childhood
Earl Hamner was born on July 10, 1923, in Schuyler, Virginia. From an early age, Earl knew that he wanted to be a writer. Books were a luxury for a young boy growing up during the Great Depression in rural Virginia. The only books that the Hamner family owned were the Holy Bible and a manual of beekeeping, but this did not deter Earl from following his dream. Earl’s first success as a writer came when he was six years old, and a Christmas poem that he wrote called “My Dog” was published on the children’s page of the Richmond Times Dispatch. The poem was about Earl wearing a new blue sweater and pulling six puppies around in a new red wagon on Christmas morning. According to Earl, his first publication concerned his practical father because Earl did not own a blue sweater, red wagon, or six puppies. Earl continued to write throughout his boyhood, always keeping a journal where he recorded stories about his family and events that that he found interesting during the day.
military service
After graduating from high school in 1939, Earl moved to Richmond, Virginia and attended the University of Richmond. Earl’s college days were interrupted during his sophomore year when he was drafted into the army for service in World War II. Initially, Earl was sent to England where he learned to diffuse land mines. Two months after D-Day, Earl was sent to France. When it was learned that he could type, he was assigned to the 542nd Quartermaster Corp in Paris as a typist, a much safer assignment than land mine diffuser. During his military service, Earl continued to write, always keeping his pen and notepad with him. Years later, Earl recalled sitting in a tent in Normandy writing while bombers flew over him heading to Berlin.
radio career
After the war, Earl attended the College of Music of Cincinnati, where he studied radio writing. While enrolled there, Earl sold a script to the Dr. Christian radio show, which was the first time that he was paid for his writing. The sale of this script brought Earl to the attention of the writing supervisor at WLW, Cincinnati's premier radio station, who offered Earl a job after college. In 1949, Earl moved to New York City, where he was hired as a radio writer by the NBC network. While working for NBC, Earl wrote for many different radio dramas. One series that Earl worked on was Biography in Sound, a documentary radio program that interviewed people associated with a notable person. One of Earl's most memorable interviews for the program was with Eleanor Roosevelt, who agreed to speak about her "Uncle Teddy," President Theodore Roosevelt. On the way to the interview, Earl became delayed when he was stuck on a stalled subway train. Arriving forty minutes late, Earl began to apologize to Mrs. Roosevelt when she stopped him by graciously saying, "Please, you gave me time to catch up on some letters!" For the rest of his life, Earl enjoyed recounting how a former first lady acted like he had done her a favor by making her wait.
Fifty Roads To Town
On a Friday afternoon in 1953, Earl Hamner carried the manuscript for a novel entitled Fifty Roads To Town into the office of Belle Becker, an editor for Random House. Belle told him that she would look at the manuscript but that it was unlikely that Random House would publish a first novel by an unknown writer. On the following Monday, Earl received a phone call from Belle telling him that Random House would like to publish his novel. Twenty-one years after its publication, Earl confided in a reporter that he considered it "probably the best book I've ever written." Many years later, on his television series The Waltons, Earl paid tribute to Belle Becker. When John-Boy has his first book published, his editor is named Belle Becker. After the episode aired, Ms. Becker wrote to Earl, telling him that this was the greatest tribute she had ever received from one of her writers.
Spencer's mountain
Earl Hamner's second novel, Spencer's Mountain, was inspired by a dream that Earl's father had during the Great Depression. Many times, Earl, Sr. told his wife and children that one day he was going to build a house for them on top of a mountain. Although Earl, Sr. never accumulated enough money to buy the mountain he had promised, Earl believed that "he did achieve his dream in another way. He instilled enough confidence and security in me for me to become a writer and through my writing he built Spencer's Mountain." Before it was published, Earl's editor sent a copy of the manuscript for Spencer's Mountain to Harper Lee for a review. Just a year or so before, Harper Lee had published her landmark book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee wrote a letter back in response, which was included on the dust jacket of the book's first edition. In the letter, Harper Lee wrote "It is so easy to create a villain or an eccentric. It is so hard to create good people and make them unforgettable. Each character in Spencer's Mountain is memorable because life itself flows in abundance from each. One finds pure joy in reading, for a change, a positive statement on the potentialities of man." The letter ended with these word regarding Earl Hamner, "He is a fine writer, and he must be a fine man." The public agreed with Harper Lee. In 1963, two years after the publication of the book, a movie version of the book was made, starring Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, and James MacArthur.
the twilight zone
In 1961, Earl and his family moved from New York City to California. For six months after their move, Earl was unable to find work as a writer in California. Earl decided to reach out to Rod Sterling, the creator and narrator of the television series The Twilight Zone. Earl and Rod had first met in 1949 when they were both writers for the Dr. Christian radio show. When Earl left his job with WWL in Cincinnati that same year, Rod Sterling took Earl's position with the radio station, which led to Rod Sterling introducing Earl Hamner to people by saying, "I want you to meet the man who gave me my first job." Rod paid Earl back by giving him a job as a script writer for The Twilight Zone. Earl Hamner wrote eight scripts for the series, including: The Hunt, 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. The Bewitchin' Pool was not only the last episode written by Earl Hamner, but it was also the final episode of the series.
palm springs weekend
After moving to California, one of Earl Hamner's early jobs was to write a movie script based on Palm Springs. According to Earl, Jack Warner with Warner Brothers Studio called him and asked what he thought of Palm Springs. When Earl said that he had never been there, Jack told him "I want you to go there over Easter Weekend and poke around and see if you come back with a movie." Earl suspected that Jack Warner had given him the assignment because he felt that he owed him for having chosen another writer to draft the screenplay for the movie version of Spencer's Mountain. A few weeks later, Earl checked into the Riviera Hotel in Palm Springs, "watched all the young people, got some notions and came back to Los Angeles and wrote some notes up." Earl turned these notes into the script for the movie Palm Springs Weekend, which told the adventures of a group of teenagers who flocked to California for a fun-filled spring break weekend. Premiering in theaters in November of 1963, the movie starred Troy Donahue and Connie Stevens. In an interview that Earl gave fifty years after the movie's premiere, he said, "When the phone rings around midnight, I know it's someone calling to tell me, 'Earl, Palm Springs Weekend is on'."
the homecoming
In 1970, Earl Hamner published a sequel to Spencer's Mountain, which was called, The Homecoming: A Novel About Spencer's Mountain. Like most of his writing, the book was inspired by true family events. The short novel is a retelling of his own search for his father on a snowy Christmas Eve during the Great Depression. According to Earl, he originally intended to write a short story about this memory, but as he was writing, it became a novella. The book was so successful that it was published in ten different languages. Due to this success, CBS decided to adapt it into a television movie, which premiered on December 19, 1971.
The main cast of The Homecoming movie included Oscar winning actress Patricia Neal, Andrew Duggan, and Richard Thomas. Because Warner Brothers Studio owned the rights to Spencer's Mountain, most of the names of the characters in the book were changed for the movie. The Spencer family became the Waltons, a name from Earl's own ancestry. Earl changed the name of the mother in the script to Dorrie in honor of his own mother, Doris. When Earl met with Patricia Neal to discuss the script, she only asked for one change. She asked that the name of the mother be changed to Olivia after her daughter who had died a few years before. Earl responded that he would gladly make the change.
While making the final edits to the movie, Earl and the movie's director, Fielder Cook, began to look for someone who could read a short piece of narration in the beginning of the script. After auditioning several voiceover professionals, Fielder Cook said, "What we need is someone who sounds as corny as Earl" and then thrust the microphone in front of Earl. After reading the script into the microphone, Earl was given the job as narrator. When it aired, critics loved The Homecoming movie and so did audiences. The audience share for the movie (percentage of viewers watching at the time) was thirty-nine. Hoping to capture a new generation of fans, the CW Network aired a remake of the movie on November 28, 2021. This reboot, called The Waltons: Homecoming, was later followed by A Waltons Thanksgiving on November 20, 2022.
The main cast of The Homecoming movie included Oscar winning actress Patricia Neal, Andrew Duggan, and Richard Thomas. Because Warner Brothers Studio owned the rights to Spencer's Mountain, most of the names of the characters in the book were changed for the movie. The Spencer family became the Waltons, a name from Earl's own ancestry. Earl changed the name of the mother in the script to Dorrie in honor of his own mother, Doris. When Earl met with Patricia Neal to discuss the script, she only asked for one change. She asked that the name of the mother be changed to Olivia after her daughter who had died a few years before. Earl responded that he would gladly make the change.
While making the final edits to the movie, Earl and the movie's director, Fielder Cook, began to look for someone who could read a short piece of narration in the beginning of the script. After auditioning several voiceover professionals, Fielder Cook said, "What we need is someone who sounds as corny as Earl" and then thrust the microphone in front of Earl. After reading the script into the microphone, Earl was given the job as narrator. When it aired, critics loved The Homecoming movie and so did audiences. The audience share for the movie (percentage of viewers watching at the time) was thirty-nine. Hoping to capture a new generation of fans, the CW Network aired a remake of the movie on November 28, 2021. This reboot, called The Waltons: Homecoming, was later followed by A Waltons Thanksgiving on November 20, 2022.
The waltons
Based on the success of The Homecoming, CBS immediately decided to turn the movie into a series. The first episode of The Waltons aired on September 14, 1972. Competing in the same time slot as two highly rated programs, The Mod Squad and The Flip Wilson Show, the series had only a small chance of survival. However, by the end of the first season, The Waltons was number one in the ratings. That same year, The Waltons won a Peabody Award and earned six Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. Because each of the Walton characters was based on a real-life Hamner, Earl was anxious to know what his family thought of the program. His mind was put at ease when he received a letter from his sister, Nancy, who was portrayed as Elizabeth in the series. Nancy Hamner wrote, "Thank you for letting us relive some of the happiest days of our lives." The Hamner family loved The Waltons just as much as the rest of America.
Starting out as a series that few people thought would succeed, The Waltons stayed on the air for nine seasons. After the series ended, six television movie sequels were filmed between 1982 and 1997. While on the air, The Waltons remained in the top twenty programs for six of its nine seasons. On some nights, the program was viewed by fifty million people. The popularity of The Waltons can be traced to its creator, Earl Hamner, who worked on the series in many different capacities, including as narrator, co-executive producer, executive story consultant, and writer. In his unpublished guidelines for the show, Earl wrote that the key direction of The Waltons would be "to always walk that fine line between excessive sentimentality and believable human warmth."
The Waltons was loved by both fans and by critics. In the course of the show, The Waltons won twenty major awards and received fifty-six award nominations. In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Waltons as number thirty-four on its list of the best television series of all time. One of Earl Hamner's favorite comments about the series was made by President George Bush during his presidency. On August 17, 1992, more than ten years after the series ended, President Bush said, "Well, let me tell you something; we are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons."
Starting out as a series that few people thought would succeed, The Waltons stayed on the air for nine seasons. After the series ended, six television movie sequels were filmed between 1982 and 1997. While on the air, The Waltons remained in the top twenty programs for six of its nine seasons. On some nights, the program was viewed by fifty million people. The popularity of The Waltons can be traced to its creator, Earl Hamner, who worked on the series in many different capacities, including as narrator, co-executive producer, executive story consultant, and writer. In his unpublished guidelines for the show, Earl wrote that the key direction of The Waltons would be "to always walk that fine line between excessive sentimentality and believable human warmth."
The Waltons was loved by both fans and by critics. In the course of the show, The Waltons won twenty major awards and received fifty-six award nominations. In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Waltons as number thirty-four on its list of the best television series of all time. One of Earl Hamner's favorite comments about the series was made by President George Bush during his presidency. On August 17, 1992, more than ten years after the series ended, President Bush said, "Well, let me tell you something; we are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons."
falcon crest
Shortly before The Waltons series ended, Earl Hamner began working on a new project, a prime time television soap opera which would be named Falcon Crest. Based upon the California wine industry, Falcon Crest followed the lives of the descendants of Joseph Gioberti, who came to California from Italy in the nineteenth century and started a winery with cuttings from Italian vines. Like most of Earl Hamner's other creations, Falcon Crest was inspired by his own family. Earl's maternal fourth great-grandfather, Anthony Giannini, came from Italy to Virginia in the eighteenth century, where he helped President Thomas Jefferson set up vineyards at his home, Monticello. Although Falcon Crest aired on CBS for nine seasons, Earl left his position as executive producer after the fifth season.
additional books and screenplays
During his lifetime, Earl Hamner had a prolific career as a writer. In addition to the books that have already been mentioned, he also wrote the following autobiographical books: The Hollywood Zoo, The Avocado Drive Zoo, Goodnight John-Boy, and Generous Women. Along with Tony Albarella, Earl wrote a book entitled The Twilight Zone Scripts of Earl Hamner, which included his scripts from the series, a lost Twilight Zone story that he wrote, and an interview with Tony Albarella discussing how Earl came to be involved in the series. Earl's other fiction books include: You Can't Get There From Here, Lassie: A Christmas Story, and Murder in Tinseltown. Published in 1965, You Can't Get There From Here describes a day in the life of a boy who has just returned to New York City after spending the summer with his grandparents in Earl's hometown of Schuyler, Virginia. The book contains many references to Schuyler, describing it as a sort of paradise, filled with the love of family and community.
In addition to Palm Springs Weekend, Earl Hamner wrote screenplays for two other motion pictures, Charlotte's Web and The Education of Little Tree. Premiering in theaters in 1973, Charlotte's Web was an animated musical drama based on the book of the same name by E.B. White. The movie was a box office success with one film critic writing, "No one, I think, could ask for a more respectful treatment of a classic." The Education of Little Tree was also based on a book of the same name. Released in theaters in 1997, the movie was co-written by Earl, along with Richard Friedenberg and Don Sipes.
During his career, Earl wrote screenplays and produced many television movies. Some of those movies include: Heidi, Appalachian Autumn, Where the Lilies Bloom, Young Pioneers, Lassie: A New Beginning, Joshua's World, The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story, A Mother's Gift, The Magic Paintbrush, Christmas in America, and The Ponder Heart. Two of these movies had special meaning for Earl because they were based on the writings of his mother's favorite author, Bess Streeter Aldrich. His television movie A Mother's Gift was based on Aldrich's novel A Lantern in Her Hand, and the movie The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story was based on her short story, "The Silent Stars Go By". Before he wrote A Mother's Gift, a television producer approached Earl asking if there was a project he would love to write. Earl suggested A Lantern in Her Hand and responded that "it had to be done with love and respect by all concerned since it would be a tribute to my mother."
In addition to The Waltons and Falcon Crest, Earl created several other television series that were short-lived. They include: Apple's Way, Thorpe, Boone, and Morning Star/Evening Star. Another short-term series that Earl worked on was Brewster Place. He was a writer for the show and a co-executive producer, along with Oprah Winfrey and Don Sipes. Earl also wrote episodes for many other television series, including Gentle Ben, Nanny and the Professor, and Wagon Train.
honors and awards
Earl Hamner died March 24, 2016. In his lifetime, he received numerous honors and awards. Some of Earl's awards include:
- Television-Radio Writers Award (1967)
- George Foster Peabody Award for Distinguished Journalism (1972)
- Virginian of the Year Award from Virginia Press Association (1973)
- An Emmy for Best Drama Series for The Waltons (1974)
- National Association of Television Executives Man of the Year Award (1974)
- Virginian Association of Broadcasters Award (1975)
- Christopher Award (1975)
- Frederic Ziv Award from the University of Cincinnati for Outstanding Achievement in Telecommunication (2004)
- The Library of Virginia Literary Lifetime Achievement Award (2011)
- The Will Geer Humanitarian Award (2015)
- University of Richmond
- Berea College
- Harvey College
- DePaul University of Chicago
- Loyola University of New Orleans
- University of Cincinnati