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Post by nedandres on May 10, 2013 19:35:39 GMT -5
Greetings from Ecuador!
I was thinking about Robert Donner recently. He added such vitality to "The Waltons" in the episodes that he appeared in. He had a significant role in one of the post CBS reunion movies "A Day for Thanks on Waltons Mountain," and it is rather ironic that in the other Thanksgiving reunion movie in 1993 his appearance amounted to little more than a cameo. I guess that was true for many of the recurring characters.
When I was in junior high, during the original run of "The Waltons," I wrote to Mr. Donner and sent along a stamp for him use to reply to me. Well, he did write back and returned the stamp, stating that if I had taken the time to write to him, "the least that ole Yancy can do is write back." I was touched by his gesture which said a lot about him as a person.
I know that Cissy Wellman honored him at the Waltons 40th anniversary in CA. I would have like to be there for that, but it was not to be. We had twin boys in January 2012 so it was impossible this time. But I remember Robert Donner at three different Walton reunions. He was quite a riot in "real life" also. Once he was the auctioneer at a banquet, and he raised over $120 for the fan club auctioning off a rubber chicken. Only Yancy!!!! He and his wife were quite personable, and he remembered me from the previous reunion when I saw him the last time at 2004 at the CA reunion.
He competed against himself for viewers when he was a regular on both "The Waltons" and "Mork and Mindy" (Exidor) at the same airing time on Thursdays at 8 PM. He also starred with Ralph Waite in "Cool Hand Luke" prior to their work together on "The Waltons". His last role was in "Hoot" in 2006 as Kalo, shortly before his death on June 8, 2006.
He is deeply missed by Waltons fans everywhere.
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Post by Brenda on May 10, 2013 20:29:21 GMT -5
Yancy was one of my favorite characters on The Waltons. I was at that reunion in Virginia when he auctioned off the rubber chicken. He was hilarious.
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Post by wmfan/waltonsportwriter on May 11, 2013 7:02:10 GMT -5
RIP to Robert Donner Yancy the Chicken Thief. That rubber chicken sounds hilarious! WMFAN
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Post by awesomemixtape10 on May 12, 2013 2:56:47 GMT -5
I am not a Mork and Mindy Junkie(although Robin Williams is a genius), but Robert Donner might be more famous for that show than The Waltons. I mean, when you are hanging with Robin Williams , and almost stealing scenes from him in that era, you are pretty funny.
People loved his character on that show.
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Post by nedandres on May 12, 2013 22:53:30 GMT -5
You are probably right about his being known more for "Mork and Mindy." He appeared in 22 episodes of that series as opposed to 19 in "The Waltons" plus the two reunion movies he appeared in. But I would be willing to bet that "The Waltons" fans who cherish him are more passionate than the "M&M" fans.
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Post by JeriJet on May 13, 2013 7:40:55 GMT -5
Speaking of Robert Donner, we haven't heard from forum member "glenn" (who used Yancy as his avatar) for about six months..... miss him.
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