Earl Henry Hamner Jr. (July 10, 1923 – March 24, 2016) was an American television writer and producer (sometimes credited as Earl Hamner), best known for his work in the 1970s and 1980s as the creator of two long-running series, The Waltons and Falcon Crest. As a novelist, he is best known for Spencer's Mountain, which was inspired by his own childhood and formed the basis for both the film of the same name and the television series The Waltons, for which he provided voice-over narration at the beginning of most episodes to set the scene and provide context and occasionally at the end of the program.

Early life

thumb|left|Statue of Hamner near his birthplace in [[Nelson County, Virginia]]

thumb|left|The childhood home of Hamner

Hamner was born July 10, 1923, in Schuyler, Virginia, (Nelson County) to Doris Marion (née Giannini) and Earl Henry Hamner Sr. The oldest of eight children, Hamner had four brothers and three sisters. The other boys, from youngest to next-oldest, were James Edmund, Willard Harold, Paul Louis, and Clifton Anderson. The girls, from youngest to oldest, were Nancy Alice, Audrey Jane, and Marion Lee.

The family of Hamner's mother, the Gianninis, were immigrants who came to the United States from Lucca, Italy, in the 1700s. In April 2014, the church honored Earl with a special worship service in connection with the filming and release of a film documentary titled Earl Hamner, Storyteller.

Hamner was in his sophomore/second year on a scholarship at the University of Richmond when he was drafted into the United States Army during World War II (1939/1941-1945). He was first trained to defuse landmines and then transferred to the Quartermaster Corps because he could type. He served in France after the famous D-day invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Following the war, he subsequently attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (near Chicago) and then graduated from the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio with a degree in broadcast communications.

Career

On January 15, 1953, his short teleplay "The Hound of Heaven" was televised on The Kate Smith Hour which aired 1950 to 1954 on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) television network, the teleplay featured actors James Dean and John Carradine.

In 1954, Hamner wrote "Hit and Run", an episode of the early legal drama Justice. He reprised the theme a decade later in the 1964 "You Drive" episode of The Twilight Zone.

In the early 1960s, Hamner contributed eight more episodes to the highly regarded science fiction series The Twilight Zone. His first script acceptance for the series was his big writing break in Hollywood. He also wrote or co-wrote eight episodes of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) animal TV series Gentle Ben (1967–1969) and four episodes of the sitcom Nanny and the Professor (1970–1971) for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) TV network.

He also created two other short-lived television series: Apple's Way (1974–1975) starring Ronny Cox on CBS, and Boone (1983–1984) starring Tom Byrd on NBC.

Hamner often used distant family names to title his projects: Spencer (Spencer's Mountain) is the maiden name of his paternal grandmother Susan Henry Spencer Hamner. The Waltons name derives from his paternal grandfather Walter Clifton Hamner and great-grandfather Walter Leland Hamner.

Death

Hamner died in Los Angeles, California, of bladder cancer on March 24, 2016, aged 92. On July 8, 2023, a bronze statue of Hamner was unveiled in Nelson County, Virginia, two days prior to his centennial birthday.

List of works

Novels

  • Fifty Roads to Town (1953)
  • Spencer's Mountain (1961)
  • You Can't Get There from Here (1965)
  • The Homecoming: A Novel About Spencer's Mountain (1970)
  • Lassie: A Christmas Story (1997; co-written with Don Sipes, children's picture book story with illustrations by Kevin Burke)
  • Murder in Tinseltown (2000; co-written with Don Sipes)

Non-fiction

  • The Avocado Drive Zoo (a memoir) (1999)
  • Good Night, John Boy (2002; reminiscences of making The Waltons TV series)
  • Generous Women (2006; collection of memoirs)

Screenplays

  • Palm Springs Weekend (1963)
  • Charlotte's Web (1973)

Teleplays

  • Highway (1954)
  • Episodes of The Twilight Zone:
  • "The Hunt" (1962)
  • "A Piano in the House" (1962)
  • "Jess-Belle" (1963)
  • "Ring-a-Ding Girl" (1963)
  • "You Drive" (1964)
  • "Black Leather Jackets" (1964)
  • "Stopover in a Quiet Town" (1964)
  • "The Bewitchin' Pool" (1964)
  • Heidi (1968)
  • Appalachian Autumn (1969)
  • Aesop's Fables (1971)
  • The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (December 1971 pilot film; for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) television network, for future The Waltons subsequent TV series the following year)
  • Where the Lilies Bloom (1974)
  • The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story (1983)

Awards and recognition

  • Peabody Awards
  • 1972 Winner,: George Foster Peabody Award for Distinguished Journalism (1972) for The Waltons. (recognizing "CBS-TV, Earl Hamner Jr., and all others who have had a part.")
  • 1973 Nominee, Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama, for The Waltons episode: "The Love Story".

Hamner received other awards, including:

  • TV-Radio Writers Award (1967)
  • Virginian of the Year Award from Virginia Press Association (1973)

The Earl Hamner Jr. Theater (or simply: The Hamner Theater) – A community performing arts theater in Nelson County, Virginia (where Hamner grew up) – is named for him.

References