Mary McDonough brings 'Lessons...' to NY in September

Join award-winning actress, writer and director, Mary McDonough at Barnes & Noble (UPWS), as she signs copies of Lessons From the Mountain: What I Learned From Erin Walton (Kensington Publishers). Ms. McDonough's recent appearances at DOLLYWOOD (with Dolly Parton), the Country Tonite Theatre (With Loretta Lynn), The Opry Shop (At the Grand Ole Opry), as well as The Kennedy Center in DC broke records in sales and attendance.

The event will take place on Thursday, Sept 8th at 7:00pm.

WHERE: Barnes & Noble, 2289 Broadway, NYC, NY 10024 (at 82nd St) - 212-362-8835

Ms. McDonough's memoir is a poignant story of growing up on Emmy award-winning series The Waltons, where she played the middle sister, Erin. The show is still being shown worldwide 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."

In the book, Ms. McDonough reminisces about ...

ø How her very first audition earned her the role that would define a lifetime.
ø Her years on the set of The Waltons and what it was like growing up in front of America.
ø An adolescent battling depression, insomnia, body image issues and experimented with drugs
ø Alternately embracing and rebelling against her good-girl screen persona.
ø How her mother responded to the role of Regan in The Exorcist that went to friend Linda Blair.
ø Working with industry legends including Edgar Bergen, Patricia Neal, Rosemary Clooney, etc
ø Becoming a an expert on health issues she personally faced after obtaining silicone implants
ø Being diagnosed with Lupus
ø Recent career roles on Boston Legal, The New Adventures of Old Christine, ER, Will Grace
ø The upcoming 40th reunion of The Walton's

When asked about being the first of the Walton's cast to release a memoir, 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."