Earl Hamner Jr., the prolific writer and producer has died, at age 92.

His most memorable and beloved work, the family drama The Waltons, earned 15 Golden Globe nominations during its nine years run in the 1970s, including three nominations for the series itself as Best Television Series- Drama three years running, in 1973-5.

Hamner's other notable series, the prime time soap Falcon's Crest, which followed The Waltons with its own successful nine seasons run in the 1980s, awarded a Golden Globes nomination to Italian superstar Gina Lollobrigida, (also a 1961 World Favorite winner) and two noms, one win to veteran movie actress Jane Wyman (also a 1951 World Favorite, and winner of two golden statuettes in the 1940s as Best Actress, Drama).

The two back-to-back family sagas could not have been more different from each other – The Waltons took place in a fictional rural Virginia coal-mining town from the Great Depression of the 1930s to World War II, featuring a struggling but loving working poor family. The series was based on Hamner's childhood: he was John Boy the eldest of eight ginger siblings.

Master of the family saga: (left) The Giobertis of Falcon Crest; (right) The Waltons; Richard Thomas, center, is John Boy, Earl Hamner's alter ego.

(left) Shooting Star/Lorimar; (right) Shooting Star/w.b.

In Falcon Crest, matriarch Wyman ruled the contemporary and wealthy California winemaking Gioberti family, corrupt, scheming and quarreling. Hamner addressed the startling change of tone, pace and setting between the two families:

" In many ways the Gioberti family … were the Waltons of today,” he said in a Filmfax interview." The heads of each household were  "proud of [the] family… did everything to nurture the rituals, history and customs of [that] family… proud of her land, valued the continuity of it."

Hamner's range was indeed impressive: from TV series and film script adaptations of books (Charlotte's Web, Heidi)  to several novels, which he sometimes turned into movies, including 1961’s Spencer’s Mountain, also inspired by his childhood in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Hamner was six when he was first published in a newspaper: a poem about a red wagon full of puppies. He kept writing for the next eight decades. He sold his first script, for the CBS Radio program Dr. Christian, soon after serving in the army during WW II. His first novel was published in 1953, and with that and some episodes for east coast radio shows to his credit Hamner headed West in 1961 and was soon firmly established, writing for Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series.
 

His subject matter was wide ranged. From the spring break film Palm Springs Weekend (1963), starring Troy Donahue and Connie Stevens to the CBS nature adventure series Gentle Ben, starring Dennis Weaver and a bear, ABC’s fantasy sitcom Nanny and the Professor, and two short-lived series, Apple’s Way for CBS and Boone for NBC.

But he will always be remembered for his writing about his own family and his growing up surrounded by their affection. First as a heartwarming 1970 novella, The Homecoming, which he turned a year later into a Christmas special that starred Richard Thomas and Patricia Neal, roles modeled after himself and his mother. It served as the pilot for The Waltons, the hour-long weekly series. As the show runner, Hamner guideline was “to always walk that fine line between excessive sentimentality and believable human warmth.” He said in an interview: “people are hungry… for real family relationships … real togetherness where people are relating honestly. Audiences … have been brutalized by crudities, vulgarity, violence, indifference and ineptitude. With The Waltons we are attempting to make an honest, positive statement on the affirmation of mankind.”

Each episode ended with the show’s signature — and often-spoofed — exterior shot of the family’s white wooden house and a collage of voices as the many family members bid one another good night: “Goodnight, Jim-Bob.” “Goodnight, Elizabeth”. “Goodnight, Jim-Bob; goodnight, Mama.” “Goodnight, Erin”…

Good night, Earl Hamner Jr., story teller extraordinaire.