Marion Hawkes, 74; Inspired the Tomboy on ‘The Waltons’ TV Show
LA Times
Marion Hamner Hawkes, 74, who inspired the strong, sometimes feisty tomboy character of Mary Ellen on television’s “The Waltons,” died of liver and kidney failure Monday at a hospice in Williamsburg, Va. Hawkes was the sister of Earl Hamner Jr., the creator of “The Waltons” who based the show’s characters on his family and experiences growing up in rural Virginia during the Depression. The CBS series, co-starring Richard Thomas as aspiring writer John Boy, the close-knit family’s eldest son, ran from 1972 to 1981.
