Stephen Weaver Collins is an American actor, writer, director, and musician, perhaps best known for playing Eric Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven. He is also known for the roles of Captain Will Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and more recently as Dr. Dayton King on the short-lived ABC TV series No Ordinary Family. He also appeared in a supporting role in the TV series Revolution as Dr. Gene Porter, father of Elizabeth Mitchell's character Rachel Matheson.
Early life[]
Stephen Collins was born on October 1, 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Madeleine (née Robertson) and Cyrus Stickney Collins, an airline executive. Collins is the great-great-grandson of General James Baird Weaver, the 1880 Greenback Party presidential candidate and the 1892 Populist Party ("People's Party") candidate for president. Collins was raised with his two older brothers in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and attended Amherst College, graduating cum laude. He played bass guitar and rhythm guitar in a number of rock and roll bands at Amherst, including Tambourine Charlie & the Four Flat Tires, The Naugahyde Revolution (with Jim Steinman, then a fellow student, on keyboards), and The Flower & Vegetable Show (he has played his guitar on 7th Heaven, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and in the 2007 romantic comedy Because I Said So).
Career[]
Collins' Broadway credits include his 2008 role as King Arthur in Spamalot and prior appearances in Moonchildren, The Ritz, The Loves of Anatol, and No Sex Please, We're British; Off Broadway he appeared opposite Sigourney Weaver in Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy, as Macduff to Christopher Walken's Macbeth at Lincoln Center, and as husband to Julie Andrews (with whom he shares a birthday) in the Stephen Sondheim revue, Putting It Together at Manhattan Theatre Club in 1993.
Collins is probably best known for his role as Eric Camden in the television drama series 7th Heaven. He is also known for portraying captain/commander Willard Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Other notable television credits include Jake Cutter in the cult favorite Tales of the Gold Monkey and Tattingers, as well as guest appearances in The Waltons, Barnaby Jones, Charlie's Angels, and numerous miniseries and made-for-television movies. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work opposite Ann-Margret in the miniseries The Two Mrs. Grenvilles and he played John F. Kennedy in the miniseries A Woman Named Jackie, which won the Emmy for Best Miniseries. He also played the lead role opposite Lauren Hutton in the made-for-TV movie The Rhinemann Exchange, based on Robert Ludlum's bestselling novel.
Collins has co-starred with Diane Keaton in two movies: The First Wives Club (1996) and Because I Said So (2007). He has co-starred with Meredith Baxter in three films, All the President's Men, A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story, and Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter, the latter two being made-for-TV movies broadcast on CBS in 1992.
In the 2010–11 television season, Collins starred in the short-lived ABC series No Ordinary Family. He also appeared as a potential love interest/boyfriend for Ron Rifkin's character Saul Holden, on ABC's Brothers & Sisters, in fall of 2010. He also appeared in season eight of The Office playing Andy Bernard's dad in the episode "Garden Party".
In 2013, Collins began appearing in the NBC series Revolution as Dr. Gene Porter, the leader of the town of Willoughby and father of Rachel Matheson (played by Elizabeth Mitchell).
Personal life[]
Collins was married to Marjorie Weinman from 1970 to 1978. He married actress Faye Grant in 1985; together they have a daughter, Kate, born in 1989. Collins filed for divorce from Grant in 2012. The divorce was finalized in January 2015.
Collins is an Episcopalian as well as a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation and has taken part in the advanced TM Yogic Flying technique since 1980. He is a national co-director of the Committee for Stress-Free Schools, which advocates practicing TM in schools and funds TM research.
Sexual abuse allegations[]
In October 2014, the New York City Police Department began investigating Collins after an audio tape leaked to the media revealed a male voice—purported to be that of Collins—admitting to past sexual abuse of a minor. A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson stated Collins had been investigated by the department in 2012 after receiving a claim from forty years earlier regarding sexual abuse. The LAPD further stated their investigation did not allow them to "substantiate the allegation."
In a December 2014 interview with People magazine, Collins admitted he had "inappropriate sexual conduct with three female minors" in 1973, 1982, and 1994.