Judy Norton, best known for playing the rebellious Mary Ellen Walton on The Waltons, made news this week after stepping out in Los Angeles, shocking longtime fans with how much the once-youthful TV belle has changed.
Judy Norton’s life changed dramatically in 1971, when she joined the cast of a new television drama about a struggling mountain family in 1930s Virginia. That sitcom, The Waltons, would go on to become a beloved television classic, with Norton’s portrayal of the feisty Mary Ellen Walton helping to make her famous.
But success did not happen overnight. The series had a difficult start and was even scheduled in what industry insiders dubbed a “death block”—a “time period infamous for canceling projects.
“It was really the producers who went out and created a grassroots campaign, like taking out ads and doing interviews in the heartland, in Middle America, where we really found our audience,” Norton said to Fox News.
“Just really kind of pleading with people to watch the show and embrace it,” she told me. “The audience formed the core… Those are our most devoted followers who continue to watch the show in reruns.”
The Waltons ran for a decade, from 1971 to 1981, and its legacy lives on through reruns that continue to captivate longstanding fans. Judy Norton has always felt a strong connection to her part as Mary Ellen.
She faced a familiar challenge.
“I felt a real responsibility knowing people looked up to me,” she recalled. “That pushed me to work harder.” Norton noted that she is still committed to personal development: “I’m always learning, trying to improve—because I want to be the best role model I can be.”
After The Waltons, Norton faced a similar difficulty that many former child stars in Hollywood face: stepping away from the part that made her famous. In recent years, she has primarily remained out of the spotlight.
However, the 67-year-old actress was recently seen making a rare public appearance, clad in a stylish flowery summer dress with wedge heels, sunglasses, and a little tan handbag.
While she appeared graceful and put-together, the encounter elicited a slew of emotions online, ranging from pleasant memories to unexpected criticism.
Playboy shoot
“She was THE TV crush of the ’70s,” one fan commented. “Mary Ellen was smart, strong, and gorgeous—everything a girl wanted to be.”
But not all of the conversation was about The Waltons. Many people remembered Norton’s jaw-dropping 1985 Playboy appearance, an attempt to distance herself from her pristine reputation. Posing naked was a daring move designed to relaunch her as a genuine adult actor. Instead, it backfired.
“She had more bush than Alan Titchmarsh’s garden!” one reader remarked in the comments section. “That was how it was before the trend to shave,” someone else added.
The photoshoot was supposed to empower her, but it instead turned her into tabloid fodder.
“I was getting a lot of advice from people who were representing me at the time,” Norton admitted in a 2018 interview. “They believed it would be a positive career move. I would not claim that was the case.
“It’s one of those things that if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have made the choice,” according to her. “I learned many lessons from it, in terms of trusting my instincts and decisions more than other people’s, even though it seemed like they knew more than me.”
Though she had thought that the Playboy shoot would help her career, it accomplished the reverse.
“Instead of opening new doors, it brought more challenges,” Norton said” “That’s what it is.” “You can only move forward.”
Following the conclusion of The Waltons, Norton temporarily experimented with mainstream television, appearing on shows such as The Love Boat and game shows, but the majority of her work remained tethered to the Walton universe, returning for holiday specials and reunion episodes throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
As on-screen possibilities dried up, Norton returned her attention to the stage. She wrote, directed, and performed in regional theater performances around North America, quietly sustaining her career while staying out of Hollywood’s glare.
“You all su*ck.”
However, in 2013, she began to make a minor comeback. Norton gradually rebuilt her résumé, receiving acting credits practically every year until 2022.
While some readers harshly criticized her recent appearance, others rushed to defend her.
te. “You’ll be her age one day if you’re lucky enough.”
Another person commented, “She appears real. That’s more than I can say about most women her age in the industry.”
Now, decades after her zenith of celebrity—and the scandal that accompanied it—Judy Norton is a reminder of how complex and long-lasting the legacy of television fame can be.