Earl Hamner Jr.: From “The Waltons” to “Falcon Crest”

Earl Hamner, Jr., creator of "The Waltons" and "Falcon Crest".

Source: https://goldenglobes.com/articles/earl-hamner-jr-creator-golden-globe-winner-waltons-1923-2016/

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Although the character narrating “The Waltons” is John-Boy Walton, the eldest son and aspiring writer in the family, this man is the actual voice.

Creator Earl Hamner based “The Waltons” on his experiences growing up in the mountains of Virginia.

Ultimately, like all good shows, “The Waltons” ran its course and ended.

The next year, Earl Hamner was back, with a show nothing like “The Waltons”. In fact, in so many ways “Falcon Crest” was the exact opposite of “The Waltons”.

It was Earl Hamner’s birthday recently, and I thought that a good opportunity to look back at the interesting and diverse work he contributed to pop culture in the ‘80s.

The years before
Earl Hamner Jr. got his big break in Hollywood as a writer in 1962 with “The Hunt”, an episode of “The Twilight Zone”. He would go on to write seven more episodes of the show between 1962 and 1964 – “A Piano in the House”; “Jess-Belle”; “Ring-a-Ding Girl”; “You Drive”; “Black Leather Jackets”; “Stopover in a Quiet Town”; and “The Bewitchin’ Pool”.

He would write eight episodes of the series “Gentle Ben” from 1967 to 1969, and four episodes of the sitcom “Nanny and the Professor” in 1970.

Hamner also wrote the TV movie “Heidi” in 1968 and “Appalachian Autumn” in 1969, the first television play episode of the third season of “CBS Playhouse”.

In 1971, he wrote the script for a television movie, based on a novel he wrote, that served as the pilot for what became a long-running television series

The Waltons
In 1961, Earl Hamner Jr. wrote “Spencer’s Mountain”, a novel based on his life growing up in Schuyler, Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was subsequently made into a movie of the same name in 1963, starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara.

The “Spencer’s Mountain” novel and movie served as the basis for the 1971 television movie “The Homecoming:A Christmas Story”.

That, in turn, was the pilot for “The Waltons”.

The show, set during the 1930s, Great Depression and Second World War, is about a family living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on Walton’s Mountain operating a sawmill.

John and Olivia Walton, played by Ralph Waite and Michael Learned, are the parents of seven children.

The show is narrated by John-Boy Walton, played by Richard Thomas. He is the eldest child of the family and wants to be a writer. The voice is provided by Earl Hamner, who based the show on his own experiences growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

The rest of the Walton children are Jason, played by Jon Walmsley, who aspired to be a musician and performed often in the Dew Drop Inn in Rockfish; Mary Ellen, the eldest daughter, played by Judy Norton-Taylor, who was independent-minded and became a nurse; Erin, played by Mary McDonough, who was a telephone operator and supervisor at a factory; Ben, played by Eric Scott, who had red hair and was a bit of an entrepreneur; James Robert, or Jim-Bob, played by David W. Harper, who aspired to be a pilot; and Elizabeth, the youngest, played by Kami Cotler.

John’s parents, played by Will Geer and Ellen Corby, lived with the family as well.

There were also all sorts of friends and acquaintances. The Waltons shopped at the general store operated by Ike Godsey and his wife Corabeth; they hung out with the Baldwin sisters, who were seniors, and made moonshine they called “Papa’s Recipe”; their church pastor was played by a very young John Ritter; and there were so many more.

The “Waltons” would run nine seasons from 1972 to 1981 for 221 episodes. There were also six reunion movies,

Falcon Crest
Just as “The Waltons” went off the air, Hamner’s next great show was going into production

In the 1981 “TV Guide” fall preview edition, Hamner was described as “coming off his mountain” and going to the vineyards of California.

His new show was called “Falcon Crest”, debuting in December of 1981 and spanning the rest of the decade. The show focused on Falcon Crest, a vineyard in the fictional Tuscany Valley, owned by the Gioberti family. As the show began, Falcon Crest was owned and operated by Angela Channing and her brother Jason Gioberti. In the series opener, Jason dies a suspicious death that is covered up by Angela. Jason’s death brings son Chase Gioberti, a pilot, home to grieve his father. However, in the process Chase inherits a small piece of Falcon Crest and a house, so he decides to move his wife and two children to Southern California. Over the course of the first season, Chase settles in, and tries to figure out the cause of his father’s death. Meanwhile, Angela tries to keep it covered up. You see, if the death turns out to be suspicious, Chase stands to inherit half of Falcon Crest, and Angela does not want that.

Over time there would be more characters and conflict, much of it over Falcon Crest.

In so many ways, “Falcon Crest” was the exact opposite of “The Waltons”. Where the Walton family was poor, hard-working, and honest, with its members always pulling together to survive, the Giobertis were rich and bursting at the seams with intrigue and betrayal.

I recall distinctly where I was when I saw the premiere of “Falcon Crest”. I was staying over night with my sister in this apartment she had on Mayor Magrath Drive in Lethbridge that has long since been torn down. It had hardwood floors and the woman living above my sister walked around her apartment in high heels. I remember really enjoying the show, and wanting more.

I ended up watching it religiously until 1985. I was in Grade 11 and started going out on Friday nights, with my friends when “Falcon Crest” aired.

“Falcon Crest” ran for nine seasons, from 1981 to 1990, for a total of 227 episodes.

Prolific writer
Earl Hamner wrote a lot of other shows. He created “Apple’s Way” for the 1973-1974 and 1974-1975 seasons, featuring a family relocating from Los Angeles to a small town in Iowa, and the culture shock that resulted.

Hamner wrote the screenplay for the classic “Heidi” in 1968; “Appalachian Autumn” in 1969; the children’s classic “Charlotte’s Web” in 1973; and “Where the Lilies Bloom” in 1974.

He wrote “Boone” for the 1983-1984 season, featuring Boone Sawyer, played by Tom Byrd, a teenage boy who wants to make it big in music. The show was cancelled after 13 episodes. Hamner also wrote “The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story” in 1983, starring Lee Remick, Angela Lansbury and Polly Holliday.

Earl Hamner died on March 24, 2016.

He was 92.

Parting thoughts
Digging deeper into the work of Earl Hamner, Jr., reveals much of his work was based on the area he grew up in. Many of the stories are in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia, and Appalachia.

That’s why “Falcon Crest” is such an intriguing creation. It is such a grave departure from everything else he wrote.

“The Waltons” was a straight up drama, set in a real times, particularly the Great Depression and the Second World War. Its characters were everyday people struggling to survive. “Falcon Crest” was a soap opera, with characters who were rich, living opulent lives, and dealing with melodramatic challenges. At times, “Falcon Crest” was a prime time fairy tale.

I think Earl Hamner’s ability to move from “The Waltons” to “Falcon Crest” illustrates just how good a writer he was.