‘The Waltons' Star Reveals How He Moved on From His Iconic Role as John-Boy

Richard Thomas played John-Boy on The Waltons, a historical drama which ran from 1972 to 1981. The hit series was inspired by the book, Spencer's Mountain, which was written by the creator and screenwriter of the show, Earl Hamner Jr. Over its nine-year run, the series was nominated for several Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.

During an interview with Page Six, Thomas, who played the oldest boy in the family, discussed how he overcame typecasting after landing such an iconic role. "I figured, I'd been in the show for five years, it was going to take at least five years to sort of do enough work to start to balance the scales," Thomas said.

He went on to gush about the show, saying, "I have nothing but only incredible gratitude, affection and fond memories. It was a wonderful piece of television for its time." He continued, "The reach of that was phenomenal, and hard for people to understand today."

After The Waltons came to an end, Thomas went on to play many different roles throughout his career. He portrayed Bill in the 1990 television miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's It and more recently played Atticus Finch in the 2022-2024 tour of To Kill a Mockingbird. He also appeared on hit shows like Ozark, NCIS: New Orleans, The Blacklist, Touched by an Angel, and The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson.

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When speaking about his recurring role as Special Agent Frank Gaad on The Americans, he said, "I loved it because it was kind of counterintuitive casting for me. [It] gave me really a wonderful opportunity to play a rather enigmatic character who sometimes you thought was OK, sometimes [you] thought he was just a d–k, you know?"

Thomas is celebrating his 75thbirthday on June 13. Although he still looks young, he claimed that he has never had any work done since foreheads are "one of the most expressive parts" of the face. "I don't want to freeze any of it," he said, "I mean, it's falling apart, but what the hell?"

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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 9:52 AM.