Matthew Perry’s First Screen Role Began Alongside His Father

A brief early television appearance

Perry’s first professional acting part was in “Bank Job,” the sixth episode of “240-Robert”’s first season. The series ran for 16 episodes between 1979 and 1981, with Mark Harmon and John Bennett Perry among its stars.

Perry played Arthur, a boy who asks his father’s character, Theodore Roosevelt “Trap” Applegate III, whether he and his partner are doctors. After Trap identifies them as paramedics, Arthur asks what that job involves; the scene lasts about 15 seconds.

Harmon’s role before NCIS

On “240-Robert,” Harmon portrayed Dwayne “Thib” Thibideaux. Before the series, he had guest appearances in 1970s crime dramas including “Adam-12” and the paramedic show “Emergency!” The role came well before Harmon became widely associated with Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the “NCIS” franchise. Perry’s small appearance, meanwhile, preceded his later fame as Chandler on “Friends.”

A career shaped by family ties

Perry died at age 54. His collaborations with his father included a fourth-season “Scrubs” episode and the 1997 romantic comedy “Fools Rush In,” where they also played father and son.

In the 2004 “Scrubs” episode “My Unicorn,” Matthew played Murray Marks, who visits Gregory, his hospitalized father, played by John. Murray learns Gregory is not his biological father and refuses to donate a kidney; Matthew directed the episode, his sole directing credit. He moved to California to live with his father at 15, and John’s television career helped inspire his own Hollywood ambitions.