Four-time Emmy Award-winning actress Michael Learned is best known as Olivia Walton in The Waltons, a long-running CBS series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. The show was created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his 1961 book Spencer’s Mountain and the 1963 film of the same name. In addition to Learned, Richard Thomas, Ralph Waite, Ellen Corby, Will Geer, Judy Norton, Jon Walmsley, Mary Elizabeth McDonough, Eric Scott, David W. Harper and Kami Colter also starred as members of the iconic family.

Other TV appearances include Gunsmoke, Nurse, St. Elsewhere, Living Dolls, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, All My Children, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless and numerous movies. Learned will portray Jeffrey Dahmer’s grandmother in the upcoming Netflix series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and joins a cast which includes Evan Peters, Richard Jenkins, Penelope Ann Miller and Niecy Nash. She has been married to John Doherty since 1988.

In a new exclusive interview with Smashing Interviews Magazine, The Waltons icon Michael Learned spoke about the show's upcoming reunion and 50th anniversary. Here is that excerpt:

Smashing Interviews Magazine: Well, I’m sure you know that there will be a Waltons reunion in Virginia this June to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show.

Michael Learned: Yeah. John and I are going. I think it’s June 3rd and 4th. Then I start rehearsal in Canada on the 14th of June. So it’s perfect timing. I always love those reunions because we have a good time together as a second family, and the fans are always really warm and very sweet.

Smashing Interviews Magazine: Do you know of any other cast members who will attend?

Michael Learned: No. I don’t know who else is going, but they usually show up because we enjoy each other. I can’t imagine spending eight years together and not getting along. I can’t even imagine that.

Smashing Interviews Magazine: Does it feel like 50 years since that very first episode?

Michael Learned: No! Don’t even say that (laughs). It’s humiliating. I can’t even believe it was 50 years ago. Remember when you were little, and you’d hear the adults saying, “Oh, I’ve known him for 20 years,” and you’d think, “How could you know somebody for 20 years?” Here I am having done the series 50 years ago. Geez.

Smashing Interviews Magazine: Did you have any clue The Waltons would continue to be so popular 50 years later?

Michael Learned: No. It’s touching in a way. I think it was a stroke of genius that it’s set in the Depression, so it’s kind of timeless in that sense. It just falls into the classic category in a way. It moved up to 1950, I think, after I left. It went on another season, believe it or not. I can’t imagine how it could have gone on without me, but it did (laughs). Humbling (laughs).

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Marc Parker is an American journalist, author, artist, a photographer and a computer scientist. He is the founder/publisher/editor-in-chief of Smashing Interviews Magazine. Marc Parker's social media: Twitter Facebook

Melissa Benefield Parker is an American journalist and author. She is the founder/publisher of Smashing Interviews Magazine. Melissa Benefield Parker's social media: Twitter Facebook