Earl Hamner |
page 3 of 4
Unfortunately, the voyage to Hollywood was nearly fatal in many ways to Earl Hamner and his wife. First of all, the cross-country move came close to depleting their finances. Next, employers started repeating that famous line "you lack experience" -- this time in regard to film.
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"If
I don’t write during a day, I feel guilty," Hamner tells
CCM students. "I can't sleep. It's as if I've not earned the
right
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Hamner again persevered, but his ship
was beginning to founder when in 1959 Rod Serling offered him a chance
to write for "The Twilight Zone." "It came in the nick
of time," Hamner related, "because we had spent all of our money
and were living on handouts from Jane's aunt. I did eight of those original
episodes." (Now published under the title "Twilight Zone Scripts
of Earl Hamner.")
Soon, life pulled into the fast lane. Two years later, Hamner had published
a novel about his own family, "Spencer's Mountain." Two years
after that, the book was a movie. His next book "The Homecoming,"
again about his own family, became a made-for-TV movie, which led to "The
Waltons" series.
The weekly show introduced viewers to the Hamner family so vividly that
Earl's seven brothers and sisters often found people back home calling
them by their television names rather than their real ones. "I remember
once my brother Jim getting a speeding ticket," Hamner chuckled,
"and when he went to court, the judge said, 'Jim Bob, I'm giving
you 30 days.'"
Of course, to most people, the faces of the Hamner clan were far less
recognizable than the actors who portrayed them. In Earl's case, Richard
Thomas was much more likely to be called John Boy than he.
Nevertheless, Earl's voice is very familiar, as the narrator's voice opening
each program. Even after all these years of living in big cities, Hamner
speaks with a distinctive accent on certain vowels, characteristic of
the Scots who originally settled Schuyler, Va., his hometown.
Following the CBS launch of "The Waltons," Earl's career blossomed,
and opportunities to write and produce continued to grow.
Writing out of a passion was one of his keys to success, he explained
to the University of Cincinnati students. "I wrote 'Spencer's Mountain'
because I felt that my family was unique and interesting. It was something
I had a passion for.
"Writing is a very emotional experience for me. Once, when I was
writing the film adaptation of 'Charlotte's Web,' the phone rang, and
the caller said, 'You sound all choked up.' 'A spider just died,' I said.
I'm very moved when I write. It's a release."
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