‘The Waltons’ Star Mary McDonough Celebrated Her 21st Birthday With George Clooney
Mary McDonough of the hit CBS series The Waltons celebrated her 21st birthday with a man who would go on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The actor – who played Erin Walton in the show, which aired from 1972 to 198 – recalled the memorable birthday she spent with a young George Clooney in her 2011 memoir, Lessons From the Mountain.
Mary McDonough of ‘The Waltons’ went to Kentucky to make a movie
After CBS abruptly canceled The Waltons after nine seasons, McDonough was trying to figure out how to transition from former child actor to “a successful adult in the industry,” she wrote. One job she landed not long after the show ended took her to Kentucky “for a movie I never actually worked in.” Though the director asked McDonough to come to Lexington for a month, he never actually cast her, and he never completed work on the movie. But the experience wasn’t a total loss.
Oscar-winner José Ferrer was supposed to star in the film. Ferrer had previously been married to Rosemary Clooney, and while in Kentucky, McDonough got to know Rosemary’s brother Nick Clooney and his wife Nina.
“Their son, George, was hanging around with us to work on the film as well,” she wrote.
‘The Waltons’ star celebrated her birthday with George Clooney
McDonough was in Lexington when she turned 21, just two days before the future ER star also turned 21. She and Clooney decided to mark the occasion together.
“As we celebrated at the hotel, he dared me to jump into the fountain in the courtyard,” she recalled. “Well, a dare is a dare, and in my book, the one who brought the dare should take the dare on as well. So I got up and ran to the fountain and in I went. So George had to follow me in.”
When it came time for McDonough and the other actors to return to Los Angeles, they urged Clooney to make the move as well.
“When we all went back to Los Angeles, we encouraged George to come to California to try this acting thing,” she wrote. “‘Who knows, it might work out for you,’ we told him. Who knew?”
The future Oscar winner later did ‘one of the nicest things’ for McDonough
Years after that memorable birthday in Kentucky, Clooney and McDonough’s professional paths crossed. He was starring in the short-lived police drama Bodies of Evidence, and McDonough booked a guest actor spot on the show.
“He wasn’t in my scene, but he did one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for a guest actor on a show,” she wrote.
“For a day player, it can be a little intimidating going to a foreign set and not knowing anyone,” she went on to explain. But Clooney had gone to the trouble to tell everyone working on the show, including the hair and makeup artists and wardrobe stylist, to be nice to her.
“Without even being there, he welcomed me and made my day easier,” he wrote. “He’s one of the good guys.”
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