Actor Richard Earl Thomas is best known for his role as budding author John-Boy
Walton in the CBS-TV drama The Waltons (1972-1981). 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. His television career began in 1959 when a appeared in A Doll’s House with Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer and Hume Cronyn. Richard then began acting in daytime TV, appearing in soap operas
such as The Edge of Night in 1961 and As the World Turns, 1966-1967. Thomas
received his first major roles in film, appearing in the  1969 pictures Winning with
Paul Newman and Last Summer with Barbara Hershey.