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Family was everything to Richard Thomas
The actor shared this quality with his character on The Waltons.
When Richard Thomas left The Waltons after the show’s fifth season, it wasn’t because he despised the television industry; instead, his passion lay elsewhere.
“The truth is, I’ve always loved the stage,” Thomas said during an interview with The Hamilton Spectator. “It’s my real home. Television and movies are fine, but there’s nothing like the immediacy of live performance. I fell in love with acting when I was a kid acting at Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut. I had a chance to work with some wonderful stars and to learn what made their performances tick.
That being said, Thomas adored his time starring in The Waltons. “I had done so much great television during the golden age in the 1950s,” said the actor. “It’s more than a shadow. It’s larger than that. Now, if it was something I was trying to escape, that would be traumatic, but I’m very proud of my past. John-Boy was then. Richard Thomas is now.”
At his heart, Thomas was paternal, much like his character was on the series. “I’m deeply a family person,” said the actor during an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “And that has given me a life. Regardless of the vicissitudes of my own personal life, my orientation toward family has never changed and has always given me another place to live besides the roles.”
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