Richard Thomas (actor) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Colonel Richard Thomas
Thomas at the Peabody Awards in May 2015
Born	Richard Earl Thomas (1951-06-13) June 13, 1951 (age 74) Manhattan, New York, United States
Education	Allen-Stevenson School McBurney School Columbia University (dropped out)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1958–present
Spouse(s)	Alma Gonzales ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1993)​ Georgiana Bischoff ​ ​ (m. 1994)​
Children	7
Parents	Richard Thomas (father) Barbara Fallis (mother)

Richard Earl Thomas (born June 13, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing John-Boy Walton, a young writer, in the TV show The Waltons. For this role, he won an Emmy Award. He was also nominated for another Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards.

Richard Thomas also played Bill Denbrough in the 1990 TV mini-series It, which was based on a famous horror novel. He was also Special Agent Frank Gaad in the spy show The Americans. More recently, he appeared in the Netflix series Ozark and played Atticus Finch in the play To Kill a Mockingbird from 2022 to 2024.

Early Life and School

Richard Thomas was born on June 13, 1951, in Manhattan, New York. His parents, Barbara Fallis and Richard S. Thomas, were dancers with the New York City Ballet. They also owned a ballet school in New York.

Richard has a birthmark on his left cheek. He once said that this mark caused him to lose a role in a TV commercial when he was young.

He went to two private schools for boys in Manhattan: Allen-Stevenson School and then McBurney School.

After high school, he studied Chinese at Columbia University. He later changed his major to English. However, he left college during his third year to act full-time in The Waltons.

Acting Career

Thomas at age 10 in 1, 2, 3 Go!

Richard Thomas started acting on Broadway in 1958 when he was just seven years old. His first play was Sunrise at Campobello. In 1959, he appeared in a TV show called A Doll's House. He also acted in daytime soap operas like The Edge of Night and As the World Turns. In 1970, he was a guest star in the TV western Bonanza.

His first big movie roles were in Winning (1969) with Paul Newman and Last Summer (1969).

In 1971, Thomas appeared in the movie The Todd Killings and also starred in Red Sky at Morning.

Thomas on the set of The Waltons in 1973

In 1972, Richard Thomas became very famous for playing John-Boy Walton in the TV series The Waltons. This show was based on the real-life story of writer Earl Hamner, Jr.. He first played John-Boy in the TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story in 1971. He then continued the role in 122 episodes of The Waltons. In 1977, he left the show, but he came back for three Waltons TV movies in the 1990s. He won an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 1973 for his work on the show.

Thomas also played different kinds of characters. He was a murderer in You'll Like My Mother (1972). He played Private Henry Fleming in The Red Badge of Courage (1974) and Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front (1979).

He appeared in the TV mini-series Roots: The Next Generations (1979) and played the adult Bill Denbrough in the 1990 TV mini-series It.

In 1980, Thomas returned to Broadway in the play Fifth of July. That same year, he was in the science fiction movie Battle Beyond the Stars.

He continued to act in many plays, including Citizen Tom Paine (1987) and Richard II (1993). He also starred in TV movies like Death in Small Doses (1995) and The Christmas Box (1995).

In the early 2000s, he appeared in plays in London and New York. He also hosted the TV series It's a Miracle and starred in Just Cause.

Thomas with singer Stacey Robinson in 2014

From 2013 to 2016, Richard Thomas played Frank Gaad in the TV series The Americans. In 2017, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the Broadway play The Little Foxes.

In December 2018, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical version of A Christmas Carol. In 2021, he was in the Amazon thriller series Tell Me Your Secrets. In January 2022, he appeared in the Netflix series Ozark.

From April 2022, Thomas starred as Atticus Finch in a national tour of the play To Kill a Mockingbird. In 2024, he played Professor Webb in the play Our Town.

As of early 2023, Richard Thomas has narrated over 340 audiobooks for Audible.

Personal Life

Richard Thomas married Alma Gonzales in 1975. They had a son in 1976 and triplet daughters in 1981. They divorced in 1993.

On November 20, 1994, Thomas married Georgiana Bischoff, an art dealer. They had a son in 1996. Richard also adopted Georgiana's two daughters from her previous marriages. Richard and Georgiana live in New York.

He holds an honorary title as a Kentucky Colonel.

Film and Television Roles

Richard Thomas has acted in many films and TV shows. Here are some of his notable roles:

Films

• 1969: Winning as Charley
• 1969: Last Summer as Peter
• 1980: Battle Beyond the Stars as Shad
• 2000: Wonder Boys as Walter Gaskell
• 2009: Taking Woodstock as Reverend Don Darren Pettie
• 2021: The Unforgivable as Michael Malcolm

Television Films

• 1971: The Homecoming: A Christmas Story as John-Boy Walton
• 1979: All Quiet on the Western Front as Paul Baumer
• 1990: Andre's Mother as Cal Porter
• 1993: I Can Make You Love Me as Richard Farley
• 1995: The Christmas Box as Richard Evans
• 2021: The Waltons' Homecoming as John-Boy Walton (voice) / Host

Television Series

• 1972–1977: The Waltons as John-Boy Walton (124 episodes)
• 1979: Roots: The Next Generations as Jim Warner (3 episodes)
• 1990: It as Bill Denbrough (2 episodes)
• 2013–2016: The Americans as Frank Gaad (41 episodes)
• 2017, 2019: Billions as Sanford Bensinger (3 episodes)
• 2022: Ozark as Nathan Davis (9 episodes)

Awards and Nominations

Richard Thomas has received several awards and nominations for his acting:

See also

In Spanish: Richard Thomas para niños