Earl Hamner Jr., The Creator Of 'The Waltons,' Has Died

Earl Hamner Jr., the versatile and prolific writer who drew upon his Depression-era upbringing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to create one of television's most beloved family shows, The Waltons, has died. He was 92.

Hamner died in Los Angeles on Thursday and had recently been battling pneumonia, said Ray Castro Jr., a friend of Hamner's who produced a documentary, Earl Hamner Storyteller, about the writer. Castro said he learned about Hamner's death from the writer's daughter, Caroline. A Facebook post by Hamner's son, Scott, stated his father died surrounded by family at Cedars Sinai Hospital while John Denver's Rocky Mountain High was playing.

Although best remembered for The Waltons, which aired for nine seasons and won more than a dozen Emmys, that show barely scratched the surface of Hamner's literary accomplishments.

He was a best-selling novelist (Spencer's Mountain), the author of eight episodes of the classic 1960s TV show The Twilight Zone and, as a screenwriter, adapted the popular children's tale Charlotte's Web, into a hit 2006 film. He also created the popular, long-running TV drama Falcon Crest and wrote for other TV shows such as Wagon Train, Gentle Ben and The Wild Thornberrys.

Hamner published nearly a dozen books and wrote hundreds of TV scripts.

Like John Boy (played by Richard Thomas), the Walton's character he modeled on himself, Hamner was born in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, on July 10, 1923. Also like John Boy, he was the eldest of eight children and named after his father.

It was there that Earl Henry Hamner Jr. grew up in such modest circumstances that his family owned few books other than the Bible and had no telephone.

Hamner attended the University of Richmond on a scholarship until being drafted into the Army during World War II.

He returned to Richmond in 2013 just a few days before his 90th birthday, to accept a resolution from the state Legislature declaring him a "Virginia treasure."

Hamner's Spencer's Mountain became a best-seller in 1961 and was made into a popular movie starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara two years later. Soon after, Hamner and his family moved to Los Angeles.

The Waltons aired for more than 200 episodes, with Hamner providing brief voiceover narration in each one, telling his audience about his family's years in the Blue Ridge Mountains and how it had shaped him.

Hamner, whose own family included two children, is survived by his wife, Jane; son, Scott; and daughter, Caroline.