Kami Cotler portrayed Elizabeth, the youngest member of the Walton family. Since her time acting on the show she has become a teacher, educator and school principal. Recently, Kami has become quite active on her Facebook page, sharing her memories of working on The Waltons. Preserved here are those memories that she has shared for your easy reference and enjoyment.

 

If you want to read the comments click the date of each post to go to the original post on Facebook.


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January 3, 2019

Dominick asks what a typical work week was like on the set of "The Waltons". There wasn't a pattern to a week, as each hour-long episode took more than 5 days to film. We would typically receive the script a week or so before filming started. The director and assistant director would plan the shooting schedule. We shot out of order. Since it takes time to move equipment into place and light the sets, filming was arranged by location-- all the kitchen scenes filmed consecutively, then all the living room scenes, then a move to the store. In the first few years the adults would meet for lunch and a table reading of the script before the episode began filming, but I wasn't ever part of that. 


My work week depended on the script. If I was in a scene, I was on set. If they were filming scenes I wasn't in, I was in the school trainer.

 


January 4, 2019

Here's an interview with Michael. I want to say that when she says the was "a total jerk" on set, she is being very hard on herself. Even as a small child I was conscious that she loved acting, was very talented and the grind of TV series acting was very hard on her. I understood she'd be happier on stage with the stimulation of a live audience and with more challenging material. I was too young to comprehend that she was also a single mother and working 12-hour days (and more) would be hard. I remember her being sad and frustrated sometimes. I also can't think of a time when she her performance wasn't completely there for me as a fellow actor. And as a fellow human, I can't remember her ever hurting my feelings or not being warm and supportive if I needed that.

 

Michael Learned, who starred in the ‘The Waltons’ for 8 years,

prefers her ride with ‘Driving Miss Daisy’

 


 

January 11, 2019

Michael asks, "Kami, in The Homecoming, how many takes of the lunch scene were there? How much of the soup did you actually eat?" I don't remember how many takes, but I ate a lot of soup. And the spoon they gave me was sooo big. And I thought the soup was delicious. And I didn't really realize the point of the scene was Olivia's story, not how good the soup was. My Mom overheard the director tell Patricia O'Neal about the scene afterwards. He said something like, "Something happened during your monologue." And she replied, "The little one?" And he said, "You can't believe how she eats soup..."




January 17, 2019

 

Someone asks, how close I was to Richard and to Will. We were all close. It wasn't the kind of set where people hid in their dressing rooms. The adults were working long days and, when the kids weren't in the school, we were hanging out on set with them. I was the youngest, so I spent a lot of time playing, rather than in conversation with the grown up actors, but my play would take me into the flow of the adults. For example, I might be playing int he garden, and Will might come and tell me about the plants growing there. Or I might be reading and Richard would talk to me about my book.

 


 

January 19, 2019

Here's information on the amazing house used for "Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane." And I'm wondering, if you saw it, did you spot me?

 

THE HOUSE FROM HALLMARK’S “CHRISTMAS ON HONEYSUCKLE LANE”

 


January 25, 2019

Sweet tribute to the first Olivia Walton

 

(Click the photo to see all 12 photos on Facebook)

 


January 26, 2019

They might be adding a B&B near
the Walton's Mountain Museum in Schuyler, VA.


 


February 13, 2019

‘Waltons’ child star Kami Cotler reflects
on late actor Ralph Waite 5 years after his death


 


February 23, 2019

Someone asked about driving the old cars on The Waltons. It wasn't easy! For scenes where a car just pulls into frame, they usually tied ropes on the front of the car/truck and the crew pulled it into frame. It was hard to drive into frame and hit a precise mark, and the cars didn't always stay where you parked them-- the engine would sputter off and the car might lurch forward. I can remember scenes needing to be reshot because Richard or Ralph drove up, turned off the vehicle and started to get out and then the vehicle lurched forward a foot. Getting them into gear wasn't easy. For Elizabeth's driving scenes (and there weren't many) the transportation captain would just put the car into first gear and I'd hold the brake down. There were gas controls on the steering wheel, along with an accelerator pedal, and they'd set the lever to send some gas to the engine, so all I had to do was remove my foot from the brake and the car would move forward.

 

 


February 23, 2019

Someone asked about driving the old cars on The Waltons. It wasn't easy! For scenes where a car just pulls into frame, they usually tied ropes on the front of the car/truck and the crew pulled it into frame. It was hard to drive into frame and hit a precise mark, and the cars didn't always stay where you parked them-- the engine would sputter off and the car might lurch forward. I can remember scenes needing to be reshot because Richard or Ralph drove up, turned off the vehicle and started to get out and then the vehicle lurched forward a foot. Getting them into gear wasn't easy. For Elizabeth's driving scenes (and there weren't many) the transportation captain would just put the car into first gear and I'd hold the brake down. There were gas controls on the steering wheel, along with an accelerator pedal, and they'd set the lever to send some gas to the engine, so all I had to do was remove my foot from the brake and the car would move forward.

 

 

 

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