14:38Classic TV · 1977Animal House Cast Then and Now
Episode: Animal House Cast (1978): Cast Then & Now 2026 — 48 Years After the Toga Party
From Hollywood Legends Era · 19 min ·
About the Animal House Cast Then and Now
The Animal House cast then and now is a story of young, mostly unknown actors who made one of the most famous comedies in American history. National Lampoon's Animal House opened on July 28, 1978. It was made for about $3 million and went on to earn more than $141 million.
Director John Landis shot the film at the University of Oregon in Eugene in the fall of 1977, working from a script by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. In 2001, the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry.
Forty-eight years after the toga party, here is what became of the people of Delta House. Some are still working, some chose quiet lives, and several have passed away.
Where Is the Animal House Cast Now?
Tim Matheson as Eric "Otter" Stratton
Tim Matheson was already a show business veteran when he played Otter, the smooth-talking ladies' man of Delta House. As a teenager in the 1960s, he was the voice of the title character in the cartoon Jonny Quest.
In 1989 he and a partner bought National Lampoon, the company behind the film, and sold it in 1991. His first wife, actress Jennifer Leak, died in March 2024, and he paid tribute to her as his "beloved first wife."
In November 2024 he published his memoir, Damn Glad to Meet You. Now 78, he plays Doc Mullins on Netflix's Virgin River.
Peter Riegert as Donald "Boon" Schoenstein
Before acting, Peter Riegert worked as a teacher, a waiter and a social worker. Animal House was his first film, and Boon, the wisecracking friend of Otter, made him a familiar face.
His later career has been steady and varied. He earned an Emmy nomination for Barbarians at the Gate (1993) and an Oscar nomination for directing By Courier, a short film based on an O. Henry story. He played Assemblyman Ronald Zellman on The Sopranos and appeared in Succession in 2021.
He once dated Bette Midler, and the two later co-starred in the 1993 TV movie Gypsy. He married novelist Cornelia Read in 2019. He is 79.
Donald Sutherland as Professor Dave Jennings
Donald Sutherland played Jennings, the laid-back English professor, in only a few scenes. Landis later said Sutherland essentially got the film made, at a time when the studio wanted a known star.
He was offered a choice between a flat fee and a percentage of the film's earnings. Expecting a flop, he took the flat fee. Accounts of the exact amounts differ, but the decision is often said to have cost him millions.
Though never nominated for a competitive Oscar, he received an honorary Academy Award in 2017. He died in Miami on June 20, 2024, at 88. His son Kiefer wrote that his father "loved what he did and did what he loved."
Karen Allen as Katy
Animal House was Karen Allen's first film. She played Katy, Boon's patient girlfriend. Three years later, Steven Spielberg cast her as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which won her a Saturn Award for Best Actress.
She returned as Marion in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). In 2003 she founded Karen Allen Fiber Arts in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and she has taught acting at Bard College at Simon's Rock. She is 75.
Tom Hulce as Larry "Pinto" Kroger
Tom Hulce played Pinto, the nervous freshman who joins Delta with his friend Flounder. Six years later, he played Mozart in Amadeus and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor.
His co-star F. Murray Abraham won, and in his speech said the only thing missing was having Hulce standing by his side.
He turned to producing, and as a lead producer of Spring Awakening, he shared the 2007 Tony Award for Best Musical. He spoke publicly about being gay in 2008. He is 72.
John Vernon as Dean Vernon Wormer
Born Adolphus Agopsowicz in Saskatchewan, Canada, the son of a grocer, John Vernon trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. His deep voice was his calling card; his uncredited film debut was as the voice of Big Brother in 1984 (1956).
He played memorable roles in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz, Dirty Harry and The Outlaw Josey Wales, but to many fans he will always be Dean Wormer, the man determined to shut down Delta House. He died on February 1, 2005, at 72, from complications following heart surgery.
Verna Bloom as Marion Wormer
Verna Bloom played the dean's restless wife, a comic turn for an actress known for serious films such as Medium Cool (1969) and High Plains Drifter (1973).
She married film critic and screenwriter Jay Cocks in 1972, and they had a son, Sam. In 1988 she played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. She died on January 9, 2019, in Bar Harbor, Maine, at 80, from complications of dementia.
Sarah Holcomb as Clorette DePasto
Sarah Holcomb played Clorette, the mayor's daughter who catches Pinto's eye. Between 1978 and 1980 she appeared in five films, including Walk Proud and Caddyshack.
She then left show business and has stayed out of public life ever since. She has not given interviews about the film, and that choice deserves respect.
Stephen Furst as Kent "Flounder" Dorfman
Stephen Furst was delivering pizzas in Los Angeles when he started tucking his headshot into the boxes. Producer Matty Simmons saw one, and Furst became Flounder, the hapless pledge who hears the famous advice from Dean Wormer.
He went on to play Dr. Elliot Axelrod on St. Elsewhere and Vir Cotto on Babylon 5. Diagnosed with diabetes at 17, he became a spokesperson for the American Diabetes Association. He died on June 16, 2017, at 63, from complications of diabetes. His sons asked fans to honor him by laughing rather than crying.
Kevin Bacon as Chip Diller
Kevin Bacon made his film debut as Chip Diller, the eager Omega pledge flattened by a stampeding crowd near the end of the film. Few people knew his name in 1978.
Diner, Footloose, Apollo 13 and Mystic River followed. In 1994, three college students in Pennsylvania invented the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," and he later turned the joke into the charity SixDegrees.org.
He and Kyra Sedgwick, who met on the set of Lemon Sky, married on September 4, 1988. The couple lost part of their savings in Bernie Madoff's fraud and kept working. He is 68.
Douglas Kenney as Stork
Douglas Kenney co-founded National Lampoon magazine in 1970 with Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman, after editing The Harvard Lampoon. He co-wrote Animal House and played Stork, the quiet Delta who has just one line.
He went on to co-write and produce Caddyshack (1980). That summer, he died after a fall from the Hanapepe Valley Lookout on Kauai, Hawaii, on August 27, 1980. He was 33. Police classified his death as an accident.
John Belushi as John "Bluto" Blutarsky
John Belushi was already a star of Saturday Night Live when he played Bluto, the loud, food-throwing heart of Delta House. In 1978, Animal House was a smash, and his Blues Brothers album Briefcase Full of Blues reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
He married his high school sweetheart, Judith Jacklin, in 1976. He died at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on March 5, 1982, at 33, from an overdose of cocaine and heroin. In the film's closing title cards, Bluto ends up a United States senator.
Why Animal House Still Makes People Laugh
Animal House poked fun at authority at a time when audiences were ready to laugh at it. It also launched careers: for Karen Allen, Kevin Bacon and Peter Riegert it was a first film, and for Tom Hulce an early one.
The story behind the camera is more bittersweet. Kenney and Belushi, two of the people most responsible for its spirit, were both gone by 33. Others found long, steady careers, or chose quiet lives far from Hollywood.
When did you first see Animal House, and which member of Delta House still makes you smile?
Sources and Further Reading
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