"But I loved the script to 7th Heaven and couldn't say no. It made me laugh and cry, and I was hooked. I'd love to know who turned it down, because I'm sure at least one other actor did. But I'm glad he did, whoever it was." -- Stephen Collins
Stephen Weaver Collins (born October 1, 1947) is an American actor, writer, and singer who is perhaps best known for playing the role of Eric Camden on the long running television series 7th Heaven.
"Aaron is not at all what his image might indicate. He's fiercly loyal and a true and total gentleman. He's very shy but has very strong opinions. He's into everything, wardrobe, hair, script, casting.""Bit parts in Mediocre TV shows won't develop your acting chops.""Don't try to start a career in LA, unless money is all you're interested in.""I can't come on like a parent to these kids, if I do, I won't be able to have fun working with them. The good news is they all have parents. The younger ones, their parents by law have to be on set.""I don't think this show would have come to me 10 years ago. It continues to be this wonderful miracle.""I go to St. Matthews in Pacific Palisades, an Episcopal Church.""I have an almost seven year old... I think it's essential to be consistent with kids. And truthful, without scaring them. I could go on for hours on this one.""I might be in an airport, late or angry with a ticket person, and I'm going to sort of check myself, because part of me is seen as Eric Camden. We all need as much help as we can get. It's a role model to me as much as to anybody else.""I spent 26 years in the business without ever knowing what I was doing a month from now.""I took the role because it's rare to read a script that makes me laugh and cry, and it spoke to my own religious feelings, as well as giving me a chance to draw on my experience as a parent. Accepting it was a no-brainer.""I'd be happy to do Star Trek again, if the writing was right.""I'm from the US of A. Born in Des Moines, raised in the New York suburbs.""I'm working on a new novel, in its 3rd draft, but it's hard to write while doing 7th Heaven.""In Hawaii, we go to this wonderful place, all families. My wife and I go directly from breakfast to a beach chair where we read all day. My daughter goes from water to pool to running around with friends she meets, some of whom are regulars there.""Part of the beauty of the show in a way is that he's not perfect, but you can always count on him to do the right thing in a pinch. That's why he inspires people and inspires me.""The process of doing plays will make you an actor.""The script was just the best I'd read in a long time and I love the humor, which I wasn't expecting, and I like the fact that my six year old daughter can see the show without being, you know, protected from it.""There are many exceptions, but New York is a great place to start a career.""There starts to be an overlap between you and the character.""Well I'm a longtime AOL subscriber and I love the whole thing. I'm an email junkie and I love the internet, though 7th Heaven doesn't give me much free time to surf these days.""When you put a group of actors together who get along, and we have since day one, they don't become like their roles. What tends to happen is their age disappears and they all deal with each other as friends.""Writing a book is such a full-time job. If you're away for a few days, you have to start again.""You need to develop, somehow, a huge amount of faith and confidence in yourself, because there's a lot of rejection throughout an actor's life and you have to believe in yourself more than anyone else."
Collins was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Madeleine (née Robertson) and Cyrus S. 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).
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.
As previously mentioned, Collins probably is best known for his role as the Reverend Eric Camden in more than 200 episodes of the television series 7th Heaven, though he also notably portrayed Captain/Commander Willard Decker in The Motion Picture. Reverend Camden's wife, Annie, is played by fellow Star Trek alum Catherine Hicks (she played Dr. Gillian Taylor in The Voyage Home). Additional television credits include starring roles in 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 minseries The Two Mrs. Grenvilles and he played John F. Kennedy in the miniseries A Woman Named Jackie, which won the Emmy for Best Miniseries.
Collins and his 7th Heaven co-star Beverley Mitchell are the only two original cast members to appear in every single episode. Collins has co-starred with Diane Keaton in two movies: The First Wives Club (1996) and Because I Said So (2007).
Collins will appear as a series regular in the upcoming ABC series No Ordinary Family.
Collins will appear as a potential love interest/boyfriend for Ron Rifkin's character Saul Holden, on ABC's Brothers & Sisters, in fall of 2010.
Books
Collins is the author of two novels: Eye Contact (1994) and Double Exposure (1998).
Collins is married to actress Faye Grant. They have been married since April 21, 1985 and they have a daughter, Kate. He is an Episcopalian. He is also a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation and has engaged in the advanced 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.
