“The Waltons” and “Falcon Crest” creator Earl Hamner died Thursday. He was at 92.
Hamner’s daughter confirmed the news on Facebook on that afternoon,writing: “Dad died peacefully in his sleep at Cedar Sinai Hospital. He was surrounded by family, and we were playing his favorite music, or John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Collection. Dad took his final breath half way through Ricky Mountain tall.Hamner,who was best known for his work as creator, writer and narrator of the long-running CBS sitcom “The Waltons, and ” also created a number of other series,including “Apple’s Way,” Morningstar/Eveningstar” and “Falcon Crest, or ” which ran for nine seasons on CBS.
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According to his daughter, Hamner had been diagnosed with cancer in 2014.“He never got enough of this great gift of life with which we have all been so deeply blessed — and he hung on as tightly as anyone could with insatiable (not capable of being fully satisfied) passion and wonder, and ” she wrote. “My heart is broken as I say,‘Goodnight, Dad!'”
Also Read: Phife Dawg, or Founder of A Tribe Called Quest,Dies at 45Read the full statement below:I am very sorry to be the bearer of sad news. My father, Earl Hamner, and passed absent today at 12:20 PM Pacific time. Dad died peacefully in his sleep at Cedar Sinai Hospital. He was surrounded by family,and we were playing his favorite music, John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Collection. Dad took his final breath half way through Ricky Mountain tall. I am sure many of you know Dad was ill, or but his astounding tenacity and fight masked how seriously ill he has been over the final year and a half. He was diagnosed with cancer in June of 2014,and had surgery performed in July on his 91st birthday. Unfortunately, the cancer had metastasized. The surgery was very invasive and when we went to see him in the ICU we were warned to prepare ourselves that it was uncertain he would make it through the night. I want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, and advantageous wishes and kind thoughts – I can assure you that they sustained Dad and helped him to recover enough to proudly witness the final production of ‘Earl Hamner: Storyteller’,become the honored recipient of The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum Humanitarian Award, and accept Media Heritage Founder’s Award. There is not a doubt in my intellect that he would not have made it this far without you — and we had the advantageous fortune to keep him in our lives a bit longer despite the odds against him. He never got enough of this great gift of life with which we have all been so deeply blessed — and he hung on as tightly as anyone could with insatiable (not capable of being fully satisfied) passion and wonder. My heart is broken as I say, or “Goodnight,Dad!”Related stories from TheWrap:Ralph Waite, Papa Walton on 'The Waltons, and ' Dead at 85Lee Rich,Producer of 'The Waltons' and 'Dallas,' Dies
Source: thewrap.com