Profile : The Matheson Code : THE ACTOR IS BUSY ON TV MOVIES HE RATES OFF-LIMITS FOR HIS KIDS

When Tim Matheson and Mimi Rogers have steamy love scenes Monday night in the NBC thriller “A Kiss to Die For,” Matheson knows at least three people who won’t be watching.

His kids.

They also won’t see him on Dec. 14, when he plays an anesthesiologist falsely convicted of murder in the CBS film “Harmful Intent.”

“The only thing they’ve ever seen that I’ve done was ‘Yours, Mine and Ours,’ ” says Matheson, a former child actor. He was 20 when he appeared in that 1968 family-oriented film with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball.

Does that mean they haven’t seen “Animal House,” the raunchy 1978 comedy that launched Matheson to prominence?

“ ‘Animal House’ would not be appropriate at this age,” says the actor, who has two daughters, 5 and 7, and a 3-month-old son. “Let them be kids.”

His daughters did see the comedy “Drop Dead Fred” on video at a friend’s house and were surprised to see Daddy kissing Phoebe Cates.

“They saw that and they couldn’t understand it,” he notes. “I said it was just acting and I barely knew the girl.”

The easygoing Matheson, who during a break at his publicist’s office took time to admire a visiting baby, said that filming sex scenes such as those in “A Kiss to Die For” can be awkward.

“It’s embarrassing,” he says. “It’s like, invite 70 people into your bedroom, go ahead. It’s a very personal aspect of somebody’s life that they’re exposing.

“I try to be very professional about it and I try to kid around a lot so we can lighten the mood.”

However, he says he didn’t object to the scenes because they were integral to the plot of “A Kiss to Die For.” Matheson plays a widower who becomes obsessed with a sensuous woman who might be a murderer.

“The character’s sexuality was a very important part of the story, and I find that intriguing,” he says. “My character was an innocent swept up in all this.”

“A Kiss to Die For,” also featuring William Forsythe and Carroll Baker, was filmed nearly a year ago, but it airs only eight days before “Harmful Intent,” which Matheson recently finished shooting.

Based on the novel by Robin Cook, “Harmful Intent” also stars Emma Samms, Robert Pastorelli and Alex Rocco. The screenplay by James Sadwith was directed by John Patterson.

Matheson plays an anesthesiologist who flees to clear himself after he is convicted of killing a patient with a lethal injection.

The plot is reminiscent of last summer’s hit film “The Fugitive,” a remake of the television series about a doctor on the run, trying to prove he didn’t kill his wife.

The similarity is a coincidence, Matheson says.

“ ‘Harmful Intent’ is based on a book that was written before (the remake of) ‘The Fugitive,’ ” he says. “But let me tell you the nature of television: If they could get a dinosaur in there, they would have.”

That, in case anyone missed it, is a reference to last summer’s smash hit “Jurassic Park.”

To prepare for the doctor’s role, Matheson observed a couple of anesthesiologists.

“Two times I got queasy and both times had to do with needles,” he says. “Both times it was preoperative procedures.”

Although he once briefly considered becoming a doctor, Matheson began studying acting at age 10 and made his first guest appearance on television at 13.

He doesn’t regret starting his career early.

“It was perfect for me,” Matheson says. “My parents were getting divorced and we were moving around a lot and it was a way to release my feelings. I still find that it’s great therapy.”

His feature film debut came in 1964 with “Divorce, American Style.” While continuing to work in television, Matheson performed on stage with the San Diego Shakespeare Festival and a repertory company.

Finding himself intimidated by comedy, he took the bull by the horns and joined an improvisational comedy troupe called the Groundlings. His training there helped him land his watershed role in “Animal House.”

He still considers comedy harder than drama.

“If something is 70 percent there in a drama, the director can put it there,” the actor says. “But if something is only 65-70 percent there in a comedy, I think you’re in trouble.”

Despite his success in thrillers, he still enjoys making people laugh.

“I’d love to do a series,” Matheson says. “In a perfect world, I’d love to do comedy.”

The 45-year-old actor is now in Paris shooting a movie, “Presumed Guilty,” for the USA Network. He’s also begun producing and directing, and is developing a project at Universal.

He said the key to keeping his balance in a career that lacks job security is to focus on the quality of his work.

“You can really burn out on high points, low points,” he says “I have a craft that I work at and it renews itself.”

“A Kiss to Die For” airs Monday at 9 p.m. on NBC; “Harmful Intent” airs Dec. 14 at 9 p.m. on CBS.