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<HTML>May 11, 1999 HarpoAce: Welcome everyone! You saw Richard Thomas on the Oprah Show, now here's your turn to ask him about miracles! He's the host of PAX-TV's popular TV show "It's a Miracle!" and he's here to talk about many of those miraculous stories. Send your questions now! Welcome Richard Thomas! RchdThomas: Well, I tell you for someone who is technologically illiterate this is something of a miracle for me to be here. I am happy to be here, wherever I actually happen to be. (LOL) Well, I know where I am. I'm in my living room! This show is really great. We finished shooting about a month ago, and as I began viewing the show, and watching the miraculous material on videotape, I became aware how wonderful the content is. It's very special for me. HarpoAce: Welcome DGrathler, here's your first question for Richard Thomas! Question: Did you ever feel like you were type cast as "John Boy" after leaving the series? RchdThomas: I don't know, but maybe it's the continuing questions such as these that make me wonder. (lol) No, really, I've been able, over the years since I quit since 1976 actually, to do a wide variety of work. I have been working constantly since then. Varied work. But why would I want to erase the memory of that show? I loved that show. It was a very powerful show. Question: Richard, will there be another Walton reunion? RchdThomas: Oh, I don't know. We've been making them on a one-at-a-time basis, it's been a couple of years since we did the last one. I think everyone tunes into those reunion shows to see how old and fat people have gotten, (lol) so I don't know how many more we'll do. They're fun to do. We all have a great time, 'cause we are all very close. There's a lot of love there. The reunion shows are really like a family reunion. HarpoAce: Hi Beba Kant, here's your question for "It's A Miracle!" host Richard Thomas! Question: Have you personally experienced a miracle? RchdThomas: I have never experienced the kind of miracle that we talk about on the show. I am humbled by those stories. Most of those stories come out of dire circumstances. Fortunately, I have not had to experience one of those. However, in its strictest sense, a miracle is something that defies logical explanation and seems to be the result of divine intervention. But there are also those events that happen every day that seem miraculous, even though they are quite natural. Things like: getting up in the morning; children, watching them grow; extraordinary chemistry in intimate relationships, are miraculous, even though they are everyday things. The miraculous-ness of life is what I am talking about. I am sitting here waiting for my miracle. I am open to it happening. HarpoAce: Hi JWinn60680, here's your question for Richard Thomas, host of "It's a Miracle!" Question: Richard, are you still a student of A Course in Miracles? RchdThomas: I did a tapes of recorded readings, but I was never actually a student of that. They just brought me in to do readings. Question: What kind of miracles do you believe in, Richard? RchdThomas: It's not a question of belief. These things happen, and people have emotional and psychological responses to them that give these events meaning. It's not a matter of belief, it's a matter of experience. It's a meaning that is subscribed to these experiences. We're always looking for meaning in the events that happen to us. It is very human. Question: Have you seen the picture currently on the net of the car crash with the picture of an angel, and do you believe it's possible? RchdThomas: No, I haven't seen it. Question: Richard, of all the actress and actors you have worked with, who is your favorite and who would you like to work with again? RchdThomas: Wow! It's basically an unanswerable question. It's a good question, but there is not enough time in this interview. The list is too long. After 42 years of work, it's a long list. I have no absolute favorite. Question: How old are your twin daughters? RchdThomas: Their triplets first of all. And they will be 18 in August. Question: What role do you think was your greatest to date? RchdThomas: Well, unquestionably the greatest role I played is Hamlet. I don't know if that is the greatest job I did, but it's the greatest role. Question: How did you become involved with the miracle show? RchdThomas: Well, they called me and asked me to host it. They figured that they would imagine the programming that I am usually involved with fits in with PAX's profile. I do a lot of family things. I figure they thought it would be a good pairing. Question: I read somewhere you were acting in a play. Which one is that? And, which do you like better theatre or film? RchdThomas: Well, I am at the moment in rehearsal for 2 plays here in LA. We're doing two Shakespeare plays at the music center downtown in LA: "Measure for Measure" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They are being directed by Sir Peter Hall, who came over from England for the project. We are basically playing in June and July. To answer the second part of the question, if I had to choose my preference, it would choose theater. Fortunately, I haven't had to choose. Question: What made you want to go into acting? RchdThomas: I don't know. My parents were in the theater. They were ballet dancers, and I loved being around the theater as a child, so it was something that I wanted to do. I guess some of it had to do with childish exhibitionism. Question: So, you really do believe in miracles? Has it changed your out look on life? RchdThomas: No, it hasn't. I've always felt this way. I've always just been open to whatever these things might be, and whatever they are, and I accept them. I don't pretend to know what they are or be authoritative at all, but the stories want to be told. And, I do like the idea of a show about good news, a show that reinforces the human spirit, and validates our feelings that we're meant to be connected, and that we are meant to belong to ourselves and to others. Question: Hi Richard! In relation to the TV show, what is the root of the miracle occurrences? Are they miracles unto themselves or are they of God? RchdThomas: Well, if once believes in God, then everything that occurs unto itself is of God, 'cause one can't be separated from it. If you don't believe in God, you will constantly be looking for a scientific or reasonble explanation for it. But, when one has a faith in God all of these things come from God, whether it's science or miracles. Question: How do you find all those great stories for your show? I watch as much as I can, and I'm always left uplifted. Thank you. RchdThomas: Well that's great! That's what we want to do. That's what we want you to feel. The stories come from a variety of sources. Our production company is constantly searching for material for these stories, periodicals, newspapers, etc., and also people write in. Of course, they all have to be corroborated. We don't make them up. Two stories I narrated on the show I acted in as Movies of the Week. One of them is called "One Thousand Men and a Baby," and the other was called "Crash Landing," about an airplane crash in Sioux City Iowa. I acted in both of those movies, so I can vouch for those two. And, of course, when I appeared on the Oprah Show, people came on who were principles of their "Miracles" show, because they want people to know about their stories. HarpoAce: Well that's all the time we have with the very amiable Richard Thomas, host of PAX-TV's "It's a Miracle." RchdThomas: I just want to say that I am very gratified by the response to "It's a Miracle." I think it's important to have shows that are an antidote to the sense of cynicism that is so much a part of our contemporary world. And shows that reinforce the positive aspect of the human experience, and I am really touched. I want to thank everyone for signing on tonight. Now I am going to disappear into the ether. HarpoAce: Thanks for coming tonight everyone! If you missed any part of tonight's event with Richard Thomas, go to Oprah Online tomorrow at keyword: oprah to get the transcript! Have a wonderful evening everyone. :-) OnlineHost: Copyright 1999 America Online, Inc. </HTML>