Richard Thomas

Richard Earl Thomas (born June 13, 1951) is an American actor, best known as budding author "John-Boy" in the CBS Television Series The Waltons. Thomas can also be heard providing the voiceover in recent Mercedes-Benz and Aleve commercials.

Biography

Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York City, the son of Richard Thomas (born circa 1925) and the former Barbara Fallis. His parents were each dancers with the New York City Ballet and owned the New York School of Ballet. He attended The Allen Stevenson School and The McBurney School in Manhattan.

Thomas was seven when he made his Broadway debut in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) playing John Roosevelt, son of future U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Career

He soon began his television career. In 1959, he appeared in the presentation of Ibsen's A Doll's House with Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer and Hume Cronyn. He then began acting in daytime TV, appearing in soap operas such as The Edge of Night (as Ben Schultz, 1961) and As the World Turns (as Tom Hughes, 1966-67), which were broadcast from his native Manhattan.

Thomas received his first major roles in film, appearing in the 1969 motion pictures Winning with Paul Newman, about auto racing, and Last Summer with Barbara Hershey, a summer coming-of-age movie.

He became nationally recognized for his portrayal of John "John-Boy" Walton, Jr., in the 1970s TV series The Waltons, which was based on the real life of writer Earl Hamner, Jr. He appeared in the 1971 pilot, The Homecoming, and then played the role continuously in 122 episodes until 1978. Thomas left the series and his role was taken over by Robert Wightman, but Thomas returned to the role in three Waltons TV movies, 1993-97. Thomas won an Emmy for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series in 1972. He enrolled in Columbia College of Columbia University as a member of the class of 1973 but left after his junior year.

He played the lead roles of Private Henry Fleming in the 1974 TV movie, The Red Badge of Courage, and Paul Baumer in the 1979 TV movie, All Quiet on the Western Front. In further TV movies, he played the title role in the biopic Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story (1983), Will Mossup in Hobson’s Choice (1983), Henry Durrie in The Master of Ballantrae (1984), and William Denbrough in Stephen King’s It (1990).

Personal life

Thomas has been married twice, first to Alma Gonzales and then to Georgiana Bischoff. He married Alma Gonzales on Feb 14th,1975, and the marriage lasted for almost two decades, but ended in divorce in 1993. A year after he and Gonzales divorced, Thomas married Georgiana Bischoff on Nov 20th, 1994. He and Alma had one son, Richard Francisco, born 1976 and triplet daughters Barbara Ayala, Gweneth Gonzales and Pilar Alma who were born August 26, 1981; he and Georgiana have one son, Montana James, born July 28, 1996.

Recent career

In 1980, Thomas made his first Broadway appearance in more than twelve years when he stepped in as a replacement in Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July. In 1993, he played the title role in a stage production of Richard II.

Thomas has appeared in a quartet of performances at Hartford Stage in Connecticut: Hamlet (1987), Peer Gynt (1989), Richard II (1994), and Tiny Alice (1996).

His recent New York stage credits include The Public Theater's production of As You Like It (2005), Michael Frayn's Democracy on Broadway (2004) and the Primary Stages' production of Terrence McNally's The Stendhal Syndrome (2004).

He has served as national chairman of the Better Hearing Institute and hosted the PAX TV series, It's a Miracle.

In 2006 Thomas began a national tour of Reginald Rose's acclaimed play, Twelve Angry Men, along with George Wendt at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, playing the pivotal role of Juror Eight opposite Wendt's Juror One.

Thomas can also be heard providing the voiceover in recent Mercedes-Benz, BB&T and Aleve commercials. In the summer of 2008, Thomas made commercials for the Zaxby's restaurant chain.

Richard Thomas will be featured in Race, a new play by David Mamet on Broadway in the fall. He joins James Spader in the play, directed by Mamet, which begins previews Nov. 17 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City.

Filmography

Actor

1950s

• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1958)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1959)
• A Doll's House (1959)

1960s

• The Defenders (1961)
• Great Ghost Tales (1961)
• Way Out (1961)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1961)
• 1, 2, 3 Go! (1961)
• From These Roots (1961)
• The Edge of Night (1961)
• A Flame in the Wind (1964)
• Seaway (TV series) (1965)
• As the World Turns (1966)
• Winning (1969)
• Last Summer (1969)
• Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969)

1970s

• Marcus Welby, M.D. (1970)
• Bonanza (1970)
• Bracken's World (1970)
• Medical Center (1970)
• Cactus in the Snow (1970)
• Red Sky at Morning (1971)
• The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971)
• The Todd Killings (1971)
• The F.B.I. (1971)
• You'll Like My Mother (1972)
• Sixteen (1972)
• Night Gallery (1972)
• The Waltons (1972–1977)
• The Thanksgiving Story (1973)
• The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People (1973)
• Match Game 73 (1973)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1973)
• The Red Badge of Courage (1974)
• Sisters of the Space Age (1974) (voice)
• The Silence (1975)
• The Mike Douglas Show (1977)
• September 30, 1955 (1977)
• Getting Married (1978)
• Great Performances: Dance in America (1978)
• The Waltons (1978)
• CBS: On the Air (1978)
• No Other Love (1979)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
• Roots: The Next Generations (1979 Miniseries )

1980s

• To Find My Son (1980)
• Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
• Berlin Tunnel 21 (1981)
• Barefoot in the Park (1981)
• Pavarotti & Friends (1982)
• Johnny Belinda (1982)
• Fifth of July (1982)
• Christmas at Kennedy Center with Leontyne Price (1982)
• Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story (1983)
• Hobson's Choice (1983)
• The Master of Ballantrae (1984)
• Final Jeopardy (1985)
• Go Toward the Light (1988)
• Andy Colby's Incredible Adventure (1988)
• Glory! Glory! (1989)

1990s

• Andre's Mother (1990)
• Common Ground (1990)
• Tales from the Crypt (1990)
• It (1990)
• Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (1991)
• Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)
• Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232 (1992)
• Lincoln (1992) (TV) (voice)
• I Can Make You Love Me (1993)
• Precious Victims (1993)
• Linda (1993)
• A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (1993)
• Stalking Laura (1994??)
• To Save the Children (1994)
• Death in Small Doses (1995)
• A Walton Wedding (1995)
• Down, Out & Dangerous (1995)
• The Invaders (1995)
• The Outer Limits (1995)
• The Christmas Box (1995)
• West Virginia (1996)
• What Love Sees (1996)
• Timepiece (1996)
• Dangerfield (1996)
• Dave's World (1996)
• Promised Land (1996)
• A Walton Easter (1997)
• Touched by an Angel (1997)
• Riding the Rails (1997) (voice)
• The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1997)
• A Thousand Men and a Baby (1997)
• Big and Hairy (1998)
• The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson (1998)
• Touched by an Angel (1998)
• The Million Dollar Kid (1999)
• It's a Miracle (1999)
• The Practice (1999)

2000s

• Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2000)
• In the Name of the People (2000)
• Wonder Boys (2000)
• The Christmas Secret (2000)
• Bloodhounds Inc. (2000)
• Just Cause (2001)
• The Miracle of the Cards (2001)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2001)
• Beyond the Prairie, Part 2:
• The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2002)
• Anna's Dream (2002)
• CBS at 75 (2003)
• TV Land Moguls (2004)
• The Tony Danza Show (2005)
• Broadway: The Next Generation (2006)
• Mercedes-Benz (2006, 2009) (TV commercial) (voice)
• BB&T Bank (2006) (TV and radio commercials) (voice)
• Annie's Point (2005)

Producer

• What Love Sees (1996) (co-producer)
• Summer of Fear (1996) (co-executive producer)
• For All Time (2000) (co-executive producer)
• Camping with Camus (2000) (producer)

Director

• The Waltons

External links

• Richard Thomas (actor) at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Thomas (actor) at the Internet Broadway Database
• Richard Thomas (actor) at the Internet off-Broadway Database