Earl Hamner Jr. Biography

Earl Hamner Jr. was an American television writer, novelist, and producer best known for his work in the 1970s long-running television series ‘The Waltons’. Born in Schuyler, Virginia, as the oldest son of a soapstone mill worker, he had a tough childhood. He always had a keen interest in writing and at the age of six, he published his first poem in a local newspaper. After graduating from Schuyler High School, he received a scholarship from University of Richmond. But before his graduation, he joined the army during World War II. After his military service, he first attended Northwestern University and then University of Cincinnati where he studied broadcast communications. He wrote for a radio station briefly before moving to New York and began writing his first novel ‘Fifty Roads to Town’. He got his first big break when he two scripts to Serling's TV series ‘The Twilight Zone’. He wrote scripts for many TV series and films, most of which were inspired by his own childhood memories, including ‘The Homecoming’ and ‘The Waltons’. He married Jane Martin in October 1954, and had two children with her. He died in 2016, in Los Angeles, California, due to bladder cancer.