Earl Hamner, the writer whose old-timey kinship was a creative force behind the enduring success of the television series “The Waltons,” died Thursday. He was 92. His death was confirmed by his niece, ...

Hamner died in Los Angeles and had recently been battling pneumonia, said Ray Castro Jr., a friend of Hamner’s who produced a documentary, “Earl Hamner Storyteller,” about the writer. Castro said he ...