CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

List of Matlock characters

Wikimedia list article

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ6589464 ↗
Source-derived summary

These are the characters of the 1986 American television legal drama Matlock.

Main

Ben Matlock

Benjamin Leighton "Ben" Matlock is a renowned, folksy yet cantankerous defense attorney who charges a fee of $100,000 to take a case. He is known for visiting crime scenes to discover overlooked clues, as well as his down-home style of coming up with viable, alternative theories of the crime in question (usually murder) while sitting in his office playing the banjo or polishing his shoes. Matlock also has conspicuously finicky fashion sense (wearing nothing but grey suits) and an insatiable appetite for hot dogs (an explanation for this is featured in the Diagnosis: Murder cross-over double episode "Murder Two", which also marked the last appearance of Matlock on television). Despite his high fees and apparent wealth, he is something of a cheapskate. He's the show's main protagonist. Andy Griffith appeared in every episode of the series.

Charlene Matlock

Charlene is Ben's daughter and is also a lawyer. She assists her father at his law practice in Atlanta for a short time, appearing only in the first season of the series. Purl replaced Lori Lethin who appeared as Charlene in the pilot "Diary of a Perfect Murder".

Editorial summary

“List of Matlock characters” enters the record as wikimedia list article. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what List, Matlock and characters can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1986—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around List, Matlock and characters.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“List of Matlock characters” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, List, Matlock and characters provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6589464. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1986.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “List of Matlock characters”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow List of Matlock characters primary sources, List of Matlock characters archive and List research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “List of Matlock characters”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “List of Matlock characters” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.