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Post by ForeverWaltons on May 23, 2013 9:53:48 GMT -5
At top of the magazine article is a picture of Eric Scott sitting on the hood of a big truck with his back up against the windshield. Beside the picture is the caption: "Where are they now?" Below the picture it says: "I have good days and bad days," says Scott, on a company truck. "But the bad don't compare with the devastation of (not getting) a part."
LIFE AFTER THE WALTONS - Eric Scott hit bottom after he stopped being John-Boy's kid brother; now his business career is on the rise. In *1984, a year after The Waltons went off the air, Eric Scott, who had played Ben Walton (child No. 5) for 10 years, returned to Lorimar's Culver City Studios carrying an envelope. Hoping no one would recognize him, Scott hurried past a prominently displayed photo of The Waltons cast and handed the envelope, containing airline tickets, to one of Lorimar's head honchos. At 25, the former child star was working for Chase Couriers as a delivery man. "That was a tough one to swallow," he says.
Today Scott, 33, still hasn't matched the top salary of *$250,000 he earned as a Walton, but after steady promotions, he's got a title - Vice President of Marketing - on the door of his corner office in North Hollywood. Scott is happily ensconced in a three-bedroom home in Ventura County, North of L.A. with second wife Theresa, a nurse (they plan to have children). "I can't recapture what I had," he says, "[But] as long as I feel good about what I'm doing every year, I'm proud of it."
Not that he didn't peer over the precipice. When the series ended, he could only find occasional acting work, and depression set in. His first marriage, to Karey Louis, an aspiring actress, whom he'd married at 21, unraveled. He spent about a year moaning around his house, eating and watching Bonanza reruns. "When I knew Hoss' lines better than he did," he says, "I decided it was time to do something."
He combed the classifieds and answered an ad, WANTED DRIVERS, thinking it would be just a temporary job. "But he began moving up [at Chase], and I think he liked being normal," says Theresa, whom he first met in high school physiology class and remet five years ago at a dinner party. "He wasn't going to let himself become a wannabe actor."
Though Scott still keeps in touch with some of his TV siblings, including Richard Thomas, who played John-Boy, he's packed most of his Waltons memorabilia away. "I don't confuse [that life]," he says, "with what's important to me as a person."
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My notes:
This article was written a few months before Theresa died on November 5th, 1993, of acute myelomonocytic leukemia two days after giving birth to their daughter Ashley. Today, Ashley just finished her junior year at Sonoma State.
Eric met his present wife, Cynthia (Cindy) Ullman Wolfen at a grievance group alumni meeting. She had lost her husband to lung cancer. They married in 2001 and they have a daughter, Emma (born 2001) and a son, Jeremy (born 2004).
Today Scott owns Chase Messengers, a parcel delivery service.
*1984 - The article says in 1984 a year after The Waltons went off the air. The Waltons went off the air in 1981.
*top salary of 250,000 he earned as a Walton. I am assuming that means he made $250,000 for the last season of The Waltons (who knows maybe also for the season or a few seasons before that?)
JeriJet could you or someone else here on the forum, look up what $250,000 dollars in 1981 would be equivalent to in today's dollars? I would appreciate it.
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I also have another thread about a People Magazine article published on February 1st, 1993. "A Walton Family Tragedy" For the first time Eric Scott talks about his child's birth - and his wife's death.
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Post by sdw on May 23, 2013 14:43:24 GMT -5
I thought it was a very good article.  |
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Post by PLP927 on May 23, 2013 14:58:09 GMT -5
What an interesting article! And I learned some about Eric Scott that I wasn't aware of before. Thanks for posting!
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