- Welcome back to another segment
of "Behind the Scenes of The Waltons".
Today, I am back with more of my talk with Mary McDonough.
So, here we go.
More, with Mary.
- So, even many of the episodes that really featured
your character, many of them were also, sort of,
relationship-oriented.
I just, the other day, watched "The Portrait",
because it's one I've been asked about recently.
And it was a very unusual episode.
And I noticed that the music throughout, stayed very dark
and moody, even in scenes where that wasn't what
it was about, so.
- I feel like what is great about the show, was that
we got into some very, really important topics.
And I feel that our characters were written around
the topics, and the people that those were about.
And so, it wasn't really about Erin.
She just happened to be the the vessel that brought
the story to light.
And so that was, you know, PTSD, right?
And so really important, something that probably was not
really addressed very much in the '70s.
And, you know, so I didn't have that much to do with it.
I do remember that Jared was kind of older than me,
and I know that he did not wanna kiss me.
(Mary and Judy laugh)
And, 'cause I think it, right -
He was like, "You're (indistinct)"
and I said, "(indistinct)".
So we were in between the sound stages and I just walked up
to him and I said, "Okay, let's get this over with",
and I just reached up and gave him a kiss off the set.
And so, just to make it less awkward.
But you know that, you know, your character, you had your,
you know, being a nurse and the pill thing.
But Erin wasn't always really well developed.
She was always trying things and kind of failing at them,
and put into different careers and things like that.
So I feel like that she was just sort of facilitating
you know, different storylines at times, and there wasn't
really a through line.
And that she became a principal, and a teacher,
is interesting.
'Cause she could have had this, you know, working at
the defense plant, and become a business woman.
But you know, so much of the storylines were about
what she looked like, and the beauty contest
that she was in, and the pin-up girl, and the photography
contest and, you know, all of that kind of stuff.
And you know, that was hard for me because I felt it
didn't give her, well, it is a struggle,
and it was a struggle for me in real life.
It added to the issues in my personal life about like,
where is my value?
And if that was Erin's value, then what was mine?
And so-
- Yeah it was interesting how, I mean, I was very aware
because I was 13 when we started off going through
those incredibly awkward years on camera,
and with storylines that were all about
those awkward things.
And I feel a little less like yours focused on the awkward
things as storylines, as much as, perhaps, you felt them
personally doing, which I certainly did at times it's like,
"Oh, this is like really an awkward scene to do,
or an awkward, you know, situation."
But I think it's interesting that you say that, and because,
that is so much of an issue for young women to go
through of, if you're not pretty then you're worried
about it.
- Yeah.
- You need to be pretty, you wanna be pretty,
you wanna be popular, can be such an issue for young girls.
And I felt like I was on that side, but it's like,
"Oh Erin's, Mary's the pretty one and I'm always
the tomboy," and you know "I just wanna be the pretty one."
And I was never the pretty one.
- I was like, "Judy's the smart one,
Mary Ellen's the smart one."
(Mary laughs)
- I was the tomboy (indistinct)
- She's a nurse-
- I was the farmer girl.
- And then a doctor.
(Judy laughs)
- Originally you were the tomboy, but yeah.
So for me, and it's funny because somebody wrote to me
recently, 'cause I had talked about that,
about being labeled the pretty one.
But it was always said to me like it was something bad,
that it was gonna hurt you and Kami, and it would hurt
other people's feelings, 'cause people would whisper it.
Like, "You're the pretty one."
(Judy laughs)
- So that must be bad, because that will hurt people.
So being pretty is bad.
- Oh.
- And so I recently had a fan write to me
something that said, "You're so obnoxious that you said that
like why would you even call yourself pretty?
That's so arrogant of you.
And I think that Mary Ellen and Elizabeth are way prettier
than you."
(both laugh)
I think, "Well, maybe you missed the kind of the point
of that whole story, it wasn't me saying that", right?
So.
- No, and it was really Earl Hamner right from
the beginning, who talked about Erin as a character,
and about you as the actress, and how just really stunning
you were as a child, and how you-
- Thank you.
- really grew into that during the course of the series.
So, I never heard you at any point talking about yourself
in that manner, like, "Oh I'm the pretty one".
- 'Cause I certainly did not feel that
- To me it was always just about the characters,
and I never felt like my character was focused on the looks
and-
- No, an image.
- And being someone in my teens and early twenties,
you know, I just kind of thought you know, we're so isolated
that I wasn't necessarily aware of the impact.
And I got so much fan mail from, relative to, you know,
the way Mary Ellen was, that I wasn't, you know,
I wasn't really paying attention, whereas, you know,
for your character, it wasn't you who-
Just for the record, it was not you who originated that,
and we all know that, that was Earl.
- Thank you, Judy.
- It was the producers and it was the storylines.
So,
- Exactly.
(Judy laughs)
- I, it was not, well, but, and then for me it was like,
that's what you're supposed to live up to, right?
- That's what, that's your value, right?
- And I didn't feel pretty, and I didn't feel then for sure,
because I was always dieting, and trying to fit into
all those costumes that they, "Oh, now you're doing
the beauty contest next week, I hope you've lost weight."
And they were so on me about my weight, and what I looked
like, that I did not feel, like, pretty, and pretty
was not fun.
It was not something to aspire to.
- It's pressure.
- And so much pressure.
- I have to say, I was also just watched "The Pin-Up"
the other day, and that shot of you on the piano,
and you know, with the short shorts, and the long legs,
I was like, "How stunning is that?" You just-
- Aw, thank you!
( Mary laughs)
- You did, you looked fabulous, and your legs
looked fabulous, and I was like, "Oh my God!"
And what was up with us wearing short shorts?
You did in that-
- Totally not . . .
- and I did in "The Dust Bowl Cousins".
- Right!
(both laugh)
- I'm like, "Who was letting short shorts were okay?"
I get comments about those all the time!
(Judy laughs)
- Well and our hair!
- Oh.
- Our hair not being, you know because when the,
when, you know the "Charlie's Angels" was popular,
we had like, little,
- Farrah cuts, yeah.
- Farrah hair, instead of 1940s hairdos.
So that's why when we did the special, I just went like,
"Yep, put my hair in a bubble do.
Yep, 1960s, do it."
And I had this huge, you know, bubble do, but yeah.
I know.
And it's funny, like we didn't make a lot of
those decisions, and it sort of came down to us.
Like, "Here's what you're doing."
And they would come to me and tell me weeks before,
so I would diet.
And, "You know, in a couple weeks we have this episode,
and you're wearing," I don't know, "Short shorts."
You know, "And a crop top".
So, then I would sort of starve myself.
But those were my lessons to learn.
And, you know, and I always thought that I was so alone.
The good thing in writing my book, and talking about it
so much and doing workshops, with people around it,
and public speaking, is that there's so many people who feel
exactly the same way.
There's so much more of an awareness around that now.
And, you know, and body shaming is such a thing.
But still important topics, I think, the show covered.
- Yeah.
- You know, especially later on, when John-Boy had a friend
who was wounded in the war and came,
and was in a wheelchair, right?
Do you remember that one?
- Yeah.
- And Erin went on a date with him.
I got so many letters from people, from veterans saying,
"I wish that Erin lived in my town, 'cause no one
will go out with me here."
- Mm.
- And so I think the show was so powerful in the messages,
and dealing with issues that were not being dealt with,
and that are still so topical today.
You think that, that's why, you know, people still love
the show.
- Yeah, absolutely.
And of course you had one of the other really devastating
episodes, "The First Casualty", with poor GW and you know,
so many people were crushed by that, because there was like
Curt, there was a character, that people had really
come to know and love.
You know?
And then people were like, "Why did they kill him off?
Did he not wanna come back?"
And you know, I know with Tom, because I talked with Tom,
and Tom was very open with the viewers, about how he asked
for a little raise, and they sent him to Pearl Harbor.
(both laughing)
And then they killed him off.
- No!
- Yes!
That's what he said.
- No! Poor Tom, no.
- And then with the episode where Curt came back, he said
yeah, that they approached him, and he asked for that
same minimal little raise, and then they hired
Scott Hylands instead.
(Judy laughs)
But I don't think that was the case with David.
My take on it was-
- No, no.
- They wanted the war to really touch home.
And they were gonna kill off one of the brothers,
- No.
- And they had not decided yet to kill off Curt, so,
you know, it really impacted the family, and I think
made the war very real, to the family
- I think you're right.
And I think a lot of what happened, too is, you know,
Rod, wrote a lot, you know, was a producer, and he wrote
a lot about the war.
He had been in the war, he served.
So there was this awareness about going into war,
and what it does and how it affects families.
And so I think that they wanted it to be very, very real,
which I think was good.
- Yeah.
- And it just, and no, like David would've come back.
You know, David never, he would've, he's so great.
- No.
- And we're so lucky that we still get to see him now,
and have a relationship with him.
- Yes.
We both got to date him.
(Judy laughs)
- I know, he's just the nicest guy ever.
- Yes, so sweet.
- So sweet.
- Thanks for joining me and Mary, with our little chat
about "The Waltons".
I will be back with more "Behind the Scenes
of The Waltons," more "Ask Judy," and another segment
with Mary McDonough, in the future.
Thanks for watching.