There's something delightfully down-to-earth about Richard Thomas. The wholehearted sincerity that drew millions to him as John Boy in the iconic CBS heart warmer The Waltons is still there-it's an indelible part of him. But there's also a clear-eyed, pragmatic point of view about life in the entertainment business that comes off as a refreshing sense of calm and self-acceptance.
"Some people say, "Oh, Richard Thomas-love him! He's great!' Others are, "Oh, I can't stand him! Yuck! Give me so-and-so,'" he laughed as we talked in his dressing room at the Ahmanson Theatre before a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he plays the impish Puck. "But you know, that's the way it is. We're up here for people's enjoyment. If they don't enjoy us, there's nothing you can do about it. If they do, great. And if you get enough who do, it doesn't matter that there are some who don't."
Theatregoing audiences have been enjoying Thomas onstage since he made his 1958 Broadway debut, at age seven, as the son of Franklin D. Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello. Since then, he's played regional, Off-Broadway, and Broadway houses in such diverse roles as the Dauphin in Saint Joan, Merton in Merton of the Movies, Brother Julian in Tiny Alice, and the lead role of Stephen in The Lisbon Traviata at the Mark Taper Forum.
His Emmy award-winning turn as the sensitive writer John Boy Walton was followed by dozens of television movies, ranging from his compelling performance as a young WWI soldier in All Quiet on the Western Front ("I'm really proud of that movie") to his upright take on a horror writer returning home to face down childhood fears in Stephen King's It ("That was just so much fun!").
While television movies are his bread and butter these days (he makes about three a year), he's always eager to return to the stage. His current challenge-Puck in Midsummer, in repertory with sexually repressed Angelo in Measure for Measure, both under director Sir Peter Hall-is one that greatly pleases him for a number of reasons: He's never done shows in rep before, he loves the contrast of characters, and he's long wanted to play Angelo.
"Every time I've seen Measure, I've thought, Well, this is just a fabulous, kind of mysterious part," he said of the by-the-book deputy left in charge of the court who finally succumbs to his own lustful urgings. "Angelo's journey is deeply satisfying, and Peter gave me permission to play it how I wanted-very quiet, very clear, very simple, not some tour de force role, which would be very easy to do-to really play it like an earnest young Republican untested in the world, who gets out there and suddenly everything he thought was secure turns to jello."
It's Thomas' inherent sincerity that makes him so appealing in the role and heightens Angelo's conflict. And it's his playfulness and willingness to go all out that enlivens Midsummer and makes Puck the most energetic character onstage.
"It's very freeing, after Measure, to free yourself into Puck," he grinned. "Then, after a couple of Dreams, it's wonderful to get to Measure because you feel like a human again. The structure of Angelo is such a wonderful journey. It's all laid out and developed beautifully. And Puck is such an unfettered two-year-old; they really complement each other."
The 48-year-old Thomas admitted he was surprised at being asked to play Puck, whom he refers to as a "completely id character." But director Hall insisted "something was there." And Thomas is glad he listened. "I went into Angelo with a very clear feeling about how I wanted to approach the role," he explained. "But Puck just turned out to be a great surprise and a great gift-a great switch."
It is, he admitted, a balancing act to maintain a career in television, which is "creatively satisfying as well as being my livelihood, and being able to do theatre, which is very costly but which is also very precious and essential for me. It isn't for everybody and it shouldn't have to be for everybody. I don't think any actor should be made to feel guilty for not wanting to be in the theatre. I think that's just wrong. I do it because it gives me pleasure, pure and simple. I'm happier onstage than anywhere else in my working life.
"That doesn't mean I don't like working in front of the camera. That's a marvelous challenge and it's very satisfying, and it's been a big part of my life. But I do this for the pleasure."