Christmas was a special time for the Walton family. Even when times were tough, Olivia and John Walton found a way to make the holiday special for their seven children, as seen in multiple episodes of the popular show, which ran for nine seasons on CBS. Over the years, The Waltons aired four episodes focused on the December holiday, in addition to the Christmas movie that kicked off the series. Here’s every Waltons Christmas episode ranked according to IMDb.
‘The Spirit’
IMDb rating: 7.4 out of 10
In this season 8 episode of The Waltons, the family celebrates Christmas without their mother for the first time because she is spending the day with John-Boy in the hospital, who is recovering from his war injuries.. On Walton’s Mountain, Rose’s grandson Jeffrey (Keith Coogan) befriends a stranger who turns out to be an escaped German Pow (Ned Bellamy). The family ends up...
‘The Spirit’
IMDb rating: 7.4 out of 10
In this season 8 episode of The Waltons, the family celebrates Christmas without their mother for the first time because she is spending the day with John-Boy in the hospital, who is recovering from his war injuries.. On Walton’s Mountain, Rose’s grandson Jeffrey (Keith Coogan) befriends a stranger who turns out to be an escaped German Pow (Ned Bellamy). The family ends up...
- 12/23/2023
- by Megan Elliott
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
“The Royal Family would be delighted with The Crown because it is humanizing them,” Jared Harris has said.
Harris, who played Queen Elizabeth II’s father King George VI in the first two seasons of Netflix’s royal smash, was speaking as the latest and final season in which Princess Diana dies continues to attract controversy, but he denied that the UK’s most famous family would take issue with the show.
“There’s always a question of whether you should be doing this or telling this tale or whether it is in some way disrespectful and my opinion is that I think the royal family would be delighted because it is humanizing them,” he told the BBC’s Today program this morning.
While The Crown has attracted more criticism as the series has moved through the years, coming now to a time more rooted in the public’s collective consciousness,...
Harris, who played Queen Elizabeth II’s father King George VI in the first two seasons of Netflix’s royal smash, was speaking as the latest and final season in which Princess Diana dies continues to attract controversy, but he denied that the UK’s most famous family would take issue with the show.
“There’s always a question of whether you should be doing this or telling this tale or whether it is in some way disrespectful and my opinion is that I think the royal family would be delighted because it is humanizing them,” he told the BBC’s Today program this morning.
While The Crown has attracted more criticism as the series has moved through the years, coming now to a time more rooted in the public’s collective consciousness,...
- 11/27/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Richard Thomas of CBS’s hit series The Waltons didn’t grow up in the country. But the actor, who rose to fame playing John-Boy Walton in the popular family drama, could still draw on some memorable childhood experiences when playing the character, he recently said in a conversation with this fellow Waltons cast member Judy Norton.
Richard Thomas recalls getting cast in ‘The Homecoming’ Richard Thomas as John-Boy in ‘The Waltons’ CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Norton, who played Mary Ellen Walton, recently chatted with Thomas about his career and their time on The Waltons in an interview she shared on YouTube.
During their conversation, Thomas recalled learning he’d landed a part in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the CBS TV movie that preceded the series.
“I remember I was in my parents’ ballet school on Broadway and, I don’t know, 83rd or 84th Street, getting a call speaking with my agent,...
Richard Thomas recalls getting cast in ‘The Homecoming’ Richard Thomas as John-Boy in ‘The Waltons’ CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Norton, who played Mary Ellen Walton, recently chatted with Thomas about his career and their time on The Waltons in an interview she shared on YouTube.
During their conversation, Thomas recalled learning he’d landed a part in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the CBS TV movie that preceded the series.
“I remember I was in my parents’ ballet school on Broadway and, I don’t know, 83rd or 84th Street, getting a call speaking with my agent,...
- 3/12/2023
- by Megan Elliott
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
“If we had known what we were taking on, we never would have done it,” jokes Raúl Esparza. The four-time Tony Award nominee serves as executive producer and host of “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert.” In a post-pandemic world, where the Broadway community has found unique ways to stream content, this celebration of legendary composer Stephen Sondheim is perhaps the biggest and boldest attempt at virtual theatre. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
“When Broadway closed, it really hit me hard,” admits Esparza. “It’s been home for so long.” A 90th birthday party for Sondheim was to be held at the current revival of “Company,” but those plans were soon scuttled as the pandemic worsened and theaters shuttered. Esparza thought “we should do something” to honor the legend, and originally planned on a simple set of videos. Music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell mentioned a charity she worked with,...
“When Broadway closed, it really hit me hard,” admits Esparza. “It’s been home for so long.” A 90th birthday party for Sondheim was to be held at the current revival of “Company,” but those plans were soon scuttled as the pandemic worsened and theaters shuttered. Esparza thought “we should do something” to honor the legend, and originally planned on a simple set of videos. Music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell mentioned a charity she worked with,...
- 7/1/2020
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
Organizers of the Oliver Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys, apologized “unreservedly” Tuesday for omitting theater legend Peter Hall from the awards ceremony’s “In Memoriam” segment last weekend and said the prize for best director would henceforth be named after him.
The Society of London Theatre, which organizes the Oliviers, came under heavy criticism for what it acknowledged was a “serious error” in leaving out Hall from the roll call of prominent industry figures who died in 2017. Hall, who won two Tony Awards and founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, died last September at the age of 86.
The Society of London Theatre said Hall “was a giant of British theater and is sorely missed in the industry.” It has also issued an updated “In Memoriam” video including him.
“In recognition of Sir Peter’s phenomenal contribution to British theater over many decades, and in close consultation with the Hall family,...
The Society of London Theatre, which organizes the Oliviers, came under heavy criticism for what it acknowledged was a “serious error” in leaving out Hall from the roll call of prominent industry figures who died in 2017. Hall, who won two Tony Awards and founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, died last September at the age of 86.
The Society of London Theatre said Hall “was a giant of British theater and is sorely missed in the industry.” It has also issued an updated “In Memoriam” video including him.
“In recognition of Sir Peter’s phenomenal contribution to British theater over many decades, and in close consultation with the Hall family,...
- 4/10/2018
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
Academy Awardnominee Clive Owen Closer makes his Broadway debut alongside Tony Awardnominee Eve Best The Homecoming and Kelly Reilly True Detective, also making her Broadway debut, in Old Times, written by Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. Thom Yorke, singer and principal songwriter for Radiohead, provides incidental music. Tony Award winner Douglas Hodge La Cage aux Folles, Roundabout's Cyrano de Bergerac, a frequent performer and director of Pinter's works, directs Roundabout Theatre Company's provocative revival of the haunting and passionate play, which has not been seen on Broadway in over 40 years.
- 11/2/2015
- by Contests - Broadway
- BroadwayWorld.com
Clive Owen will make his Broadway debut in a revival of Harold Pinter’s Old Times, directed by Tony Award winner Douglas Hodge (La Cage Aux Folles). Previews for the Roundabout Theatre Company production will begin September 17, followed by the official opening on October 15. "My first season with Roundabout included Old Times, our first Broadway season opened with The Homecoming and we opened the first Laura Pels Theatre with Moonlight,” said Roundabout artistic director…...
- 3/2/2015
- Deadline
The EastEnders actor says he wishes to take to the stage again because of his mum: 'She's been to every play I've done'
Danny Dyer wants to do more theatre – to please his mum.
The actor, one of Harold Pinter's favourites, hasn't appeared in a play for more than four years, since he played Sid Vicious in Kurt and Sid at the Trafalgar Studios in 2009. However, he's revealed that he's looking for more stage work.
"My mum loves theatre and has come to see me in every play I've done," the 36-year-old told the Press Association. "She always says, 'Why don't you do another play?'"
He continued: "It needs to be the right play. It's such a long run and you give your life away. You have one day off a week, two shows on a Wednesday, two on a Saturday, so it has to be something you like and are buzzing off.
Danny Dyer wants to do more theatre – to please his mum.
The actor, one of Harold Pinter's favourites, hasn't appeared in a play for more than four years, since he played Sid Vicious in Kurt and Sid at the Trafalgar Studios in 2009. However, he's revealed that he's looking for more stage work.
"My mum loves theatre and has come to see me in every play I've done," the 36-year-old told the Press Association. "She always says, 'Why don't you do another play?'"
He continued: "It needs to be the right play. It's such a long run and you give your life away. You have one day off a week, two shows on a Wednesday, two on a Saturday, so it has to be something you like and are buzzing off.
- 11/26/2013
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
In honor of "Betrayal"'s Broadway opening, the Film Society of Lincoln Center has fashioned a Pinter-centric program, presenting some of the best adaptations of the Englishman's work, in addition to his own screenplays. Pinter's career as a playwright began with a production of "The Room" in 1957, and eventually spanned more than 50 years, netting him the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature and the French Légion d'honneur in 2007. His best-known plays include "The Birthday Party" (1957), "The Homecoming" (1964), and "Betrayal" (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include "The Servant" (1963), "The Go-Between" (1970), "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), "The Trial" (1993), and "Sleuth" (2007).“The Broadway production of one of Harold Pinter’s masterpieces, 'Betrayal,' is sure to be one of the theatrical events of the year, and provided the perfect occasion for us to revisit Pinter’s body of work for the cinema” said Gavin...
- 10/29/2013
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Indiewire
Harold Pinter tellingly did not title it “The Betrayal.” Unlike earlier works like “The Homecoming” and “The Birthday Party,” he eschewed the article “the” for his 1977 play, “Betrayal,” which opened Sunday at the Barrymore Theatre in a starry revival directed by Mike Nichols. There are so many betrayals in “Betrayal,” the least of which is the one Emma (Rachel Weisz) commits against her husband, Robert (Daniel Craig), by engaging in a long-running affair with his best friend, Jerry (Rafe Spall in a remarkable Broadway debut). It’s as if Pinter is playing a game – to see how many betrayals he.
- 10/28/2013
- by Robert Hofler
- The Wrap
Actor who played many major Shakespearean roles on the stage
Few actors played as many major Shakespearean roles as did Paul Rogers, a largely forgotten and seriously underrated performer, who has died aged 96. It was as though he was barnacled in those parts, undertaken at the Old Vic in the 1950s, by the time he played his most famous role, the vicious paterfamilias Max in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the Aldwych theatre in 1965 (and filmed in 1973).
Staunch, stolid and thuggish, with eyes that drilled through any opposition, Rogers's Max was a grumpy old block of granite, hewn on an epic scale, despite the flat cap and plimsolls – horribly real. Peter Hall's production for the Royal Shakespeare Company was monumental; everything was grey, chill and cheerless in John Bury's design, set off firstly by a piquant bowl of green apples and then by the savage acting.
The Homecoming...
Few actors played as many major Shakespearean roles as did Paul Rogers, a largely forgotten and seriously underrated performer, who has died aged 96. It was as though he was barnacled in those parts, undertaken at the Old Vic in the 1950s, by the time he played his most famous role, the vicious paterfamilias Max in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the Aldwych theatre in 1965 (and filmed in 1973).
Staunch, stolid and thuggish, with eyes that drilled through any opposition, Rogers's Max was a grumpy old block of granite, hewn on an epic scale, despite the flat cap and plimsolls – horribly real. Peter Hall's production for the Royal Shakespeare Company was monumental; everything was grey, chill and cheerless in John Bury's design, set off firstly by a piquant bowl of green apples and then by the savage acting.
The Homecoming...
- 10/15/2013
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
If you’ve ever heard high-culture appreciating television viewers lament the fact that Bravo used to air operas while now it airs Andy Cohen, those same folks might be equally disheartened to see this one act play directed by Robert Altman in 1987 for ABC, the network that is now home to 17 seasons of “The Bachelor.” Altman directed a two-part special entitled “Basements,” with both halves being adaptations of English playwright Harold Pinter’s one act plays “The Room” and “The Dumb Waiter.” “The Room” surfaced online recently in the form of a VHS rip, and it’s a thoroughly bizarre 48 minute experience that fans of the celebrated Altman (“Gosford Park,” “The Player,” “M*A*S*H*”) or Pinter (“The Birthday Party,” “The Homecoming,” “Betrayal”) might want to check out. The story centers on a woman (the dimunitive Linda Hunt) living in...
- 2/12/2013
- by Tess Hofmann
- The Playlist
Rufus Sewell will also star in the first of Pinter's plays to be staged at the West End theatre that was renamed in the playwright's honour last year
Harold Pinter's Old Times will be the first of his plays to be produced at the West End theatre that was renamed in his honour last year, when a stellar revival opens in January.
Ian Rickson's production will star Kristin Scott Thomas, who appeared in the final show at what was then called the Comedy theatre, a revival of another Pinter three-hander, Betrayal), also directed by Rickson.
Old Times premiered at the Aldwych theatre in 1971 and shows married couple Kate and Deeley reminiscing about the start of their relationship with Kate's cryptic old friend Anna. Old wounds resurface over the course of an evening underpinned by sexual tension.
Scott Thomas will alternate the roles of Kate and Anna with Lia Williams,...
Harold Pinter's Old Times will be the first of his plays to be produced at the West End theatre that was renamed in his honour last year, when a stellar revival opens in January.
Ian Rickson's production will star Kristin Scott Thomas, who appeared in the final show at what was then called the Comedy theatre, a revival of another Pinter three-hander, Betrayal), also directed by Rickson.
Old Times premiered at the Aldwych theatre in 1971 and shows married couple Kate and Deeley reminiscing about the start of their relationship with Kate's cryptic old friend Anna. Old wounds resurface over the course of an evening underpinned by sexual tension.
Scott Thomas will alternate the roles of Kate and Anna with Lia Williams,...
- 10/10/2012
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
Forty years ago my main regular writing spot was a weekly page of general commentary on the arts for the New Statesman, and due to the current discussion provoked by Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending and the appearance of Rod Lurie's 40th anniversary remake of Straw Dogs, two of the items in the column of 2 December 1971 have a certain topical interest. One is about the third winner of the Booker prize, of which I observed: "Vs Naipaul's In a Free State is a splendid book but is it, as the Booker conditions demand, a full-length novel?"
The other is about a film that had opened the previous week: "I was at the press show for Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, and rarely have I experienced such a palpable sense of shock and disgust sweep through an audience. Peckinpah is an artist I admire immensely and I wouldn't want to ban his film,...
The other is about a film that had opened the previous week: "I was at the press show for Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, and rarely have I experienced such a palpable sense of shock and disgust sweep through an audience. Peckinpah is an artist I admire immensely and I wouldn't want to ban his film,...
- 11/6/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Over the phone from London, British actor Ian McShane is talking about his homeland’s perennial obsession: the weather. More specifically, he is explaining how he fell ill when the U.K.’s recent Indian summer was replaced by conditions of a more briskly autumnal nature. “I’ve been sick,” he says. “I’ve a chest infection, where you just want to go around coughing. Anyway, luckily, I have the week off.”
Rare is the actor — even the plague-ridden one — who regards having a week off as “lucky.” But then McShane has been enjoying his own professional Indian summer over...
Rare is the actor — even the plague-ridden one — who regards having a week off as “lucky.” But then McShane has been enjoying his own professional Indian summer over...
- 10/17/2011
- by Clark Collis
- EW - Inside Movies
From an illicit Pixies gig to a Mesopotamian ziggurat, Guardian critics recall their biggest moment of inspiration in their respective fields
How to enter this year's competition
Pop: Alexis Petridis
Can any gig you see as a critic ever match the ones you saw as a teenager? Bizarrely, going to a gig when I was 17 was harder work than writing reviews has ever been. It involved not merely getting to London, but lying to my parents about where I was going, lying to my friend's parents about where my parents thought I was going, bunking off school, and then convincing somebody who looked 18 to go to the bar on my behalf.
But none of that mattered the night I saw the Pixies supported by My Bloody Valentine, in September 1988. It's not every night you see arguably the two most important guitar bands of the era on the same stage at...
How to enter this year's competition
Pop: Alexis Petridis
Can any gig you see as a critic ever match the ones you saw as a teenager? Bizarrely, going to a gig when I was 17 was harder work than writing reviews has ever been. It involved not merely getting to London, but lying to my parents about where I was going, lying to my friend's parents about where my parents thought I was going, bunking off school, and then convincing somebody who looked 18 to go to the bar on my behalf.
But none of that mattered the night I saw the Pixies supported by My Bloody Valentine, in September 1988. It's not every night you see arguably the two most important guitar bands of the era on the same stage at...
- 6/20/2011
- by Alexis Petridis, Adrian Searle, Erica Jeal, Jonathan Glancey, Peter Bradshaw, Michael Billington, Judith Mackrell, Sam Wollaston
- The Guardian - Film News
When Michael Paller served as dramaturge for American Conservatory Theater's production of Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll"—set in 20th-century Czechoslovakia and Cambridge, England—he prepared a packet for the cast that included information about communism, fascism, and the Velvet Revolution; a timeline of musical and world events from 1965 to 1969; an explanation of how Cambridge University differs from American universities; definitions of unfamiliar words in the script; and even a few evocative Brecht poems."The point," says Paller, resident dramaturge with the San Francisco company, "is to help actors make appropriate choices." Later this year, when he works on Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming," he'll probably include photos of homes in London's East End in the mid-20th century. Many actors respond more intuitively to pictures than text, he says.To actors, the function of a dramaturge can be somewhat mysterious. Paller, originally a playwright, was himself initially suspicious of their usefulness,...
- 1/13/2011
- backstage.com
Harold Pinter, one of the most acclaimed and innovative playwrights of the 20th century, passed away on Christmas Eve at age 78 after a battle with cancer. Pinter's plays took England by storm in the 1960s and his popularity rapidly expanded around the world. He was credited with bringing intimacy back into theatrical productions. His plays, such as The Caretaker, No Man's Land, The Homecoming and The Birthday Party, were generally claustrophobic affairs that dealt with tensions within dysfunctional families. The British-born Nobel Prize winner was often a lightening rod for controversy due to his radical, left-wing politics. Pinter once refused a knighthood from Prime Minister John Major's government because he so loathed conservative policies. In recent years, he publicly lambasted both the British and American governments over the Iraq War. Pinter was multi-talented and also wrote screenplays for such films as The Go-Between, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Quiller Memorandum...
- 12/26/2008
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
British actor Danny Dyer can't wait for his tenure on the London stage to end - because he is sick of the low wages.
The Football Factory star is earning less than $800 (GBP400)-a-week for his part in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the Almeida Theatre in the British capital.
But the small pay package isn't the only aspect of theatre the 30-year-old is struggling with - he insists repeating the same lines night after night is boring.
He says, "I've got one week left (of the show) and I'll be honest with you, I've had enough. I struggle with saying the same thing every night to be honest.
"When you make movies you're spoon-fed everything and then you've got to tread the boards for 300-odd quid (pounds) a week. You have to earn your stripes. But it's killed me money-wise."...
The Football Factory star is earning less than $800 (GBP400)-a-week for his part in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the Almeida Theatre in the British capital.
But the small pay package isn't the only aspect of theatre the 30-year-old is struggling with - he insists repeating the same lines night after night is boring.
He says, "I've got one week left (of the show) and I'll be honest with you, I've had enough. I struggle with saying the same thing every night to be honest.
"When you make movies you're spoon-fed everything and then you've got to tread the boards for 300-odd quid (pounds) a week. You have to earn your stripes. But it's killed me money-wise."...
- 3/18/2008
- WENN
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