What do minions, The Avengers, and The Twilight Zone all have in common? Well, each has a Richmond connection. It might seem like a non sequitur that a small, liberal arts school in Virginia would have a significant footprint 3,000 miles away in Hollywood, but it’s true.
For evidence supporting that claim, just watch Earl Hamner, Storyteller, a documentary that premiered in Los Angeles earlier this year and tells the story of Hamner’s contributions to the industry and American culture through his writing and television work.
In the mid-20th century, Hamner launched his career on the small screen writing and producing a number of television shows.
Hamner, who turned 92 in July, wrote six episodes of The Twilight Zone, the classic mind-bending, psychological thriller that debuted in 1959. But he’s more widely known as the creator of The Waltons, a show that ran for a decade and centered on a family in a bucolic Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II.
While Hamner didn’t officially graduate from Richmond, his time attending Richmond College had a lasting impact on his work on The Waltons, which was autobiographical. When John Boy went to college, he attended Boatwright University. John Boy’s dean also bore a striking resemblance to Richmond College’s Raymond Pinchbeck in demeanor.
The Waltons and Hamner aren’t Richmond’s only claim to fame. Last winter, this magazine published a grade report from Harleigh Schultz, a 1904 grad who was a publicity man for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In more recent years, Grant Shaud, R’83, played the young, neurotic producer Miles Silverberg on Murphy Brown and continues to appear on TV series today. Jamie McShane, R’89, also has built an impressive acting career (see page 35). Dave Rosenbaum, ’96, was head of story for Despicable Me and The Lorax from Universal Studios. (He has the minions to prove it.) And Jake Monaco, ’04, has helped score some of Hollywood’s biggest films, including Frozen.
Who knows? Every day a star is born. The next big name could have already arrived on campus with the first-years this fall.
