Richard Thomas: John-Boy, Atticus Finch, and Retirement

When “The Waltons” TV drama debuted in 1972, it was the first time most of us had heard of 21-year-old Richard Thomas, despite his nearly two dozen Broadway and TV performances. After several years as John-Boy Walton, Thomas continued in a successful acting career. Now 72, he has no plans to stop. He is currently traveling with the Broadway production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” He shines in the role of Atticus Finch, a part that seems fitting for the fictitious John-Boy, and for Thomas.

Thomas as John-Boy Walton

“The Waltons” was created by writer Earl Hamner Jr. based on his family in rural Schuyler, Virginia. When it debuted, I was 12 years old and living in Buckingham County, about 30 miles southeast of Schuyler. The proximity drew me in to the TV drama, and the story’s familial love, touches of humor, colorful characters, and inevitable conflicts kept me hooked.

Thomas’s character was based on Hamner himself. I saw John-Boy as a big brother. He was intelligent, empathetic, hard-working, and kind, though with a touch of temper, when appropriate. He had integrity. And he was a writer.

Actor Richard Thomas moved on to other roles after 1978, on screen and stage, but he would remain John-Boy-like in my mind. Unlike some actors whose off-screen antics convey less-than-stellar traits, Thomas didn’t sully his boy-next-door image.

Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch

Given that wholesome, empathetic image, Thomas (along with his John-Boy character) seems suited for the role of lawyer Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Harper Lee’s 1960 book centers on the lawyer, his family, and his defense of a Black man accused of rape in a small Southern town in the 1930s.

This new theatrical version of the story was adapted for the stage by playwright, screenwriter, and film director Aaron Sorkin. The traveling Broadway production came to Richmond in February 2024. As “Seniors Guide” editor, I had the chance to talk with Thomas while he was in town, to share his journey with our Virginia readers.

“I love coming to Virginia,” Thomas told me. “I love Virginia. I think it’s beautiful and smart and really cool.”

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Of the Richmond performance, he said, “It was a fabulous audience. In different parts of the country, audiences respond differently, and they have a different sense of humor. We were thrilled last night because not only was the house full, but the audience was picking up on everything.”

Of the play, Thomas said, “It’s very satisfying to do, and very satisfying the way people have embraced it and received it. The novel’s a classic; an adaptation could go in any number of directions. What’s great is Aaron’s achievement in adapting it for our time in a way that … tells the story in the light of how we view issues of social justice now.”

Thomas pointed to the protests of 2020 that illuminated these social justice issues. “Being a youth of the ’60s, I’m very happy once again to see young people on the barricades, but [Aaron] had his finger on the pulse before that. He just had a point of view about how to tell this story, which I’m very grateful for.”

Speaking Out: Protests in 1969

Thomas appreciates the way Sorkin updated the Black characters, giving them more voice and agency, and how he presents a more flawed Atticus Finch. Sorkin has “taken his idealism and made it somewhat naïve,” said Thomas.

In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus tells his children, “There’s goodness in everyone – you just have to care enough to look for it.” But Thomas responded, “That is a lovely way to look at the world and worth striving for, but in fact not everybody is doing the same good. Are we doing good or are we doing horrible, horrible things? It’s great to learn the difference.”

On a lighter side, Thomas said of Sorkin’s Atticus, “He’s given him a great sense of humor, which is probably for me the most delicious part of it all. It’s a serious story, but it’s also a funny story and a heartwarming story, and he managed to balance all of those elements.”

Earl Hamner Jr. would probably have approved, too, said Thomas. “I’m sure he loved the novel. We never spoke about it – we didn’t have occasion to. I’m sure he would have loved what Aaron did. Earl created a wonderfully warmhearted, sweet show and he was a wonderful man, a kind, dear, good man, but he had a wonderfully edgy, naughty sense of humor. He wasn’t a marshmallow, by any means, and I think he would really have responded to the biting quality of the script, the humor and the edginess of it, and the difficulties. And I think he would have been happy to see me in the part. It’s a good part for me.”

Thomas also noted parallels between the play and “The Waltons.”

“The show was ultimately a very loving show because it was about how people can make life good for themselves and for other people, both in community and in family,” he said, “but there was conflict in every episode. You can’t have drama without conflict. … In many, many episodes, the Waltons were introduced to people and stories, subject matters, topics that they weren’t really aware of … and situations they had to wrestle with.”

Similarly, he continued, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is “the story of a white family really experiencing Black trauma for the first time on a personal level, and what that does to Atticus and the kids.”

Thomas said he stays in touch with other actors from the series “all the time. We’re always in touch. It’s like a family.”

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in Richmond, Virginia

Thomas’s next roles

Though 72 years of age, in a job that is physically and emotionally demanding, Thomas looks and performs like a much younger man.

“That’s nice of you to say,” he replied with a laugh, when I mentioned it. “That’s the beauty of theater, the distance between the audience and the actors.”

He said his role as Atticus Finch is both exhausting and rejuvenating. “Because it’s beautifully written, it’s delicious to play, and it’s emotionally very taxing in the second act because you’ve got to deliver a certain kind of thing every night. It’s what we do. It’s one of those great big, giant, beautiful parts, so it’s completely all-consuming, but it’s also profoundly gratifying and fun in its way.”

Performing the same show night after night keeps the cast on their toes, and a touring play keeps them on the road.

“I love touring, but touring is also very challenging,” Thomas admitted, “and as I get older, it’s a little more challenging. When you’re doing a part this size in a play this long, you really spend the day just conserving yourself for the evening. There was a time on the road when I would be out gallivanting, but that ship has sailed.”

With a successful career in the rearview mirror – plus a wife, five daughters, two sons, and four grandchildren – one might expect that Richard Thomas would be ready for retirement.

“I don’t see [retirement] in my future, I really don’t,” he said. “Eventually maybe I’ll go, ‘I’ve had enough, it’s been fun,’ but we [as actors] love what we do too much.”

After “Mockingbird,” Thomas has a couple of big Shakespearean parts in mind, and he sees his current role as “way at the top of my theatrical experiences. After this, I’m of an age to play character parts and older parts, smaller, and that will be delicious, too.”

Along with touring, he takes time for family, and he mentioned a trip planned to visit his triplet daughters and two of their daughters. After all, for Richard Thomas, the family role is a natural.

Photo captions, from top:

• Atticus Finch in the courtroom: Richard Thomas (Atticus Finch) and the company of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Photo by Julieta Cervantes.
• Richard Thomas and Ellen Corby as Esther “Grandma” Walton in “The Waltons.” CBS Television.
• Calpurnia and Atticus share tea: Jacqueline Williams (Calpurnia) and Richard Thomas (Atticus Finch). Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

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