Every actor has the part that got away. For Virgin River star Tim Matheson, it’s a big one. At one point, he was in the running to play Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. But his youthful look wasn’t quite right for the adventurous archaeologist, he recently recalled.
Tim Matheson gave his ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ audition his ‘best shot’
Mathson was a guest on the March 12 episode of the Amy & T.J. podcast. He discussed his 2024 memoir Damn Glad to Meet You: My Seven Decades in the Hollywood Trenches, which follows his long career, from minor roles on Leave It to Beaver and My Three Sons to his part of Doc Mullins on Virgin River. He also touches on the big breaks that weren’t meant to be, including Indiana Jones.
“I tested for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Everybody in Hollywood tested for it,” he told hosts Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes.
In his book, Matheson describes his audition as “one of my best.” George Lucas, who created the character, agreed. He even called the actor in for a meeting the day after his audition to let him down gently.
“We’re going in a different direction. You’re just too young … you did the best test, but you’re too young,” Matheson recalled Lucas saying.
Losing the role was a disappointment. But Matheson took it in stride.
“I wanted to play that part, but I knew I was too young. But I just I gave him my best shot, and so I walked away with, ‘OK, that’s it,’” he told Holmes and Robach.
In hindsight, Matheson acknowledges that the film might not have been the classic it became with him as the Nazi-fighting treasure hunter.
“Perhaps the Indiana Jones franchise wouldn’t have worked with Tim Matheson,” he wrote in Damn Glad to Meet You. “This is the alchemy of Hollywood.”
Tim Matheson turned down ‘Moonlighting’ and ‘7th Heaven’
While Matheson was never offered the part of Indiana Jones, there were a few other memorable roles he missed out on because of his own decisions.
“I turned down Moonlighting,” he recalled on Amy & T.J. The show went on to make Bruce Willis a star. Not long after, he had a chance to play the lead in MacGyver. But he thought the show sounded “silly,” so he said no, he recalled in his memoir.
Matheson also passed on the opportunity to star as the preacher dad in 7th Heaven.
“It looked like a wimpy show, very Ozzie and Harriet,” Matheson wrote of his reaction when his agent called to say the part of Eric Camden was his if he wanted it. “The guy’s a minister, very white-bread, middle-class America.”
Though saying yes meant a guaranteed two years of work, Matheson declined. “I was holding out for film,” he wrote. 7th Heaven ran for 11 seasons.
Virgin River is streaming on Netflix.
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