Michael Learned took over the role of Olivia Walton from Patricia Neal, who played Olivia in the initial movie.
John-Boy wasn’t the first Walton to have work published. In fact, his younger brother Ben’s poem “The Chicken Thief” was published first.
The series ran for over nine years and won two Golden Globes, plus the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. Its lead and supporting actors won a total of seven Emmy Awards during the series run. Actress Beulah Bondi, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Bailey in the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life," won an Emmy for her guest-starring role on the Waltons in 1977.
Do you remember the college John-Boy went to? It was Boatwright University, a real college known today as the University of Richmond.
The "Walton House" was located in Warner Brothers studios in Burbank. “Walton’s Mountain” was actually a slope of the Hollywood Hills directly south of the Warner Brothers lot.
Ralph Waite played John Walton in the series, while the same role in “The Homecoming” was played by Andrew Duggan.
The Waltons series creator Earl Hamner drew inspiration from his seven siblings, who served as the basis for the young Walton characters.
After Will Geer’s death, the character of Grandpa Walton also passed away, and was buried on Walton’s Mountain.
The character Jim Bob had one ambition: to learn to fly an airplane. While he was medically unfit for the Air Corps, in the final movies he had indeed become a pilot, flying crop dusting and charter flights.
The only sibling on the series who had his own room in the house was John-Boy.
There are only seven episodes of The Waltons that do NOT begin with “The.”
Do you remember the name of the honky-tonk Jason played at to earn money for his music education? It was called the Dew Drop Inn.
The Walton's pets included Blue the mule, Chance the cow, Reckless the dog, Rover the peacock, Lance the deer and Myrtle the Goat.
When John Ritter left the series, his absence was explained by having his recurring character, Reverend Matthew Fordwick, join the army. Ritter ultimately went on to further stardom in “Three’s Company.”
Michael Learned took over the role of Olivia Walton from Patricia Neal who had played Olivia in the initial movie.
John-Boy wasn’t the first Walton to have work published. In fact, his younger brother Ben’s poem “The Chicken Thief” was published first.