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Richard Thomas of CBS’s hit series The Waltons didn’t grow up in the country. But the actor, who rose to fame playing John-Boy Walton in the popular family drama, could still draw on some memorable childhood experiences when playing the character, he recently said in a conversation with this fellow Waltons cast member Judy Norton. 

Richard Thomas recalls getting cast in ‘The Homecoming’ 

Richard Thomas, wearing glasses, as John-Boy Walton on 'The Waltons'
Richard Thomas as John-Boy in ‘The Waltons’ CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Norton, who played Mary Ellen Walton, recently chatted with Thomas about his career and their time on The Waltons in an interview she shared on YouTube. 

During their conversation, Thomas recalled learning he’d landed a part in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the CBS TV movie that preceded the series.   

“I remember I was in my parents’ ballet school on Broadway and, I don’t know, 83rd or 84th Street, getting a call speaking with my agent, getting the offer for The Homecoming,” he shared. (The actor’s mother and father were both professional dancers who ran a dance school in New York City.) 

“I was thrilled with that first phone call because I learned that Patricia Neal was in it,” he said. “And I was very excited about the idea of working with her.” Neal played the role of Olivia Walton in The Homecoming. Michael Learned took over the part in The Waltons TV show. 

“And of course, then they sent the script and it was fantastic,” Thomas added. 

‘The Waltons’ actor drew on his childhood experiences in Kentucky when playing John-Boy 

Thomas grew up in New York. But his father was originally from Kentucky. The actor spent “some of the happiest parts” of his childhood visiting his grandparents on their farm in the eastern part of the state, he told Norton.

“It was real country and they had a farm and I just went, my parents dropped me off right after school and I stayed there three months and just spent the whole summer there with my cousins and playmates,” he shared. “And we had horses. We had all that stuff.” 

Thomas was able to draw on that experience with rural life for The Waltons, which followed a family in Depression-era Appalachia. The experience also helped him create his character in other ways. 

“I had the sound of it in my ear too, of the accents and the way people spoke, and how they expressed themselves,” he said. “So it was a wonderful opportunity, and really my first opportunity, to bring that whole part of my life into the work. And I felt so comfortable. I felt like, ‘I know who this kid is.’”

Thomas could relate to John-Boy’s rural upbringing. But the actor also connected with the character’s dream of becoming a writer. 

Olivia and John Walton’s eldest child “was an artist” and “a bit of an outsider,” the actor said. He could relate to that. 

“I felt like I got the country part of myself that I could bring, but also the artist part of myself that I could bring. Because John-Boy was that as well,” he said. “So it was a terrific opportunity to bring big parts of me, that were sort of like, in me, to the role.”

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