- Welcome back to Part Two
of my two part Father's Day tribute.
As I talk about Ralph Waite, as the incredible John Walton.
If you are enjoying these, please do hit like and subscribe.
John Walton, played by the amazing Ralph Waite.
I can't imagine anyone else embodying John Walton
as brilliantly as Ralph did.
He was the type of father and friend and community leader
that one could look up to.
Of course, I've spoken many times about the relationship
between John and Olivia and how wonderful that was
as a representation of a strong, caring marriage.
And then as a father, he was wonderful
because he wasn't perfect but he tried his best to support
and encourage and love, but also protect and guide his children
to understand right and wrong and to make good choices.
And being a father to the boys.
John Boy, of course, being the oldest,
had a lot of responsibility
in helping care for his younger brothers and sisters.
But John was always there for him
to give him great advice in “The Fledgling”
when he was first going to move out from the house
and get a room with Mike Paxton.
He had a very simple sort of conversation with him
about life and gave him advice and I loved that scene.
We saw other sides of that relationship in "The Departure"
when John went to work at the shipyards.
And then John Boy came to see him
and the two of them ended up at a tavern,
having a drink and getting into a bar fight.
And you saw this camaraderie then,
where John Boy wasn't a boy anymore,
and he and his father had this sort of
almost man-to-man experience of,
and yet they were laughing about it afterwards.
So they had an adventure together.
And then one of the most poignant scenes to me
was in “The Achievement” when John Boy decides he's gonna move
to New York and pursue his career as a writer.
And the final scene where John Boy is, in a sense,
saying goodbye to Grandpa and Olivia and John,
and it's just so touching
when John has that final moment with him,
and knows that he is sending his son off into the world.
And as a parent, I understand that moment
where you need to let them leave the nest.
And it was just so touching. I can't watch that.
I can't even talk about it, obviously,
without being emotional about it, even though it's,
everything was so lifelike and so real
and he embodied that character so believably
that one can't help but be emotionally connected to it.
His relationship with Jason had its own sort of feel to it.
Jason was different than John Boy or Ben or even Jim Bob.
But again, he was faced with a son
who didn't want to go into the mill,
didn't want to follow specifically in John's footsteps.
John kept hoping that one of his sons
would allow him to have Walton and Son's lumber yard.
And John Boy wanted to pursue his dream of being a writer.
And Jason, likewise, wanted to pursue his love of music.
And John,
in the same way that he was worried about John Boy
being able to support himself as a writer,
he has the same dilemma with Jason,
fearing that it's really more of a hobby
and how are you gonna make a living at it?
And he's very upset in the episode, "The Choice",
when he finds out that Jason went behind his back
to apply for this scholarship at Kleinberg.
Of course, they work their way through it
and John comes to understand that this is important to Jason
in the same way that writing was important to John Boy.
And so he is going to do what he can
to support Jason's dreams.
And this was something that John always did.
He always wanted to try and support his children's dreams.
Ultimately, in "The Founders' Day", John does.
He goes to Jason's professor,
who isn't going to attend the Founders' Day,
isn't going to listen to Jason's composition
because the professor doesn't agree
with the kind of composition that Jason chose to write.
And John and Elizabeth go and talk to the professor
and try and talk him into coming
to hear Jason's composition.
And ultimately, the professor does come,
and we have a opportunity,
as Jason is playing his original composition,
to see the pride on the face of John
for one of his children.
Ben probably had the most contentious relationship
with John.
They butted heads the most
because Ben was so hardheaded, and John was very,
could be very stubborn and determined as well.
So the two of them, plus they were,
they interacted so much working at the mill
because Ben was indeed the one who wanted to follow
in his father's footsteps and loved working in the mill.
But then Ben could, he could get involved in things.
He could get himself into trouble.
And when he did, John was none too happy about it,
and let it be known.
And those were some of the times
that we really saw John lose his temper,
particularly in the episode, "The Lie",
when Ben ends up taking John Boy's car
without anyone knowing
and the car is in a hit-and-run accident.
And then Ben won't confess what happened.
He's protecting the girl.
And John really gets up in his face
and it's some of the most anger
and physicality you see him engage in
with one of the children.
But that just showed this other side
of that relationship between him and Ben.
And still, John was trying to do his best to parent Ben
in a way that would guide Ben in the right direction.
And then, having to see his sons join the military,
sign up for service in the war.
He was proud of them.
But, he worried as a parent.
And of course Ben ended up being a prisoner of war,
which was very difficult as a parent.
And then when he came back in the episode "The Move",
and told John that he didn't want to stay
and on the mountain and be involved
in the lumber business there.
But then ultimately he did decide.
But John was so happy to see him back and safely returned.
So we knew that they were gonna work that out.
As the youngest boy,
Jim Bob had a longer relationship with John as a boy
because John Boy was pretty close to grown.
And as was Jason.
And Jim Bob was the baby of the family in terms of the boys.
And very sensitive.
He got into different sorts of scrapes of his own,
in "The Runaway".
Of course, there was concern, because where was he?
And where had he gone?
But, and at points,
John didn't seem as concerned about where he was,
but he was.
He was very concerned about where he was.
And ultimately when John Boy found him and they reunited,
there's another beautiful moment of him saying
that he's sorry he didn't listen to Jim Bob
and he'll try to do better next time.
And then in "The Secret",
when we find out that Jim Bob had a twin that died at birth,
John is very direct with Jim Bob
and lets him know that it wasn't so much
that he didn't think Jim Bob could handle it.
It's that he didn't think that Olivia could handle it.
And so he was protecting her,
but he recognizes that Jim Bob deserved to know too.
So that was a different sort of special bond
between the two of them.
And then when he found out when Jim Bob,
whose dream had always been to fly
and he finds out his eyesight isn't good enough
and that he's not going to be able to join the military
and fly airplanes, he's crushed.
There's the end of this dream he's had forever.
And John spends time and talks with him
and gives him fatherly advice
that I think really helped Jim Bob
through this difficult time in the episode "The Tailspin."
So we had these great opportunities to see John
as a parent to the boys.
Parenting girls can be a whole different thing.
And he had a different,
there was always a common thread in the way he was a parent
to any of the children.
But there were different sides to it with the girls
because obviously we weren't working in the mill
and we didn't have those types of things
and we didn't have so much conflict about jobs
and directions that we were going to go, our choices,
because he wasn't so concerned
about us being able to support a family.
So for me, of course,
Mary Ellen was always getting into trouble.
And early on, in "The Minstrel",
I got into a fair bit of trouble with the family
but there was a sweet scene where I apologized
for causing trouble and ask if I can have a hug.
And of course he gives me a hug and forgives me,
which is all we ever really wanted from him as a father,
was for him to love and accept us.
And he always did.
Then you see, as I'm growing up in the episode, "The Nurse",
where I have my first sort of real grown-up experience there
and caring for the mom out in the back woods
who is basically dying,
and Daddy comes out there to see how I'm doing
and he gets to see this other side of me
and how much I'm growing up and learning
and an opportunity to be really proud of me
on a different level.
And he really did see that side of Mary Ellen
and I thought it was a,
one of the first really sort of grown-up scenes
between the two of the characters
and one of my favorites between me and Ralph.
And then he was there throughout “The Wedding”
and dealt with all of that.
I'm gonna marry David, I'm not gonna marry David,
I'm gonna marry Curt.
But, just sort of never dictated.
Just realized that as children,
we needed to learn and grow and make our mistakes
and we just needed that unconditional love at home,
which I definitely got in "Day of Infamy",
when we find out that Curt has been killed at Pearl Harbor.
And that heartbreaking letter that Curt wrote
and that John then reads,
where he was willing to step up
in those very difficult moments in the family
and do something like read that letter,
knowing how difficult it would be.
And he did a similar thing with Erin when GW died.
And GW had left a letter and he read that letter to Erin.
So he took on those burdens, the way we do as parents,
that we want to save our children from heartache,
but we can't,
but we want to help shoulder that as much as we can.
He had interesting relationship with Erin
because, like in "The Pinup",
where he was upset with both Ben and Erin
because of the whole photo that got printed in the paper,
that this was his daughter.
And he was protective of his girls.
And so her being sort of on display,
he wasn't at all happy with.
And he wasn't happy with Ben
for having created that situation.
And as protective as he was,
it was difficult for him then to allow her to go
and be a guest at the military base.
But he was protective,
but allowed us if he thought we weren't really in danger,
to give us that room to sort of spread our wings.
But he dealt with those types of things with them.
Like it also in "The Firestorm", with the beauty contest
that he, at first, no, my daughters aren't doing that.
But then because of that connection with what Grandpa did,
that he is then again, willing to compromise.
He didn't just put his foot down and say,
"That's it," and be completely unreasonable.
Sometime, it would feel like he was,
but he was someone who was willing to change his mind
about things if he saw another point of view.
And I loved that about him.
As for Elizabeth being the baby of the family, early on,
we mostly just saw Elizabeth wanting to be that little girl.
She wanted to be in his lap.
So frequently,
we had episodes where we saw Elizabeth hanging close
to Daddy or sitting in his lap,
or he would pick her up and carry her or hold her.
So that was a lot of the early sweet relationship
between the father and the baby of the family,
which was so, so sweet to see.
And then as she started to grow,
grow up and deal with other sorts of things in her life,
then he was there to give her more mature advice
when she's jealous because Jim Bob is no longer
just her brother and her companion.
But he's now interested in a girl.
And she, Elizabeth feels betrayed.
But John has a very kind of adult conversation
with her about life and how at some point,
she might be interested in having a boyfriend.
And she's not quite ready to look at all this,
but it's just another example of him
trying to help guide his youngest
and knowing that she's growing up
and needs this kind of advice.
So to me,
it was an absolute joy to have these amazing father,
parent figures as mine on "The Waltons".
And it left a lot of positive memories for me.
In real life, my father, Harry, is still living.
And he's originally from Hamilton, Ontario.
So that's where I get the Canadian side of my background.
English mother, Canadian father.
And he, because of my Mom's dreams,
he helped facilitate a move to California
just before I was born.
And worked really hard all of his life.
He worked driving an oil truck,
delivering gasoline to stations.
So very simple, hardworking man and helped make it possible
for us to pursue our dreams in real life.
He got us into dance classes,
then got me an acting coach,
and then found out how he could help get us started
in the business, found us an agent,
and took us to auditions.
And so really instrumental in making it possible
for me to have the wonderful career that I have had.
So to all the fathers out there, and to mine,
I want to wish you all a very Happy Father's Day.
And there you have Part Two
of my tribute to the Walton fathers.
I will be back with more behind-the-scenes
of the Waltons and more Ask Judy.
Thanks for watching.