John Walton: Biography

best-remembered fictional character named John Walton was the central pivot of the long-running (1972-1981) TV series Waltons. Based on the real-life father of series creator Earl Hamner Jr., John and his own father Zeb were the coowners of a thriving lumber mill in Jefferson County Virginia, during the dark Depression Years. Together with his wife Olivia, John was the benevolent ruler of seven growing children, all of whom lived in a rambling two-story frame house on Walton’s Mountain with their parents, their Grandpa Zeb and their Grandma Esther. Though he was as susceptible to periods of disappointment and disillusionment as anyone else, John stoically accepted the cards handed out by fate, including Olivia’s bout with tuberculosis, the reported death of his son-in-law Curt at Pearl Harbor, and the gradual exodus of all his children from the Walton homestead, beginning with budding author John-Boy. Ultimately, John Walton likewise bade farewell to Walton’s Mountain, turning his mill over to son Ben and moving to Arizona to be with the recuperating Olivia. John Walton was played by Andrew Dugganin the 1971 TV movie Homecoming, and by Ralph Waite in the subsequent Waltons weekly series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide