- Welcome to another edition of,
"The Waltons, Behind the Scenes."
(upbeat music)
Today, I'm going to be talking
about my youngest brother Jim Bob, played by David Harper.
David was just this little mop-headed kid
when we filmed, "The Homecoming,"
with like sheep dog hair hanging down.
You didn't even see his eyes most of the time.
But he was just so sweet.
And I adored those scenes between him and Elizabeth,
Kami Cotler, up in the hayloft when she was so upset
because everybody laughed at her
about wanting to have puppies instead of babies.
And Jim Bob took her up there and explained to her,
in all of his like, eight or nine year old wisdom,
about why she couldn't have puppies
and about how they were gonna squeeze
so that they didn't grow up.
I just thought that was so sweet.
I think he just endeared everyone
to the character, Jim Bob, at that point.
As David grew up on the series,
he turned into a lovely young man.
You know, he was quiet, he seemed sort of shy.
It took a lot to really get him going.
But when he did, you know, he definitely,
you know, showed a range of emotion.
I always thought of him as the 'still waters run deep'
sort of person.
And I think that's the sort of man that he grew into.
In his personal life, David had some really
tough times growing up.
He lost his mother young and I can't even imagine
what that would have been like for him.
I think we all felt very protective of him at times
and being the youngest boy, of course,
he would experience within the cast,
all of that younger brother kind of dynamic.
And he pretty much was on his own as a child
growing up in his personal life.
So I'd like to think that he enjoyed
having all of the TV brothers and sisters
who became real brothers and sisters to him.
Jim Bob was always a character that was described
as having his head in the clouds.
From a pretty early age on the show,
he was fascinated by mechanics
and by the possibility of airplanes.
And when he first had the chance to see an airplane
and be around an airplane, I think it was for Jim Bob,
the beginning of a lifelong love.
And of course he tried to join the Air Corps
and was rejected because his eyesight wasn't strong enough.
But of course, he was like the mechanical one
on the show and could build cars and fix things.
And I don't know that David
was all that mechanical in real life.
And I believe he had to, you know,
the transportation department had to teach him
how to ride that motorcycle when he did the motorcycle race.
And I can't imagine what driving the car
that he supposedly built was like.
'Cause those vehicles were not easy to drive.
Talk about tank steering! They took a fair bit
to manhandle those vehicles around.
A couple of the personal interactions,
I most remember about David,
he is, he's a real Civil War buff.
He loves the history of the Civil War.
And I remember when the movie, "Gettysburg,"
came out and I had been to see it
and it had a really emotional impact on me,
because it was a very intense movie and story
and a history that I didn't know about that battle.
And about, you know, Pickett's, cavalry troop,
and you know, the various aspects of what went on
with the generals and the strategy
behind that Battle of Gettysburg.
I remember being back on the set, you know, the next day,
after seeing it and talking with David
and asking him if he'd seen it.
And we talked a fair bit about
that battle and about what went on with those generals.
And because he'd read so much about the era,
he was able to give me additional insight
into what he understood had happened at that time.
And I really enjoyed sharing that with him.
The other moment that always stood out for me,
was in the episode, "Day of Infamy,"
when we deal with learning about the bombing of Pearl Harbor
and then waiting for the news and ultimately,
finding out that Curt has been killed at Pearl Harbor.
- I guess it's better I tell you,
then you read it from a piece of paper.
- I wanna hear it, Jim Bob.
I remember filming that because it was such an intense scene
and sequence to do when I get the news about Curt.
And for some reason with Jim Bob, with David,
being the one that brought me that news
and told me about it,
it just really impacted me.
And I remember thinking how glad
I was that he was the one
that brought me that news.
As a, you know, both in the moment of the scene,
but also personally in playing that scene.
Because he had a quiet intensity about his work
that was always so honest and simple,
that it was like - effortless.
And so doing a scene with him like that was just like,
for real, having my brother tell me what happened.
And it just really moved me
and made it so much easier to play that scene.
So I always feel like I have that moment that I shared
with David that has really stayed with me.
So there's a little bit about David Harper
as Jim Bob Walton.
And I adore him.
And as I'm sure all of you do.
So thank you for spending these few minutes with me,
talking about him.
And if you're enjoying this, please subscribe,
hit the Like button and I'll be back with more,
"Behind the Scenes of The Waltons."
(upbeat music)