Charlotte Stewart played Eva Beadle, the school teacher on Little House on the Prairie. During that time, she was also appearing on several other iconic series including Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and The Waltons. During her brief time on The Waltons, she got to know the cast and even fell for one of them!
Between scenes, she got to know Ralph Waite, who plays John Walton Sr. on the show. She admitted that he was not that similar to his wholesome character. Charlotte said, “He had earned a theology degree from Yale and was an ordained Presbyterian minister, who in the early 1960s had been drawn to theater. He’d played on and off Broadway for years and came out to California for ‘The Waltons’ a little reluctantly, I think. He certainly wasn’t the guy you saw on TV. He had a brain like a freight train and lived life to its fullest.”
Charlotte Stewart had a fling with Ralph Waite
It seems they had a little fling and a mishap caused a lot of people to find out about it! She explained, “We had a great time together. Once when Ralph spent the night at my house in Topanga, he realized the next day he’d left his wallet. He called me from the set with his tale of woe. I drove it over to the Warner Brothers set and dropped it off to the amusement of a few people on the show who realized what had happened.”
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During that time, Charlotte was double booked so many people asked her how she even had time to casually date Ralph. She was filming a movie called Eraserhead all night and then she would film The Waltons during the day. She admitted that she only slept for about an hour so she was extremely tired.
She added, “How did I manage then to also have a fling with Ralph Waite at the same time, you ask? It’s that farm girl work ethic.” Too funny!
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