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• Judy Norton looked back at her time as part of one of America’s most beloved families with Patrick Labyorteaux on his podcast
• The Waltons actress played Mary Ellen Walton throughout the entire series and the six subsequent TV movies
• The actress laughs with the Little House on the Prairie alum about how frequently the two shows got confused by fans

Richard Thomas will always be grateful for his time on The Waltons.

Speaking to PEOPLE about the secret to his long career — which includes his 2026 Tony Award nomination for his featured performance in David Lindsay-Abaire‘s scathing comedy The Balusters — the 74-year-old actor admits, “There’s no secrets. I’ve just been lucky. I just kept getting hired. I’ve been an actor for hire my whole life, and it’s worked out.”

Thomas made his Broadway debut at just seven years old, appearing in Sunrise at Campobello. He then transitioned to TV and film roles, including 1969’s Winning with Paul Newman.

Then, in 1972, he was cast on The Waltons as John-Boy Walton, the family’s eldest son. He starred on the series for the first five seasons, made guest appearances in the sixth and seventh seasons and later returned for three TV movies in the 1990s. He won an Emmy for The Waltons in 1973.

Every episode of the show featured the cast wishing each other goodnight, which accidentally created the show’s most iconic catchphrase in “Good night, John-Boy” — a simple sign-off that has endured far beyond The Waltons, becoming one of television’s most recognizable expressions of warmth, comfort and family connection.

Does Thomas ever get tired of hearing fans say the line?

“Oh God, no,” he says. “Oh no, no. I love it.” He shares that sometimes when he does shows, during the curtain call, “I get lots of ‘Good night, John-Boys.’ It’s very sweet. It makes me very happy.”

More than five decades after The Waltons premiered, Thomas still sounds genuinely moved by the affection audiences have for the series — even as his own career has stretched far beyond the wholesome mountain drama that made him famous.

Having grown up in the industry himself alongside other young performers, he’s also deeply aware of the pressures that can come with early fame.

“It looks easy and fun and fabulous, but it’s very challenging,” he says, noting how much he feels for young actors navigating the social media world today, where fame comes with constant scrutiny and far less privacy than he experienced as a child star in the 1970s. “We still had some privacy in our lives.”

Without the pressures of today’s always-online culture, Thomas says the young cast of The Waltons was able to form genuine lifelong bonds. The actor shares that his former costars — including Michael Learned, Jon Walmsley, Judy Norton, Mary Elizabeth McDonough, Eric Scott, David W. Harper and Kami Cotler — are “still like a big family.”

“We’re very close, stay in touch all the time,” he shares. “Nothing better could have ever happened to any other actor.”

That sense of connection and ensemble is something Thomas says he’s been lucky enough to find again in The Balusters, where he’s earning some of the strongest reviews of his Broadway career.

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In the play, Thomas stars as Elliot Emerson, the tightly wound head of a suburban homeowners’ association whose desperate need to preserve the status quo is challenged by a new neighbor, played by Tony winner Anika Noni Rose.

Thomas has drawn acclaim for the performance, balancing bluster, comedy and heartbreak as Elliot. The role gives Thomas a chance to weaponize both his warmth and volatility, slowly unraveling over the course of the play.

By the final scene, he throws a full-scale tantrum and tears apart the set — delivering one of the production’s biggest crowd-pleasing moments.

Playing the breakdown scene is “so much fun,” he says, though it’s also “emotionally very rich and taxing.”

“Nothing is better,” he adds. “I’ve never had this experience before of sitting in an easy chair for the preponderance of the show and then getting up and destroying the set at the end.”

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Thomas credits how fully fleshed out the show’s ensemble feels to Lindsay-Abaire. He praises the playwright for making each character feel “so special.”

“Every character is the star of the show,” he says, praising Lindsay-Abaire’s ability to not “come down” on any one side of the argument. “He’s just letting people be people. We have to make up our own minds.”

The actor also heaps praise on his castmates, including fellow 2026 Tony nominee Marylouise Burke, who stars as one of the board’s longtime members Penny Buell.

“She is our lucky star, and I get to sit there and watch her do that magnificent work every night, eight times a week,” he says of the 85-year-old actress, calling her “just magic.”

He also praises the rest of the company, which includes Desperate Housewives alum Ricardo Chavira, Kayli Carter, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Gossip Girl‘s Margaret Colin, Michael Esper, Maria-Christina Oliveras and Jeena Yi.

The Balusters, directed by Kenny Leon and produced by Manhattan Theatre Club, is nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play. The production recently extended its Broadway run at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through June 21.

With his latest Tony nomination, Thomas is now the nominee with the longest Broadway career in this year’s Tony field — a journey that began when he made his debut at just 7 years old.

Now 68 years later, he’s still soaking it all in. And most importantly, he’s grateful to have his second nomination, after he received a nod in the same category for his role in 2017’s The Little Foxes.

“It makes me feel like the first one wasn’t a mistake,” he jokes.

Tickets for The Balusters are on sale now. The 2026 Tony Awards will take place at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 7. The show will be broadcast live to both coasts on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, and will stream on Paramount+.

Quotes About Looks

• “Crying is for plain women. Pretty women go shopping.” —Blanche
• “Well, nobody ever believes me when I’m telling the truth. I guess it’s the curse of every devastatingly beautiful woman.” —Blanche
• “Isn’t it amazing how I can feel so bad, and still look so good?” —Blanche
• “Flirting is part of my heritage.” —Blanche
• “I take very good care of myself. I treat my body like a temple.” —Blanche
• “Why don’t I just wear a sign that says, ‘Too ugly to live?’” —Dorothy
• “That phony hair color won’t wash out just because you got caught in the rain!” —Blanche

Quotes About Wisdom

• “Go to sleep, sweetheart. Pray for brains.” —Dorothy
• “People waste their time pondering whether a glass is half empty or half full. Me, I just drink whatever’s in the glass.” —Sophia
• “It’s like we say in St. Olaf—Christmas without fruitcake is like St. Sigmund’s Day without the headless boy.” —Rose
• Dorothy: “Rose, what are you listening to?” Rose: “A relaxation tape. The rain is supposed to relax me.” Dorothy: “Is it working?” Rose: “Not really. I keep worrying that I left my car windows down.”
• “It’s like life is a giant weenie roast, and I’m the biggest weenie.” —Rose
• “Tell me the truth: Do these glasses make me look stupid?” —Rose
• Rose: “Can I ask a dumb question?” Dorothy: “Better than anyone I know.”
• “Why do blessings wear disguises? If I were a blessing, I’d run around naked.” —Sophia
• To Sophia: “My mistake. I thought since you look like Yoda you were also wise.” —Blanche
• “You know what they say: You can lead a herring to water, but you have to walk really fast or he’ll die.” —Rose
• “The bottom line is, in life, sometimes good things happen, sometimes bad things happen. But honey, if you don’t take a chance, nothing happens.” —Dorothy
• “Please forgive me. It’s not my fault my cousins have been marrying each other for generations.” —Rose
• “I think there’s a connection between your brain and wallpaper paste.” —Sophia
• “Rose, honey…have you been washing the fruit off before you eat it?” —Dorothy
• “Stanley, you’re one chromosome away from being a potato.” —Dorothy

Quotes About Relationships

• Dorothy: “I have a date.” Blanche: “With a man?” Dorothy: “No, Blanche. With a Venus Fly Trap.”
• Rose: “Tell me, is it possible to love two men at the same time.” Blanche: “Set the scene, have we been drinking?”
• “I’ve been having a good time, and there wasn’t even a man in the room.” —Blanche
• Blanche: “Dorothy, what do you think I oughta do with my bed?” Dorothy: “Put it in the Smithsonian, Blanche. It’s got more miles on it than the Spirit of St. Louis.”
• “I hate to admit it, but he melts my Häagen-Dazs.” —Rose
• “When a 22-year-old girl marries a man who’s 80, chances are she is not after his body.” —Dorothy
• “Oh, do you know how many great, late-night talks we’ve had at this kitchen table over cheesecake?” —Dorothy
• “I know you don’t get many dates, Dorothy, but stick with what you know.” —Sophia

Quotes About Aging

• Dorothy: “Oh, c’mon Blanche. Age is just a state of mind.” Blanche: “Tell that to my thighs.”
• Dorothy: “You know what’s young to me now? Forty. Suddenly, forty is young.” Blanche: “Oooh…aren’t you sweet.”
• “Dorothy, was Sophia naked just now or does her dress really need ironing?” —Rose
• “After 80, every year without a headstone is a milestone.” —Sophia
• “My mother used to say: The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.” —Rose
• “Look, you didn’t ask me for my opinion, but I’m old, so I’m giving it anyway.” —Sophia
• “You know my motto. Today could be the last day of your life.” —Sophia
• “We not only took care of our old people, we revered them, honored them, put them on a pedestal. ‘Course, that’s how we got to be the broken hip capital of the Midwest.” —Rose
• “When a person dies, you go to their funeral to show the man upstairs you have respect for human life, no matter how wretched it was. Any idiot knows that.” —Sophia

Quotes About Behaving Badly

• Dorothy: “Ma, I have a feeling you’re lying.” Rose: “Dorothy, be positive.” Dorothy: “Okay, I’m positive you’re lying.”
• “No! No, I will not have a nice day!” —Dorothy
• Dorothy: “You know what your trouble is?” Blanche: “Of course not.”
• “Have I given you any indication that I care?” —Sophia
• “No matter how bad things get, remember these sage words: You’re old, you sag, get over it.” —Sophia
• “Jealousy is a very ugly thing, Dorothy. And so are you in anything backless.” —Sophia
• “She’s really a very sweet woman. She just doesn’t like to show it.” —Dorothy
• “Want a glass of water to wash down your foot?” —Sophia
• Rose: “Where are you going?” Dorothy: “To get ice cream or commit a felony. I’ll decide in the car.”
• “I feel like crawling under the covers and eating a box of Velveeta.” —Rose
• “Oh, blow it out your Tubenburbles!” —Rose
• “You’ll have to excuse my mother. She suffered a slight stroke a few years ago which rendered her totally annoying.” —Dorothy
• “May you put your dentures in upside down and chew your head off.” —Sophia
• Blanche: “I’ve never been so humiliated in my life.” Dorothy: “What about the time you lost the key to your handcuffs and had to go with that guy on his mail route?”

Funny Quotes

• “It is not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it.” —Dorothy
• “I’m not one to blow my own vertubenflugen.” —Rose
• “How come whenever my ship comes in, it’s leaking?” —Dorothy
• “We have Maalox and estrogen. How many junkies have gas and hot flashes?” —Dorothy
• “I hate Jell-O. If God wanted peaches suspended in midair, he would have filled them with helium.” —Sophia
• “It’s time I gave something back to the chicken community. A chicken once saved my life.” —Rose
• “If the ancient Egyptians could move 20-ton stone blocks to build the pyramids, we can move a toilet.” —Rose
• “You come to me if you have problems with a man. You go to Dorothy if there’s some grammar you need help with.” —Blanche
• “The woman keeps a chicken in her home, how normal can she be?” —Dorothy
• “No, it’s me, Rose! I’m just wearing my hair a little differently.” —Rose
• “If this sauce was a person, I’d get naked and make love to it.” —Sophia
• “You’re a furry little gnome, and we feed you too much!” —Dorothy