Richard Thomas (actor)
Richard Earl Thomas (born June 13, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for his leading role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama series "The Waltons" for which he won an Emmy Award from two nominations and received two Golden Globe Award nominations. He also starred in the 1990 television mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's epic horror novel "It" and played Special Agent Frank Gaad on FX's spy thriller series "The Americans". Early life and education. Thomas was born on June 13, 1951 in Manhattan, New York, the  son of Barbara Fallis and Richard S. Thomas, in 1951. His parents were dancers with the New York City Ballet and owned the New York School of Ballet. Thomas has a nevus on his left cheek. He has stated that this led to his being turned down for a role in a television commercial in his youth. He was a student at Columbia College, the undergraduate college of Columbia University, where he majored in Chinese before switching to the English department. After he landed the role in "The Waltons", he left Columbia during his junior year because he had to  commit to the role full-time in Los Angeles. Acting career. In 1958, at age seven, Thomas made his Broadway debut in "Sunrise at Campobello". In 1959, he appeared in the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" NBC television presentation of Ibsen's "A Doll's House" with Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer and Hume Cronyn. He then began acting in daytime TV. He appeared in soap operas such as "The Edge of Night" (as Ben Schultz, 1961), "A Flame in the Wind" and "As the World Turns" (as Tom Hughes, 1966–67) which were broadcast from his native Manhattan. In 1970, he was  in a leading role in NBC's "Bonanza" in an episode called "The Weary Willies". Thomas received his first major film roles, appearing in "Winning" (1969) with Paul Newman (about auto racing) and "Last Summer" (also 1969) with Bruce Davison and Barbara Hershey (a summer coming-of-age movie.) He starred in the Universal Pictures and Hal Wallis Production film "Red Sky at Morning" in 1971. Thomas played the lead role of 1971's "Cactus in the Snow" (which was considered a lost film and was an independent film which was hard to find or buy through VHS, DVD or  any other format.) Thomas became internationally recognized for his portrayal of John-Boy Walton in the 1970s TV series "The Waltons" (which was based on the life story of writer Earl Hamner, Jr.) He appeared in the CBS television film "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" in 1971 (which inspired the commissioning of the otherwise largely recast series) and then played the role continuously in 122 episodes until March 17, 1977. Thomas left the series and his role was taken over by Robert Wightman, but Thomas returned to the role in three "Waltons" TV movies in the 1990s. (The first was  A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion in 1993.) Thomas won an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series in 1973. Thomas played against type as murderer and rapist Kenneth Kinsolving in "You'll Like My Mother" in 1972 with Patty Duke. He played the lead roles of Private Henry Fleming in the NBC TV movie "The Red Badge of Courage" in 1974 and Paul Bäumer in the 1979 CBS TV movie on "All Quiet on the Western Front". In other TV films, he played Col. Warner's younger son Jim in "" (the 1979 sequel to 1977's "Roots"), the title  role in the biopic "" in 1983, Will Mossup in CBS' "Hobson's Choice" in 1983, Henry Durie in "The Master of Ballantrae" for Hallmark Hall of Fame, Martin Campbell in "Final Jeopardy" and the adult Bill Denbrough in the 1990 television mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's epic horror novel "It". In 1980, Thomas made his first Broadway appearance in more than 12 years when he was a replacement in Lanford Wilson's "Fifth of July". In the same year, he appeared as Shad (the young farmer entrusted to employ mercenaries to save his planet from Sador and his  invading forces) in "Battle Beyond the Stars". In 1987, he appeared on stage in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. in the one-man "tour-de-force" "Citizen Tom Paine" (playing Paine "like a star-spangled tiger, ferocious about freedom and ready to savage anyone who stands in his way," in a staging of Howard Fast's play in the bicentennial year of the United States Constitution.) In 1990, he joined with Nathan Lane at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles for Terrence McNally's "The Lisbon Traviata" in the role of Stephan. In 1993, he played the title role in  a Shakespeare Theater stage production of "Richard II" in Washington, DC. Thomas starred with Maureen O'Hara and his "It" co-star Annette O'Toole in the Hallmark Channel movie "The Christmas Box" in 1995. Thomas appeared in a quartet of performances at the Hartford Stage in Connecticut including "Hamlet" (1987), "Peer Gynt" (1989), "Richard III" (1994) and "Tiny Alice" (1996). In 1997 and 1998, he played Joe Greene in two episodes of "Touched by an Angel". In 2001, he appeared in London's West End in a theatre production of Yasmina Reza's "Art" with Judd Hirsch. He also appeared on  the New York stage in The Public Theater's production in Central Park of "As You Like It" in 2005, Michael Frayn's "Democracy" on Broadway in 2004 and the Primary Stages' off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally's "The Stendhal Syndrome" in the same year. He hosted the PAX TV series "It's a Miracle". He starred in the series "Just Cause" in 2003 for the PAX TV network. In 2006, Thomas began an American theater tour of Reginald Rose's play "Twelve Angry Men" along with "Cheers" star George Wendt at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut , playing the pivotal role of Juror Eight opposite Wendt's Juror One. In 2009 and 2010, Thomas was featured on Broadway in "Race", a play by David Mamet. The production was directed by Mamet and included James Spader, David Alan Grier and Kerry Washington. In February and March 2011, he starred at the Off-Broadway New York Public Theater in "Timon of Athens". Thomas played Frank Gaad in the FX Network period spy drama television series "The Americans" which debuted in January 2013. Thomas appeared in the 2017 Broadway revival of "The Little Foxes" and was nominated for a 2017  Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In December 2018, Thomas portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in Pittsburgh CLO's production of "A Musical Christmas Carol". In February 2021, Thomas portrayed Bodie Lord in the Amazon thriller drama television series "Tell Me Your Secrets", appearing in episode 5. In January 2022, Thomas portrayed Wendy Byrde's estranged father, Nathan Davis, in the three episodes of season 4 of the Netflix series Ozark. Personal life. Thomas married Alma Gonzales in 1975. In 1976, they had a son, Richard Francisco. Triplet daughters (Pilar, Barbara, and Gwyneth) were born in 1981. Thomas and  Gonzales divorced in 1993. Thomas married Santa Fe art dealer Georgiana Bischoff on November 20, 1994 and their son, Montana, was born in 1996. Bischoff has two daughters, Brooke and Kendra, from previous marriages. Thomas and Georgiana currently reside in Manhattan, New York. Two of their children (Montana and Kendra) also reside in New York City. Filmography. Film. Sources: TCM; AllMovie Television films. Sources: TCM; AllMovie; TV Guide