Richard Thomas's Minute Maid Orange Juice commercials

[Hawkee]

After The Waltons ended Richard Thomas branched out into other projects but what people don't remember was when Richard Thomas became the spokesman for Minute Maid Orange Juice. I don't know why Richard Thomas was chosen to promote Minute Maid Orange Juice but he seemed to become popular due to these commercials in which he became Minute Maid Orange Juice's longtime spokesman from the 70's till 1995 and I think Richard was happy with the job but it seemed to be his only commercials he did. How did Richard Thomas begun promoting Minute Maid Orange Juice in their commercials?