Anybody of a sure age who loved watching The Waltons throughout its authentic run within the Seventies is happy to see the present return in an identical kind on The CW. They’re additionally thrilled that Richard Thomas, the unique John-Boy Walton, is alongside for the experience.
In anticipation of A Waltons’ Thanksgiving, premiering on Sunday, November 20, on The CW, we spoke with Thomas about his profession and returning to the position that made him a family identify.
Good. Thanks a lot for speaking with me right this moment.
Oh, it is my pleasure.
I’ve to let you know, in fact, as so many different individuals have mentioned, I grew up watching you, so speaking to you now and particularly about this new model of the Waltons is admittedly particular.
Oh, thanks. Thanks. I recognize that. I adore it when individuals speak about having watched the present years again. It makes me completely happy.
So it was an infinite hit throughout its preliminary run and thru a spate of flicks, however you were not all the time John Boy Walton. You had been taken over by any person else whenever you shed the character for a time for a very profitable profession.
So what does it imply to sort of come again full circle with the character returning as a narrator that we all the time imagined you to be?
Properly, it has been such an enormous a part of my life, clearly. And though it looks like I am coming again, there’s a part of me that looks like I by no means left. The unique solid members, we have all stayed in contact over time, and we’re very shut.
And in order that household has remained comparatively intact over time. And so there’s all the time been a sense of connection. However after they obtained in contact with me to ask me to introduce and narrate these new specials, I used to be significantly thrilled as a result of I cherished the connection and was very completely happy to be invited again to the household.
However the narration is especially particular for me as a result of Earl Hamer’s narration was completely simply inevitable and ideal for all these years. The standard of his voice, the lyricism of his writing, and the musicality of his voice, which simply went collectively so completely.
However on the very starting, there was part of me that was like, ‘I am enjoying John-Boy; I need to do the narration. I really like these narrations. I am sorry that I am unable to get to do them.’
So 50 years later, once I now truly am the older John-Boy, if not truly the previous John-Boy, which I’m as properly. It is nice to lastly, in spite of everything, be capable of fill in that lacking piece of the John-Boy puzzle and be the narrator.
I cherished it. And it is saved me near the fabric, and I really like being a part of the brand new household, and it is simply nice.
I assume all good issues come to those that wait.
Properly, generally they do.
I do know that at any time when The Waltons Homecoming got here out, you had talked about that you simply hoped it could be successful and that it nonetheless resonated with viewers and had an unimaginable reception. What was your tackle that? And now right here we’re again for a second film.
Properly, clearly, I used to be extremely gratified that it was obtained so properly. It made me really feel good, not just for the present, nevertheless it made me be ok with the viewing public, that there’s nonetheless a market and an viewers for a narrative like this.
It was very heartening for me, and I am unable to say I used to be shocked, however I have been on this enterprise so lengthy that I do know by no means to make an absolute prediction. Issues change, and the currents change; what individuals need to see and what they’re used to seeing all shifts. And so issues generally seem to remain the identical, however they seem to vary.
However on this case, there’s a vital factor that stayed the identical, which is, I believe, the need for individuals to discover a secure haven for a sure sort of programming, even within the midst of numerous turmoil and different developments.
This was the case when the primary present was on the air when the nation was going by way of nice upheaval, and there was numerous [division], and there was numerous animosity, there was numerous alienation, and the Waltons definitely did not cease that. It would not have that sort of energy.
However it definitely gave individuals a center floor, a spot to return collectively, and a spot the place they may come and have just a little little bit of therapeutic about human nature and about how our interdependence with each other. And so I used to be completely happy to see that that occurred once more.
And The Walton’s Homecoming film was lacking a personality, so it did not fairly resemble the household that I grew up with. However Walton’s Thanksgiving takes that additional.
I am not going to enter particulars, nevertheless it exhibits that the Walton’s remains to be a residing and respiratory idea and that sharing the uplifting message of kindness and love with a wholly new spin says lots concerning the authentic idea.
What’s it been like seeing this household and evaluating it to the household that you simply had been part of?
Properly, I have not actually been evaluating. For example, in numerous firms of a play or when a film will get remade or one thing, each new set of performers illuminates completely different points of the fabric. So this new mixture of great of us because the Waltons goes to carry a complete new vitality and a complete new means of that household.
However the first a part of your query actually me in that it is completely nice to take a basic piece after which change it and work on it and make your personal model of it.
If the brand new Waltons had been a kind of slavish copy of the unique, then it could be lifeless within the water. It might not be talking to us at our time. And I believe it is a tribute to the elemental energy and high quality of the unique idea that it might probably truly deal with variations on the theme and nonetheless have the impact that it has.
I encourage the brand new Waltons to search out variations and new methods to inform the story and to carry it ahead thematically into the time we dwell in now. I believe these variations on the theme are crucial. In any other case, you are simply doing copy work, which isn’t going to be satisfying for anyone, together with the viewers.
Precisely. Precisely. , you have got 122 credit in your IMDB web page, and my guess might be extra.
Yeah, my actor’s fairness card goes to be 65 years previous subsequent yr.
And that is superb to me. You’ve got had so many terrific roles after enjoying John-Boy Walton, which was virtually a career-defining second at such a younger age.
Oh, it was completely career-defining second.
Like Frank Gaad on The People and, these days, Nathan Davis on Ozark. Actually nice characters. Was there ever a time whenever you nervous that you wouldn’t be capable of escape John-Boy Walton?
I by no means actually nervous about it. Every so often, there are frustrations as a result of at any time when you have got a fantastic success of that magnitude in a single specific position, whether or not it is in a film, a tv sequence, or no matter, you’re instantly going to be related to it. And you are going to get provided issues which can be the identical, and you are not going to get provided issues which can be completely different.
I imply, there is a interval of adjustment and transition, which will be irritating. And I believe that is true for all actors who’re transferring from an enormously identifiable position into new territory. It was definitely the case for me, however I by no means actually nervous in the long term about it. I’ve to play the lengthy sport with these items.
You need to attempt to make selections with what you do which can be, you need to do issues which can be comparable in the event that they’re good, however you need to make each alternative to do one thing completely different.
I used to be all the time very fortunate that the theater was all the time in my life as a result of one is not essentially topic to the identical sorts of typecasting right here. And in order that all the time saved that flame alive. And I simply figured it was going to take years to stability the scales. And it did.
You simply should go one job at a time. And, like I say, simply play the lengthy sport. And likewise, you need to ensure that you do not seize all of the components simply because they’re like what you’ve got already performed, and so they is likely to be profitable. You need to be prepared to show a couple of of these down.
You need to be prepared to lose a couple of the place individuals cannot see previous your most up-to-date success. That is okay. It is all a part of the sport. All of us undergo it if we’re fortunate sufficient to be within the sport lengthy sufficient. I’ve simply been a very fortunate actor.
And likewise, I had been an actor for a very long time earlier than I did the Waltons. And though that was definitely an infinite, career-defining second, as you say, it was successful of a distinct diploma of magnitude. I knew that I used to be an actor, and I knew I used to be all the time going to be one, and I knew that I used to be simply going to maintain working.
Do you have got a favourite position that you simply performed or maybe a time period through which you felt that your profession was simply precisely the way you wished it to be?
Properly, I do not actually select favorites. I imply, the Waltons would all the time should be up there on the prime due to how good it was and the way a lot it did for me and what a pleasure it was to work with all these of us. So it could all the time should be up there.
However I have been actually fortunate. I’ve gotten an opportunity to play numerous nice components in entrance of the digital camera and on stage, and I am probably not good at choosing favorites. However I must say that for an previous man like me proper now, I could not think about being in a extra satisfying spot as an actor.
This nice alternative to revisit the best hit of my profession with the brand new Waltons, the chance to be touring across the nation on this nice manufacturing in To Kill A Mockingbird enjoying such a fantastic half as Atticus.
And having accomplished roles not too long ago, very age-appropriate roles in Ozark and the People and within the Netflix image I did with Sandra Bullock and all that, I could not consider a greater place to be proper now than the place I’m.
I am deeply completely happy and gratified that after such a protracted and fortunate highway, I’ve a lot selection and a possibility to work, and to do the issues I really like.
And beginning as a younger boy on this enterprise, working steadily ever since, I’d say you are simply as well-known now as you had been then. What recommendation would you give to these following in your footsteps?
Oh, properly, see, the factor about our enterprise is you possibly can’t observe in anyone’s footsteps as a result of everyone’s footsteps are completely different. That is the factor about being an actor. It’s solely about who you’re and what makes you who you’re in relation to different individuals in relation to the digital camera or the stage, and your work.
So there are paths that look comparable, nevertheless it’s actually uncharted territory for everyone else. I simply assume that should you’re fortunate sufficient to do properly, it’s a must to keep a way of perspective.
You need to take a look at it at first, above the rest. You simply have to take a look at it as work. And that is to not diminish it; it is simply that it is a job. It is work like anyone else’s work.
And if it is work you’re keen on and work you are completely happy doing, then you definitely’re one of many fortunate ones. I used to be raised by ballet dancers who had a powerful sense of self-discipline. They had been very grounded. It was all the time the household enterprise actually to be a performer. So I’ve all the time checked out it as simply my work as part of my life,
And if issues aren’t going properly, then it’s a must to look at how lengthy am I prepared to attempt to preserve opening a door that is not opening? And perhaps there’s one thing else in my life that could be a higher path for me.
However it’s like individuals have requested me, “Properly, did you give Logan recommendation about John-Boy?” No, I do not give Logan recommendation. He is a terrific actor who’s obtained his personal means of enjoying. And it could be horrible to presume to present recommendation to anyone truly except they ask for it particularly.
And my final query for you is, what message would you wish to share with individuals for this Thanksgiving vacation?
Oh, there’s all the time room for gratitude. And I believe there ought to be greater than room for gratitude. I believe gratitude ought to be one of many founding practices in our lives. I believe that it is easy to be grateful when issues are nice. It is tougher to be grateful when issues are difficult.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUYsPAi69w
Proper now, there are numerous issues which can be difficult for lots of people. So I believe it is actually necessary to take a look at areas in our lives the place we will be grateful. As a result of if we really feel grateful and we really feel stuffed up, it is simpler for us to be type, for us to be type to others.
If we discover components of our life that make us really feel fulfilled that we will be glad about, it is simply that a lot simpler to achieve out to different individuals and assist them.
A Waltons’ Thanksgiving premieres on Sunday, November 20, at 8/7c.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a employees author and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Selection Affiliation, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of tv and movie with anybody who will hear. Comply with her on Twitter and electronic mail her right here at TV Fanatic.