Earl Hamner Jr., who created the TV show "The Waltons," died in Los Angeles at 92. (Richmond Times-Dispatch file)

Earl Hamner Jr., a novelist and television writer who drew on childhood memories of life in the Virginia countryside to create "The Waltons," a family drama that defied expectations to become one of the most successful and popular TV shows of the 1970s and early 1980s, died March 24 at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 92.

The cause was bladder cancer, his daughter, Caroline Hamner, told the Los Angeles Times.

Hamner's long list of writing credits included the best-selling 1961 novel "Spencer's Mountain," later made into a film, and eight episodes of "The Twilight Zone," the suspense series created by his friend Rod Serling.

He also wrote scripts for a 1968 NBC production of "Heidi" — which interrupted a dramatic pro football game — and for the 1973 animated film "Charlotte's Web." In the 1980s, Hamner created and produced the wine-country TV saga "Falcon Crest."

But the work closest to his heart was "The Waltons," which Hamner guided as a writer and executive producer during its nine-season run from 1972 to 1981. He also produced a continuing series of TV movies that periodically reunited the Walton clan until 1997.

"The Waltons" began with a novella, "The Homecoming," that Hamner published in 1970. It told a story from 1933, when Hamner's father struggled through a Christmas snowstorm to return to the family home in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"The Homecoming" was shown as a holiday TV movie in 1971, starring Patricia Neal. The tone was created at the beginning by Hamner's narration, delivered in a soft mountain drawl.

"My grandfather used to say that nobody owns a mountain, but getting born and living and dying in its shadow, we loved Waltons' Mountain and felt it was ours," he said.

When the heartwarming tale received good reviews, Hamner was asked to develop a series for CBS. When "The Waltons" debuted in 1972, it was considered a throwaway show, running opposite two hits, NBC's "The Flip Wilson Show" and ABC's "The Mod Squad."

Within two years, both were off the air as "The Waltons" dominated ratings for almost a decade. The show won 13 Emmy Awards and became a popular and critical success.

Each week, the 11 members of the Walton family — two parents, two grandparents and seven children — hung together against misfortune, jealousy, poverty and small-mindedness.

Earl Henry Hamner Jr. was born July 10, 1923, in Schuyler, Va., an unincorporated community 24 miles south of Charlottesville. He was the oldest of eight children — not seven as in "The Waltons."

His father worked at a soapstone mill until it shut down, and later as a machinist. When he came home on weekends from his job in Waynesboro, he walked the last 6 miles on foot.

Hamner was determined to be a writer at age 6, when he published a poem about a dog — which he didn't have — in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He attended the University of Richmond before serving in the Army in Europe during World War II.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, the former Jane Martin; two children; two sisters; and a brother.