (1988) with Ron Canada and Leon Russom
- Funny Farm (1988 film) with Kevin Conway, Mike Starr, William Newman, Dan Desmond, Reg E. Cathey, and David Williams
- My Two Dads episode "Michael's Big Sister Comes Over and Visits" (1988) with John Fleck
- Christine Cromwell episode "Easy Come, Easy Go" (1989) with Theodore Bikel
- The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989 film) with Albert Hall and Gregory Itzin
- Body Wars (1989 film/theme park attraction) directed by Leonard Nimoy
- Ghost Dad (1990 film) with Eric Menyuk, Jeanne Mori, and Ivonne Perez
- Child's Play 3 (1991 film) with Brad Dourif, Ron Fassler, and Andrew Robinson
- L.A. Law (1992) with Corbin Bernsen, Larry Drake and Daniel Davis
- Murder, She Wrote (1992) with Richard Riehle and Mark Rolston
- L.A. Law (1992) with Corbin Bersen, Larry Drake, Graham Jarvis, Salome Jens, and Richard Riehle, (1992) with Bersen, Drake, John Fleck and Camille Saviola (1993) with Bersen, Drake and Lawrence Dobkin
- Murder, She Wrote (1993) with Fionnula Flanagan, Andrew Robinson, and Mark Rolston
- Undercover Blues (1993 film) with Saul Rubinek
- White Mile (1994, with Robert Picardo, Jacqueline Kim, Fionnula Flanagan, Ken Jenkins, Dan Kern, Brian Markinson, Dan Gilvezan, Gina Ravarra, Brett Porter, Ken Thorley, Don McManus and stuntman Tom Lupo)
- Murder, She Wrote (1995) with Ann Cusack, Robert Hooks, and William Windom
- Ink episode "High Noon" (1996) starring Saul Rubinek
- Bean (1997 film) with Harris Yulin and Larry Drake
- Vengeance Unlimited episode "Ambition" (1998) with Cary-Hiroyuki
- The Nanny episode (1999) starring Daniel Davis
- Family Law (1999) with Christopher McDonald and Salli Elise Richardson
- The Michael Richards Show episode "Discrimination" (2000) with Bill Cobbs
- Ally McBeal (2000) with Albert Hall
- Citizen Baines episode "Lost and Found" (2001) with James Cromwell, Matt McCoy, and Rosalind Chao
- Judging Amy (2002) with Lanei Chapman
- Providence (2002) with Jeffrey Nordling
- NYPD Blue (2004) with Gordon Clapp and Michael Bofshever, (2004) with Clapp and Charles Esten, (2004) with Clapp
- Shark episode "Gangster Wars" (2007) with Jeri Ryan