Was This the Saddest ‘Waltons’ Episode? Michael Learned Reveals That Filming It “Was Emotional” (Exclusive)

Barb Oates 53 seconds ago

Ellen Corby, Grandma, The Waltons — Everett Collection

After more than a year’s absence following a debilitating stroke in 1976, the tenacious Ellen Corby returned to her beloved role as Grandma Esther Walton in one of the most touching The Waltons episodes ever, “Grandma Comes Home.”

Ellen was only 67 in November of 1976, when the Waltons cast and crew, in the middle of filming the Season 5 episode “The Ferris Wheel,” noticed that she hadn’t shown up for work. Knowing that Ellen was never late, Will Greer (Grandpa) immediately sensed something was wrong and went with some producers to her house. They found Ellen at home and immediately took her to the hospital, where she was treated for a stroke.

Everett Collection

Originally, producers didn’t think Ellen would ever return; she missed a season and a half of filming, as her stroke greatly impacted her speech and limited her mobility. While she was recuperating, she penned her autobiography The Pebble of Gibraltar, which was published some years after.

It was truly a heartbreaker for fans and the cast when Corby returned to The Waltons for the Season 6 finale “Grandma Comes Home.” Grandma’s struggles mirrored Ellen’s real-life frustrations in not being able to speak quickly or articulate what was going on.

THE WALTONS, from left: Ellen Corby, Michael Learned in 'The Empty Nest' (Season 7, Episode 1, aired September 21, 1978), 1972-81.

Everett Collection

“It was emotional,” Michael Learned, who played Olivia Walton, tells ReMIND. “I went to see her before she came back on the show a lot. I used to drive her out to the motion picture home and, in fact, I took her there at the end. She was a trooper. She really was. And she had been a script assistant when she was younger. She wasn’t crotchety like Grandma, and she wasn’t a wimp either. She was great, and I loved her.”

Judy Norton, who played Mary Ellen, described the event as a milestone for all of the cast members. “I think this was one of the very first times that a company had actually brought a stroke victim back to work or put them to work or hired them after a stroke as severe as Ellen’s was,” she shared on her The Waltons: Behind the Scenes YouTube stories.

“Grandma Comes Home,” which aired in March of 1978, was an epic tearjerker. While her first appearance, when the family greeted her return, was memorable, it was the scene toward the end of the episode most will never forget. Olivia and Grandma were on the porch snapping beans, as Grandma became frustrated trying to explain to Olivia what she was feeling. At first, Olivia couldn’t understand; however, once she realized that Grandma didn’t want sympathy, but rather wanted to feel useful, the two emotionally embraced. That’s when the waterworks really turned on for viewers watching at home.

Richard Thomas probably best explained the relationships cast members shared at the Hollywood Show in June. “I think there was an authenticity about the relationships and our feelings for each other on the show. I mean, it’s beautifully written and it was a wonderfully made show, but the company of actors were so connected. We had such a beautiful chemistry, all of us, and I think what people saw was real. … When we were all together and working, it was just a big love story. I think that sort of thing lasts. I think it still means something … family is family.”

And for TV viewers, The Waltons were truly their family, too. Ellen remained on the series through the end of the 1978-79 season. She died at the age of 87 in 1999.