welcome back to behind the scenes of the
waltons and
ask judy i'm back with another segment
taking
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here we go from jim he wants to know
what it's like to be part of something
that has worked its way into the fabric
of societies the waltons has
i mean you go anywhere and say goodnight
john boy people know what you're talking
about
here we are 50 years later and still
talking about your show
that's so true and
it's it's very gratifying uh
we a number of years back
the cast was asked to do a
question and answer panel at the
smithsonian
in washington dc that was quite an honor
that the waltons has become a part of
pop culture and that
good night john boy is something that
people everywhere can relate to
during one of the space
missions there was a point where i think
there was like a newspaper headline or
something that said
astronauts say goodnight walton style
i mean that's i i don't even know how to
describe it i feel like no matter what i
do in my life
having been part of this show
it's history you know i'm part of
television history and
that's quite something i i don't even
know how to put it into perspective but
it's
it's really quite an honor to
to be a part of something that endures
like this next question
is how close was your personality to the
character of mary ellen
there were a lot of similarities i was
definitely a tomboy growing up have
always been involved in a lot of sports
so that part was uh very much the same
i had a rebellious streak
but i didn't like to get in trouble
so unlike mary ellen who wasn't afraid
of getting into trouble
i tended to follow the rules more than
mary ellen might
and not not do things that
would intentionally get me into trouble
so the great thing about playing mary
ellen was
that i got to be rebellious without
having to suffer the consequences so
best of both worlds
someone else asked why i never sang on
the show
i think that because jason was really
the musical one
at that point in time you know mary
ellen was becoming a nurse and was
was very much engaged going down that
path so it didn't really make a lot of
sense for my
character to suddenly be singing in any
capacity
plus truth be told i started studying
voice when i was about 16 because i
found out i really couldn't carry a tune
so during a lot of the show i don't
think i would have been all that
impressive if i was
singing it took me a number of years of
voice lessons to feel like
i was ready for prime time so to speak
and ready to sing in front of people
so probably better that i disguised that
for
longer so that i could get the all the
training in before
i actually went public but thanks for
your question
always wondered why all the kids didn't
have red hair since we were supposed to
be the red haired thoroughbreds
well in the homecoming we actually did
all have red hair
uh the three of us who did not have
natural red hair
david harper who played jim bob me and
richard thomas who played john boy
so all three of us had our hair colored
for the homecoming
as did andrew duggan who wasn't
naturally a redhead
when we went to do the series they
decided not to
continue to color our hair i'm not sure
if that was just
too much trouble also ralph waite didn't
have red hair and they didn't
you know continue with that aspect of
our father being the one
where the red hair came from i'm
guessing
just didn't want to deal with it on a
regular basis
next question is how the cast felt or
what our reaction was about richard
leaving
we knew in advance he was going to be
leaving we knew it was his last season
so i loved working with richard so i
tried to enjoy every moment of working
with him in that last season
and i definitely
it was it was tough the last episode
particularly knowing it was the last
day and his final scenes
i remember thinking oh this is sad that
this is the last time i get to work with
him
[Music]
i mean i understood his decision as an
actor i mean it is it is a job
as attached as we get to the cast i've
done any number of shows that
were finite you know i've done a lot of
theater where you bond very
strongly with people for a few months or
a few weeks
because you're working very intensively
and it's very sad when you
when you separate but it's a job and you
go on and you do other jobs
so that is ingrained in actors as part
of the process
so i understood that as an actor that
richard was going to move on to
other art artistic challenges and stuff
and so i didn't
i don't think anybody begrudged him that
you know he had honored his contract but
you know i just
selfishly missed having him around and
missed being able to do scenes with him
so i was very glad when we got to do
some reunion specials and he was back
with us again and
anytime i get to see him in person it's
it's always a treat
so he's my brother i love him next
question
did you ever personally consider leaving
the show
no i decided i was going to stay with it
as long as it went because
i love doing it thanks for joining me
and i'll be back again with more behind
the scenes of the waltons
and more ask judy