Earl Hamner, Jr.

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Earl Henry Hamner, Jr. (born on July 10, 1923 in Schuyler, Virginia) is an American television writer and producer, best known for his work in the 1970s and 1980s on the long-running CBS series The Waltons and Falcon Crest. As a novelist, he is best known for the novel Spencer's Mountain, which was inspired by his own childhood and formed the basis for both the film of the same name and the television series The Waltons. Hamner also served as the unseen narrator of The Waltons.

He is also sometimes credited as Earl Hamner. He based the cantankerous Walton family grandparents in the popular television series on his own maternal Italian-American grandparents, Ora Lee and A. Gianniny, an anglicized version of the Italian name "Giannini". A recurring character named Connie Giannini (Carla Borelli) appeared on Falcon Crest.

Earl Hamner also contributed eight episodes in the early 1960s to the classic CBS science fiction series The Twilight Zone. His first script acceptance for the series was his big writing break in Hollywood.

He created two less successful series, Boone on NBC (1983-1984), starring Tom Byrd and Barry Corbin, and Apple's Way (1974-1975) on CBS with Ronny Cox.

Hamner offered sound advice to aspiring writers: "Writing is all about rewriting".