Writing

Earl Hamner, Jr.

Born 1923-07-10 · Schuyler, Nelson County Virginia, United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Earl Henry Hamner, Jr. (born on July 10, 1923 in Schuyler, Virginia) is an American television writer and producer (sometimes credited as Earl Hamner), best known for his work in the 1970s and 1980s on the long-running CBS series The Waltons and Falcon Crest. As a novelist, he is best known for the novel 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 voiceover narration. He based the cantankerous Walton family grandparents in the popular television series on his own maternal Italian-American grandparents, Ora Lee and Colonel Anderson Gianniny, an anglicized version of the Italian surname "Giannini". In 1954, Hamner wrote "Hit and Run", an episode of the NBC legal drama Justice in which guest star E.G. Marshall plays a man haunted by his crime of striking a newsboy on a bicycle and fleeing the scene of the accident. Hamner also contributed eight episodes in the early 1960s to the CBS science fiction series The Twilight Zone. His first script acceptance for the series was his big writing break in Hollywood. He created two less successful series, Boone on NBC (1983–1984), starring Tom Byrd and Barry Corbin, and Apple's Way (1974–1975) on CBS with Ronny Cox. Hamner used family names to title his projects: Spencer (Spencer's Mountain) is the maiden name of his paternal grandmother Susan Henry Spencer Hamner. "The Waltons" comes from his paternal grandfather Walter Clifton Hamner and great-grandfather Walter Leland Hamner. Description above from the Wikipedia article Earl Hamner, Jr., licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Charlotte's Web poster
6.9

Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.

Charlotte's Web

1973

Where the Lilies Bloom poster
5.9

A family of children decide not to tell anyone their father has died, and to live on their own in the backwoods of rural North Carolina. If the state finds out they are on their own, they will be split up and sent to live in foster homes.

Where the Lilies Bloom

1974

A Walton Easter poster
7.3

In 1969, John-Boy is a TV news anchorperson in New York and he is in the throes of writing a new book. He and a very pregnant Janet are making plans to return to Walton's Mountain for the celebration of John and Olivia's 40th wedding anniversary. Accompanying them to see the place John-Boy lived as a child is Aurora, a Time magazine photographer, who is doing a story on John-Boy. Meanwhile, Elizabeth arrives back from her travels and announces to Drew, who is still working at the mill with Ben, that she is back to stay. She is very upset to find that Drew did not wait for her, and that he has a new girlfriend. Also, problems arise for John-Boy and Janet because the longer John-Boy stays on the mountain, the more he becomes convinced that he would like to settle down there, raise his family, and continue with his writing whereas Janet wants to stay in New York.

A Walton Easter

1997

Palm Springs Weekend poster
5.0

Set in Palm Springs during a long, fun-filled weekend where several Los Angeles college students flock to spring break, centering on Jim who finds romance with Bunny, the daughter of Palm Springs harred, stressful police chief. Jim's bumbling roommate, Biff, tries to get Amanda, a tomboyish girl's attention with a so-called love gadget. Meanwhile, Gayle Lewis is a high school senior posing as a wealthy college girl who is pursued by Eric Dean, a wealthy and spoiled college prepie, while Gayle has eyes for a cowboy from Texas, named Stretch. Also Jim and Biff's basketball coach, Campbell, tries to romance Naomi, the owner of the motel where all of the gang is staying at, which is interfered by Naomi's young, trouble-making, brat son who's dubbed, Boom-Boom.

Palm Springs Weekend

1963

A Mother's Gift poster
8.7

A singer and her husband leave their home in their frontier town for Pioneer life in the West but realizes that life in the west is hard on their marriage and her dreams.

A Mother's Gift

1995

The Magic Paintbrush poster
10.0

A young boy receives a magic paintbrush as a gift, which can make anything he draws come to life.

The Magic Paintbrush

1993

The Night Before Christmas: A Mouse Tale poster
8.5

Animated holiday feature for the entire family, destined to become a classic. Based on the beloved poem by Clement C. Moore, the story begins on Christmas Eve.

The Night Before Christmas: A Mouse Tale

2002

Aesop's Fables poster
9.0

A collection of the classic morality tales narrated by Bill Cosby as "Aesop" that have been passed down from family to family for thousands of years. Every story has a lesson.

Aesop's Fables

1971

The Hound Of Heaven poster
NR

Recently drowned Hyder Simpson refuses to pass through the Pearly Gates if it means leaving his beloved, possum hunting hound Rip behind.

The Hound Of Heaven

1953

The Waltons: A Decade of the Waltons poster
7.8

A docudrama of the classic series. Almost like another episode of the series as a photo album presented to Grandma as a present spurs memories, presented via flashbacks from the series' first eight seasons. Waltons creator Earl Hamner recounts bringing his life to television.

The Waltons: A Decade of the Waltons

1980

Christmas in America poster
7.0

TV movie depicting a father and son's strained relationship with the mother often trying to be the bridge between the men in her life. The father, Frank Morgan (Kenny Rogers), is a photographer who is too often absent, according to his son. When his son, David Morgan (Kenneth Rogers Jr.), finally attends a display of his father's work despite still being bitter about their relationship, he finally realizes how important his family really was to him.

Christmas in America

1989

A Day for Thanks on Waltons Mountain poster
5.8

Most of the Waltons have split up in the days approaching Thanksgiving 1947. But most of the family begins to arrive at Walton's Mountain begging with John-Boy recovering from a case of writers block in New York followed by Jason now a struggling musician as well as John Walton whom tries to get everyone together for the special event for Elizabeth, while newlyweds Erin and Paul plan to move out of the Walton homestead.

A Day for Thanks on Waltons Mountain

1982

No artwork available
8.0

The pilot story, set in the small town of Strawee, Arkansas in the '30s, follows the experiences of Joshua Torrance, a doctor whose practice is jeopardized by his opposition to racism as he attempts to treat blacks as equals.

Joshua's World

1980