Richard Thomas on his Career-Defining Role on The Waltons, Returning as Narrator, and the Importance of Gratitude

Anyone of a sure age who loved watching The Waltons throughout its authentic run in the Nineteen Seventies is happy to see the present return in an analogous type on The CW. They’re additionally thrilled that Richard Thomas, the authentic John-Boy Walton, is alongside for the trip.

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 function that made him a family identify.

Good. Thank you a lot for speaking with me at present.

Oh, it is my pleasure.

I’ve to inform you, of course, 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. Thank you. I respect that. I like it when individuals speak about having watched the present years again. It makes me blissful.

So it was an unlimited hit throughout its preliminary run and via a spate of films, however you were not all the time John Boy Walton. You have been taken over by any individual else once you shed the character for a time for a very profitable profession.

So what does it imply to form of come again full circle with the character returning as a narrator that we all the time imagined you to be?

Well, it has been such a giant half of my life, clearly. And despite the fact that it appears like I’m coming again, there’s half of me that appears like I by no means left. The authentic solid members, we have all stayed in contact over the years, 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. But once they received 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 blissful to be invited again to the household.

But the narration is especially particular for me as a result of Earl Hamer’s narration was completely simply inevitable and excellent for all these years. The high quality of his voice, the lyricism of his writing, and the musicality of his voice, which simply went collectively so completely.

But at the very starting, there was a component of me that was like, ‘I’m enjoying John-Boy; I wish to do the narration. I like these narrations. I’m sorry that I can not 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 effectively. It’s nice to lastly, in any case, be capable to fill in that lacking piece of the John-Boy puzzle and be the narrator.

I cherished it. And it is stored me near the materials, and I like being half of the new household, and it is simply nice.

I suppose all good issues come to those that wait.

Well, generally they do.

I do know that each time The Waltons Homecoming got here out, you had talked about that you just hoped it might be a hit and that it nonetheless resonated with viewers and had an unbelievable reception. What was your take on that? And now right here we’re again for a second film.

Well, clearly, I used to be extremely gratified that it was obtained so effectively. It made me really feel good, not just for the present, but it surely 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 can not say I used to be stunned, however I’ve been on this enterprise so lengthy that I do know by no means to make an absolute prediction. Things change, and the currents change; what individuals wish 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.

But on this case, there’s an important factor that stayed the identical, which is, I feel, the want for individuals to discover a secure haven for a sure form of programming, even in the midst of lots of turmoil and different traits.

This was the case when the first present was on the air when the nation was going via nice upheaval, and there was lots of [division], and there was lots of animosity, there was lots of alienation, and the Waltons actually did not cease that. It would not have that sort of energy.

But it actually gave individuals a center floor, a spot to come back collectively, and a spot the place they may come and have somewhat bit of therapeutic about human nature and about how our interdependence with each other. And so I used to be blissful 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. But Walton’s Thanksgiving takes that additional.

I’m not going to enter particulars, but it surely exhibits that the Walton’s continues to be a dwelling and respiratory idea and that sharing the uplifting message of kindness and love with a completely new spin says lots about the authentic idea.

What’s it been like seeing this household and evaluating it to the household that you just have been a component of?

Well, I have never actually been evaluating. For occasion, in numerous corporations of a play or when a film will get remade or one thing, each new set of performers illuminates totally different points of the materials. So this new mixture of great people as the Waltons goes to deliver an entire new vitality and an entire new means of taking a look at that household.

But the first half of your query actually me in that it is completely nice to take a basic piece and then change it and work on it and make your individual model of it.

If the new Waltons had been a form of slavish copy of the authentic, then it might be useless in the water. It wouldn’t be chatting with us at our time. And I feel it is a tribute to the elementary power and high quality of the authentic idea that it will possibly truly deal with variations on the theme and nonetheless have the impact that it has.

I encourage the new Waltons to seek out variations and new methods to inform the story and to deliver it ahead thematically into the time we dwell in now. I feel these variations on the theme are crucial. Otherwise, you are simply doing copy work, which isn’t going to be satisfying for anyone, together with the viewers.

Exactly. Exactly. You know, you’ve gotten 122 credit on your IMDB web page, and my guess might be extra.

Yeah, my actor’s fairness card goes to be 65 years previous subsequent 12 months.

And that is superb to me. You’ve had so many terrific roles after enjoying John-Boy Walton, which was nearly a career-defining second at such a younger age.

Oh, it was completely career-defining second.

Like Frank Gaad on The Americans and, recently, Nathan Davis on Ozark. Really nice characters. Was there ever a time once you nervous that you wouldn’t be capable to escape John-Boy Walton?

I by no means actually nervous about it. Every now and then, there are frustrations as a result of each time you’ve gotten an awesome success of that magnitude in a single specific function, 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 supplied issues which might be the identical, and you are not going to get supplied issues which might be totally different.

I imply, there is a interval of adjustment and transition, which may be irritating. And I feel that is true for all actors who’re shifting from an enormously identifiable function into new territory. It was actually the case for me, however I by no means actually nervous in the future about it. I’ve to play the lengthy recreation with these items.

You must attempt to make selections with what you do which might be, you wish to do issues which might be comparable in the event that they’re good, however you wish to make each alternative to do one thing totally 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 varieties of typecasting right here. And in order that all the time stored that flame alive. And I simply figured it was going to take years to stability the scales. And it did.

You simply must go one job at a time. And, like I say, simply play the lengthy recreation. And additionally, you wish to make sure that you do not seize all the elements simply because they’re like what you have already performed, and they is perhaps profitable. You must be keen to show just a few of these down.

You must be keen to lose just a few the place individuals cannot see previous your most up-to-date success. That’s okay. It’s all half of the recreation. We all undergo it if we’re fortunate sufficient to be in the recreation lengthy sufficient. I’ve simply been a very fortunate actor.

And additionally, I had been an actor for a very long time earlier than I did the Waltons. And despite the fact that that was actually an unlimited, career-defining second, as you say, it was a success of a special 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’ve gotten a favourite function that you just performed or maybe a interval of time during which you felt that your profession was simply precisely the way you wished it to be?

Well, I do not actually select favorites. I imply, the Waltons would all the time must be up there at the high as a result of of how good it was and how a lot it did for me and what a pleasure it was to work with all these people. So it might all the time must be up there.

But I’ve been actually fortunate. I’ve gotten an opportunity to play lots of nice elements in entrance of the digicam and on stage, and I’m probably not good at choosing favorites. But 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 new Waltons, the alternative to be touring round the nation on this nice manufacturing in To Kill A Mockingbird enjoying such an awesome half as Atticus.

And having finished roles lately, very age-appropriate roles in Ozark and the Americans and in the Netflix image I did with Sandra Bullock and all that, I could not suppose of a greater place to be proper now than the place I’m.

I’m deeply blissful and gratified that after such an extended and fortunate highway, I’ve a lot selection and a chance to work, and to do the issues I like.

And beginning as a younger boy on this enterprise, working steadily ever since, I might say you are simply as well-known now as you have been then. What recommendation would you give to these following in your footsteps?

Oh, effectively, see, the factor about our enterprise is you may’t comply with in anyone’s footsteps as a result of all people’s footsteps are totally different. That’s the factor about being an actor. It is fully about who you’re and what makes you who you’re in relation to different individuals in relation to the digicam or the stage, and your work.

So there are paths that look comparable, but it surely’s actually uncharted territory for everyone else. I simply suppose that should you’re fortunate sufficient to do effectively, it’s a must to preserve a way of perspective.

You have to take a look at it first and foremost, above anything. 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’s work like anyone else’s work.

And if it is work you’re keen on and work you are blissful doing, you then’re one of the fortunate ones. I used to be raised by ballet dancers who had a robust sense of self-discipline. They have 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 a component of my life,

And if issues should not going effectively, then it’s a must to study how lengthy am I keen to attempt to hold 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.

But it is like individuals have requested me, “Well, did you give Logan advice about John-Boy?” No, I do not give Logan recommendation. He’s a terrific actor who’s received his personal means of enjoying. And it might be horrible to presume to offer recommendation to anyone truly until they ask for it particularly.

And my final query for you is, what message would you prefer to share with individuals for this Thanksgiving vacation?

Oh, there’s all the time room for gratitude. And I feel there must be greater than room for gratitude. I feel gratitude must be one of the founding practices in our lives. I feel that it is simple to be grateful when issues are nice. It’s more durable to be grateful when issues are difficult.

Right now, there are lots of issues which might be difficult for lots of individuals. So I feel it is actually essential to take a look at areas in our lives the place we may be grateful. Because if we really feel grateful and we really feel crammed up, it is simpler for us to be form, for us to be form to others.

If we discover elements of our life that make us really feel fulfilled that we are able to 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.

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