‘The Waltons’ Star Michael Learned Once Wondered If the Show Was ‘Selling the People a False Bill of Goods’

The classic CBS series The Waltons entranced viewers with its quaint depiction of life in rural Appalachia during the Great Depression. But one of the show’s cast members, Michael Learned, wondered if the series was being a bit dishonest with its feel-good take on American life during the 1930s and 1940s. Learned, who played Olivia Walton on the series, also said she had “very contradictory feelings about the show.”  

‘The Waltons’ cast member Michael Learned said the show was ‘an illusion’

Learned played Walton family matriarch Olivia for eight seasons, eventually leaving the show in 1979. A few months after her The Waltons exit, she reflected on the popular series in an interview with the Boston Globe.    

“I don’t know if we were selling the people a false bill of goods on The Waltons,” said the actor, who had just finished a run in the play After the Season. “Reality is not like that. It was an illusion. But I’m not sure that that’s a bad thing. We may need it. I mean, what’s television if it isn’t fantasy?”

“Actors are paid to create illusions, no matter what the role,” she added. 

‘The Waltons’ was based on a true story 

Though Learned has some reservations about the idealized world depicted on The Waltons, the show was rooted in fact. The series was based on Earl Hamner Jr.’s 1961 book Spencer’s Mountain. The book, in turn, was inspired by his own Depression-era childhood in the small town of Schuyler, Virginia. Hamner even served as the show’s narrator. He felt that the show was an authentic reflection of certain shared values. 

“In every country around the world that has a television station, this community, this small village in the heart of Nelson County, has come to be synonymous with family values,” Hamner said during a 1997 event at the Walton’s Mountain Museum in Schuyler (via TribLive.com). “I think I had something to do with spreading that news, and I’m proud of that.” 

Learned said she had ‘very contradictory feelings’ about her time on ‘The Waltons’ 

In the 1980 interview, Learned also opened up about how she was thankful for the eight years she spent on The Waltons. At the same time, she sometimes felt hamstrung by the limitations of the Olivia role. 

“Looking back,” she said, “I have very contradictory feelings about the show. I’m grateful to it because without it I might not be here with this extraordinary play. But it got frustrating. Some days, while we were shooting, I’d stand around all day waiting to deliver one line – and that one line might be something as important as ‘Please pass the salt.’”

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