John and Olivia Walton (2024)

FAQs

Did any of the actors on The Waltons date each other? ›

The love stories carried over behind the scenes. Ma and Pa Walton — Ralph Waite and Michael Learned — quietly fell on love on set. And remember Jason and Toni, who we just mentioned in the prior paragraph? Well, actors Jon Walmsley and Lisa Harrison tied the knot in real life in 1979!

It is known that she displayed budding artistic talent in high school and considered going to college on a scholarship but instead chose to marry John Walton when she was 16 and settle down as a homemaker. It is implied she had John-Boy within a year or so of her marriage, setting her birth year around 1897-98.

She told Fox News at one point the actors who played Ma and Pa Walton actually developed strong romantic feelings for one another. "We had a deep love for each other that we would have ruined if we had taken that extra step, and we didn't," Learned said. "We never did.

However, that decision wasn't made out of a dislike for The Waltons itself. Learned left because of the grueling nature of the television shooting schedule. According to an Associated Press interview, she decided after she finished The Waltons that she was done with working in television.

As the oldest son of Olivia and John Walton, John-Boy was an integral part of the Depression-era family drama. But after spending much of his early 20s portraying the bookish would-be writer, Thomas felt it was time to do something different. “In the infinite wisdom of a 26-year-old I decided it was time to move on,...

Learned told the Daily Mail they decided not to pursue the romance as it could ruin the hit series and “get messy.” Instead, Learned insisted they cherished a close friendship that lasted until Waite's death in 2014 at age 85.

Given he was a main character and had been on since its beginning, people were curious as to why he left. According to IMDb, it call came down to budgetary reasons — and wanting a shift in the audience of the show. "Ralph Waite was fired from his role on due to budgetary issues," the site wrote.

The actors playing Ben and Cindy Walton both happily married but still became inseparable. One of the earliest appearances of Cindy Brunson Walton comes in one of the most emotional episodes of The Waltons, an episode called "Founders' Day."

The cast has remained close over the years. Learned described them as "my second family." "We spent more time together shooting the show than we did with our own families," she said. "So of course, we became close.

In a 1999 interview with the Archive of American Television, Waltons creator Earl Hamner said he and producers were unsure if Neal's health would allow her to commit to the schedule of a weekly television series; so, instead, they cast Michael Learned in the role of Olivia Walton.

What happened to John Walton? ›

Walton's plane crashed at 12:20 p.m. local time (18:20 UTC) shortly after taking off from Jackson Hole Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board later reported that Walton had improperly reinstalled the rear locking collar on the elevator control torque tube.

In the television show "The Waltons," the character of Olivia Walton had two different health issues: tuberculosis and polio. She contracted tuberculosis in season one and spent time in a sanatorium to recover. Later in the series, she contracted polio, which left her paralyzed for a time but eventually recovered.

The cast has remained close over the years. Learned described them as "my second family." "We spent more time together shooting the show than we did with our own families," she said. "So of course, we became close.

She is an actress and producer, known for Superman Returns (2006), Kidnapped and The Waltons (1972). She was previously married to Jon Walmsley.

During the end voice over , John boy states that Erin's marriage is as strong today as it was when they got married , but in A Walton Thanksgiving reunion , she is divorced and states that it was because she found out Paul was cheating on her .