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Post by Marilyn on Feb 11, 2010 15:53:46 GMT -5
Thanks to Dagmar for the link to the site with this info:
What the Waltons did next 17.07.02 Life in The Waltons was always an idyllic affair.
As John Boy said as he returned to Walton's Mountain in the last episode of the folksy American soap all those years ago: 'The mystical blue ridges that stretch beyond it into infinity; the sound of voices drifting out upon the night air; a family waiting, and a light in the window. Good night!'
In reality, of course, it was all quite different. One of the actors was an alcoholic, another a homosexual who had once been outlawed in America for his pro-communist opinions.
After it was all over, some of the cast suffered rejection, broken marriages and relationships which were a far cry from the 'family values' extolled by creator Earl Hamner.
Still, in its day and even in the repeats, The Waltons was a family favourite with its recipe of homespun plots in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
There was a Mom and a Dad, a Grandpa and a Grandma, and seven children whose lives on a seemingly never-ending diet of chicken, mashed potato and sweetcorn filled TV screens for nine years between 1972 and 1981.
Each episode ended with a shot of the family's white clapboard house and the conversations of the occupants as they said goodnight to each other.
Even now, the signature tune is as familiar as grandma's apple pie.
Earl Hamner, 78, has tracked down some of the actors for an After They Were Famous programme being screened on ITV1 this Sunday at 8pm.
Here the Daily Mail takes its own look at life after Waltons Mountain.
1: Jim-Bob, played by David W Harper
Jim-Bob was the youngest of the Walton brothers. As a child actor Harper, now 40, was cast in a film with Ernest Borgnine about cattle rustlers. 'The only trouble was, I was too short to get on a horse so I was fired,' he said.
Gave up acting after The Waltons. Jobs have included driving for a transport company run by Eric Scott (Ben). He remains single. 'Looking back, I realise we grew up surrounded by adults,' he said. 'But I'm pleased to have been on the show.'
2: Erin, played by Mary McDonough
Willowy Erin was the second of the three daughters. McDonough, now 41, took a number of wild roles after the programme. 'I went to acting classes and played prostitutes, lesbians - real-life characters,' she said. 'People would say, "I never thought of you as a (censored), but you're a great (censored)".'
Had a disastrous breast implant operation - because she was 'tired of losing parts to blondes with big breasts' - and contracted the skin disease lupus, about which she now campaigns. Divorced, she has a daughter Sydnee, nine.
3: Mary-Ellen, played by Judy Norton
Mary-Ellen was the eldest Walton girl who became a nurse. Her husband Curt was written out as a victim of Pearl Harbor. Their son John Curtis also disappeared.
In real-life Norton, 44, shocked Waltons fans by posing nude for Playboy. 'I wanted to shake people up a bit,' she said.
An active scientologist, she has been married twice and has a five-year-old son with her current husband, Randy Apostle.
'What was happening in the show mirrored what was happening in my life,' she said.
'My teenage years were spent in The Waltons and that wasn't always easy.'
4: Ben, played by Eric Scott
Ben was always hard at work in his dungarees in his Pappy's lumber mill. Scott, 43, was stricken by tragedy in real life when his first wife Theresa died of leukaemia two days after giving birth to their daughter Ashley.
Gave up acting to become a courier and now runs his own business in California with 250 drivers. Found love again with second wife Cindy, whom he met at a counselling centre. She had lost her husband to lung cancer when he was 28. 'You could never have written the script of my life,' he said.
5: Elizabeth, played by Kami Cotler
Cotler, 37, was six when she was picked to play the freckled, ginger-haired Elizabeth - and annoyed everyone by talking as though she was bunged up with flu. Then it was realised she was allergic to the animals in the show.
After The Waltons she trained to become a teacher. Now lives in Virginia with her British-born husband Kim and their two children.
6: John-Boy, played by Richard Thomas
The character of John-Boy, the narrator of each episode, was based on Earl Hamner.
Thomas, 51, quit the show in 1977 and popped up in many cinema and TV roles including Roots.
'The Waltons was the finest programme on television in its day,' he said. 'You had 11 actors who basically got along very well. It was a beautiful show and a beautiful role, but I don't miss it.'
Married twice, first in 1975 when he had a son and triplet daughters. Married again in 1994 and has just become a father again.
Thomas, who lost half of his hearing because of a nerve disorder, now writes and publishes poetry.
7: Jason, played by John Walmsley
Guitar-Strumming Jason featured in some of The Waltons' more risque moments in The Dew Drop Inn.
Walmsley, 46, was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and was the voice of Christopher Robin in the Disney Winnie the Pooh films. Gave up acting to concentrate on music and has fronted a number of bands.
His real- life girlfriend Lisa Harrison played his fiancee in The Waltons. They were married for real by Ralph Waite, who played John Walton senior and was an ordained minister. The Walmsleys have a daughter, Brighton.
So what happened to the other folks?
# Grandpa Zebulon Walton was played by William Auge Geer, who died in 1978 aged 76 just before filming began on a new series.
Although kindly, wise old Zeb was a favourite with viewers, in real life the actor had a chequered and controversial history.
Married with a daughter, he later had a homosexual relationship with a gay activist. He was also blacklisted by the U.S. film industry for his support of Russia.
# Grandma Esther Walton was played by Ellen Corby, who died in 1999 at 86. She suffered a stroke during filming in 1977. The illness was incorporated into the script even though her speech and movement were badly affected.
# John Walton senior was played by Ralph Waite, 74, who got the part as the head of the goody goody household even though he was a roaring alcoholic.
'During the early days of The Waltons I was a wild man,' said Waite, who had been traumatised by the death of his nine-year-old daughter from leukaemia.
'There was no such thing as a lunch without three or more Martinis. When I finally got back to the set, I was pretty much out of things.'
Waite met his third wife Linda at an alcohol recovery programme and four years ago unsuccessfully ran for Congress. He lost to Sonny Bono's widow Mary.
# Olivia Walton, John's wife and mother of all those children, was played by Michael Learned, 63.
She had just separated from husband Peter Donat - father of her three children - when she got the Waltons job.
She was written out of the series in 1978 on the pretext that she had contracted TB and needed to go away to recuperate.
Learned was the busiest of the cast post-series and won roles in television and the cinema. She is now married to a lawyer and lives in Los Angeles.
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Post by Marilyn on Feb 11, 2010 16:01:35 GMT -5
Grandpa was not a homosexual, he was bi-sexual.
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Post by lorijean on Feb 11, 2010 19:23:06 GMT -5
Must have been a terrific show when aired. I learned some things I did not know before.
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tiltjlp
Newspaper Vendor
She was a sweet cat.
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Post by tiltjlp on Feb 11, 2010 19:30:32 GMT -5
I've never seen the need or purpose of digging into anyone's personal lives. It almost seems like an attempt to cheapen the memory of the show, which won't happen with me. We all have things in our lives that we keep private, and why shouldn't an actor be accorded the same consideration? I'm not directing my opinion at anyone, simply making my feelinds known.
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Post by Marilyn on Feb 11, 2010 19:48:22 GMT -5
When I was researching Grandpa some time ago, I came across a memorial page to him where the author of the page posted that info about him, and right away I was saying to myself - I could have gone all day without hearing that...and who cares...why do we need to know that? Yes, he could have left that unsaid.
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Post by bullgator on Feb 12, 2010 15:29:17 GMT -5
Note the date for the info on the cast - July, 2002. Some where I read that Ralph Waite credited the show with helping him establish a wholesome relationship with his children and to stop drinking. Can anyone confirm this?
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Post by dagmargermany on Feb 12, 2010 16:41:20 GMT -5
Bullgator, I read this more than once and I am sure this is true. When I remember right Ralph Waite himself talked about the relationship with his children and his drinking problem in the earlier days in the film I have seen in the Walton Museum in Schuyler. The Film (documentary about the Waltons / actors) was from about 1990. Somewhere I read he doesn´t drink for more than 30 years.
Dagmar
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Post by Marilyn on Feb 12, 2010 23:43:43 GMT -5
Bullgator, yes I have read this online and posted it here somewhere a few weeks ago. He said he was a distant father to his daughters and had a drinking problem. After he was on the show for awhile, it came to him how important it was that he be a better dad and he did just that!
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kjohn
Newspaper Vendor
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Post by kjohn on Feb 15, 2010 8:35:43 GMT -5
I have no intention fo adding to this other than to say no one is perfect, the folks on the show gave us all a whole lot of entertainment, and that is really the bottom line. I enjoy the show, and nothign will change that view.
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Post by dagmargermany on Feb 15, 2010 10:06:44 GMT -5
I agree with you complete. I love the Waltons and for me it will be the best show forever. We are all human beeing and we all have our problems and little mistakes . That is normal. Nobody is perfect !
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Post by bullgator on Feb 15, 2010 21:43:08 GMT -5
Thanks Dagmar and ssMarilyn for confirming what I thought I remembered about Ralph Waite. Yes, all of us have our shortcomings, and it is good to know that The Waltons show had a very positive, life chaning impact on one of its stars. If I am not mistaken Ralph was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (as was Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood), but I did not know that he presided at the marriage of Jon Walmsley and his first wife, Lisa Harrison (Toni Hazelton on the show). That's neat.
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Post by Marilyn on Feb 15, 2010 22:20:24 GMT -5
I think that John Walton Sr. made a positive impression on alot of people. I know I have learned from him. The show has no negatives!
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