Stephen Collins

Stephen Weaver Collins is an American former actor best known for his portrayal of Eric Camden on the television drama series 7th Heaven from 1996 to 2007. Prior to this role, he gained recognition for starring as Commander Willard Decker in the 1979 feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture and playing pilot Jake Cutter in the television series Tales of the Gold Monkey. Over the course of his career, he appeared in numerous television series, miniseries, and feature films.

Collins was born on October 1, 1947, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Madeleine Robertson Collins and Cyrus Stickney Collins, an airline executive. He was raised alongside two older brothers in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he played bass guitar in several bands, sang with the Amherst College Zumbyes, and graduated cum laude.

In his early acting career, Collins made guest appearances on television shows such as The Waltons, Barnaby Jones, and Charlie's Angels. He starred in the 1977 television film The Rhinemann Exchange and was featured above-the-title in the 1980 film Loving Couples alongside Shirley MacLaine, James Coburn, and Susan Sarandon. He also appeared in the feature film All the President's Men and the television series Tattingers.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Collins earned recognition for his performances in television miniseries and feature films. He received an Emmy Award nomination for his role opposite Ann-Margret in the 1987 miniseries The Two Mrs. Grenvilles. In 1991, he portrayed John F. Kennedy in the Emmy-winning miniseries A Woman Named Jackie. He co-starred with Meredith Baxter in two 1992 television films, A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story and Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter. Additionally, he appeared alongside Diane Keaton in the films The First Wives Club in 1996 and Because I Said So in 2007.

In the 2010s, Collins held recurring and starring roles in several television programs. He played Dayton King in the series No Ordinary Family during the 2010–2011 season and appeared in Brothers & Sisters as a love interest for the character Saul Holden. He also guest-starred on The Office as Andy Bernard's father. In 2013, he joined the cast of Revolution as Dr. Gene Porter, the leader of Willoughby and father of Rachel Matheson. His other later television credits include Falling Skies, The Fosters, Devious Maids, and Penance.

Outside of acting, Collins was married to Marjorie Weinman from 1970 to 1978. In 1985, he married actress Faye Grant, with whom he has a daughter born in 1989; the couple separated in 2012 and divorced in 2015. He later began a relationship with Jenny Nagel in 2019. An Episcopalian and practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, Collins served until October 2014 as a national co-director of the Committee for Stress-Free Schools.

Collins's acting career came to an end in 2014 following a law enforcement investigation and public admissions. After an audio tape was leaked in October 2014, Collins admitted in a media interview to past sexual abuse involving three female minors in 1973, 1982, and 1994. Following his retirement from acting, he relocated to Fairfield, Iowa.