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Richard Earl Thomas (born June 13, 1951) is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons. Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York, the son of Barbara (née Fallis) and Richard S. Thomas. His parents were dancers with the New York City Ballet and owned the New York School of Ballet. He attended The Allen Stevenson School and The McBurney School in Manhattan. 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. Thomas... MORE

Richard Earl Thomas (born June 13, 1951) is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons. Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York, the son of Barbara (née Fallis) and Richard S. Thomas. His parents were dancers with the New York City Ballet and owned the New York School of Ballet. He attended The Allen Stevenson School and The McBurney School in Manhattan. 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. Thomas soon began his television career. In 1959, he appeared in the presentation of Ibsen's A Doll's House with Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer and Hume Cronyn. He then began acting in daytime TV, appearing in soap operas such as The Edge of Night (as Ben Schultz, 1961) and As the World Turns (as Tom Hughes, 1966–67), which were broadcast from his native Manhattan. Thomas received his first major roles in film, appearing in the 1969 motion pictures Winning with Paul Newman, about auto racing, and Last Summer with Barbara Hershey, a summer coming-of-age movie. He became nationally recognized for his LESS