The Waltons Reunite for Book Launch, 4/16

WHEN: Saturday 4/16 - 5:00pm

WHERE: BOOK SOUP - 8818 West Sunset Blvd Los Angeles CA 90069 310.659.3110

When asked about being the first of the Walton's cast to release a memoir (Lessons From the Mountain: What I Learned From Erin Walton), Mary declares, "The decision to write didn't come easily for several reasons. When people ask me why we haven't written a book about The Waltons, I joke that if anyone did and told the whole truth, the rest of us would get together and kill them. So, if I disappear soon after this book is published, consider The Waltons family members key suspects."

"Mary is a whole lot more than Erin on The Waltons.
This book shows how she's handled all the highs and
lows with grace."--George Clooney

"...she reveals the terrifying challenges that forced her to
become more "Erin Brockovich" than "Erin Walton!"
--Alison Arngrim, New York Times Best Selling Author of
"Confessions of A Prairie Bitch"

WINNER OF THE ELLA DICKEY LITERACY AWARD, Lessons From the Mountain: What I Learned From Erin Walton (Kensington Publishers, March 29, 2011, $25.00) is award-winning actress, writer, director Mary McDonough's poignant memoir of growing up on Emmy award-winning series The Waltons, where she played the middle sister, Erin. The show is still being shown here as well as in Europe and has fans all over the world.

At the age of ten, McDonough was cast as Erin Walton in The Homecoming, the movie of the week that inspired the dramatic series and overnight, her life as a normal kid in a working-class, Catholic family changed. As McDonough says, "It was bizarre, fun, tremendous, painful, wonderful and different. It was definitely not a normal way to grow up."

McDonough is the recipient of The Lupus Foundation of America's national award for outstanding service, and the American Heart Association awarded her the Les Etoiles De Coeur (Stars of Heart) Award for her participation in their Healthy Heart campaigns. Today McDonough is healthier and happier than she has ever been and teaches acting, is a life coach and conducts workshops and seminars with women and young girls about body image.

McDonough speaks out about ...

o How her very first audition earned her the role that would define a lifetime.
o Her years on the set of The Waltons and what it was like growing up in front of America.
o An adolescent battling depression, insomnia, body image issues and experimented with drugs
o Alternately embracing and rebelling against her good-girl screen persona.
o How her mother responded to the role of Regan in The Exorcist that went to friend Linda Blair.
o Working with industry legends including Edgar Bergen, Patricia Neal, Rosemary Clooney, etc
o Becoming a an expert on health issues she personally faced after obtaining silicone implants
o Being diagnosed with Lupus
o Recent career roles on Boston Legal, The New Adventures of Old Christine, ER, Will Grace
o Recently produced the Walton's Reunion for INSP Television
o The lack of reporting of FDA approved silicone conditions that only last week caused Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro to ask for a hearing regarding these issues.

 

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