Judy Norton opens up about a heartfelt gifts she received from her co-star on The Waltons.
One of the things that made The Waltons so successful was its authentic depiction of family bonds. Many actors play a family in front of the camera but as soon as they are offscreen they don’t really feel a connection with their co-stars. But that wasn’t the case for the cast of The Waltons. For stars like Judy Norton who grew up on The Waltons, it’s “impossible to know where one [onscreen life] started and another one [offscreen life] ended.” The lessons she learned on the show became lessons she applied to her real life. And her onscreen family became her real-life chosen family. So, it’s no surprise that after recapping the season three episode titled “The Ring” in her vlog series, Judy Norton remembered a gift her co-star Michael Learned gave her years ago. During the video, Norton opened up about the heartfelt gift.
“One Christmas, Michael Learned gifted me with a personal ring of hers. Which I am wearing here. It was something that she owned personally and she gifted to me. And I kept it forever,” said Norton. “So, when I was thinking of ‘The Ring,’ I thought back to these personal touches. And the ways in which this who has brought us all together, made us close. And the ways in which sometimes real life took on aspects of the show and the show took on aspects of real-life. So, it sometimes intermingled.”
Did Starring On The Waltons Change Judy Norton’s Life?
Judy Norton has released over 75 videos on her YouTube channel. Almost weekly, she releases behind-the-scenes secrets about episodes of The Waltons. So, naturally, she’s received a lot of questions from fans. During the same episode, Norton said that people frequently ask her if her life changed because of the show. Norton said that it’s difficult to separate her experiences on set from her life offscreen because the two were so intertwined.
“Some people asked me if I felt like things within my life were different because of doing the series. If I learned lessons from the show and it changed me in real life. And there was so much synergy between the two that it’s impossible to know where one started and another one ended,” said Judy Norton. “It just became a part of my life on camera and off-camera. With these actors who played my family on tv and became my family in real life.”
