Ralph Waite

Ralph Waite was an American actor, best known for his lead role as John Walton Sr. on The Waltons, which he occasionally directed. He later had recurring roles as two other heroic fathers; in NCIS as Jackson Gibbs, the father of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and in Bones, as Seeley Booth's grandfather.
Waite had supporting roles in movies such as Cool Hand Luke, Five Easy Pieces, The Grissom Gang, The Bodyguard, and Cliffhanger.

Early life

Waite, the eldest of five children, was born in White Plains, New York, on June 22, 1928, to Ralph H. Waite, a construction engineer, and Esther Waite. He graduated from White Plains Senior High School in 1946. Too young for World War II, Waite served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1946 to 1948, then graduated from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He worked briefly as a social worker. Waite earned a master's degree from Yale University's Divinity School and was an ordained Presbyterian minister and religious editor at Harper & Row, New York, before deciding on an acting career. He was a member of the Peninsula Players summer theater program during the 1963 season.
In 1963, Waite made his Broadway debut as the Minister in Marathon '33, written and directed by June Havoc. He next appeared in Blues for Mister Charlie, and worked on- and off-Broadway steadily throughout the 1960s.

Film work

His film work included roles in Cool Hand Luke, Five Easy Pieces, Lawman, Kid Blue, The Grissom Gang, Chato's Land, and The Stone Killer. His later films included The Bodyguard, the part of Frank the helicopter pilot in the 1993 film Cliffhanger, and as the mysterious time traveler in Timequest. He also voiced Shadow in Homeward Bound II.

Later stage work

Waite scored a personal triumph when he created the role of Will Kidder in the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Young Man from Atlanta, by playwright Horton Foote, in 1995.

Personal life

Waite was married three times, two marriages ending in divorce. He had three daughters from his first marriage. His eldest daughter, Sharon Waite, died of leukemia when she was 9 years old in 1964. Liam Waite, one of Waite's stepsons, is also an actor. After 50 years away from organized religion, Waite returned in 2010 and became an active member of Spirit of the Desert Presbyterian Fellowship in Palm Desert, California.

Political involvement

Waite ran unsuccessfully for Congress in California as a Democrat on three occasions: In 1990, he challenged veteran GOP incumbent Al McCandless in the Riverside County-based 37th district, losing by 5%. In 1998, Waite ran in the special election for the then-Palm Springs-based 44th district left vacant by the death of incumbent Sonny Bono. He was defeated in that election by Mary Bono, Sonny's widow, and lost to her again that November.
On October 21, 1991, Waite introduced former California Governor Jerry Brown prior to the latter's speech announcing his candidacy for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination.

Electoral history

Death

On February 13, 2014, Waite died in Palm Desert, California, of natural causes at age 85. He is buried in White Plains Rural Cemetery in New York. The NCIS episode "Honor Thy Father", the season 11 finale, is dedicated to Waite's memory.

Filmography

Film

Director

On the Nickel

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Cool Hand Luke	"Alibi"
1968	A Lovely Way to Die	Sean Magruder
1969	Last Summer	Peter's Father	Uncredited
1970	Five Easy Pieces	Carl Fidelio Dupea
1971	The Pursuit of Happiness	Detective Cromie
1971	The Sporting Club	Olson
1971	Lawman	Jack Dekker
1971	The Grissom Gang	Mace
1972	Chato's Land	Elias Hooker
1972	Hot Summer Week	John
1972	The Magnificent Seven Ride!	Jim MacKay
1973	Trouble Man	Pete Cockrell
1973	Kid Blue	Drummer
1973	The Stone Killer	Mathews
1980	On the Nickel	C.G.
1980	Angel City	Jared Teeter
1988	Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood	The Narrator
1989	Red Earth, White Earth	Martin
1990	Crash and Burn	Lathan Hooks
1990	Desperate Hours
1992	The Bodyguard	Herb Farmer
1993	Cliffhanger	Ranger Frank
1994	Sioux City	Drew McDermott
1996	Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco	Shadow	Voice
2000	Timequest	The Time Traveler
2002	Sunshine State	Furman Temple
2004	Silver City	Casey Lyle
2010	Letters to God	Cornelius Perryfield
2011	25 Hill	Ed
2012	Gabe the Cupid Dog	R.L. Dutton

Television

Director

Year	Title	Notes
1973-1980	The Waltons	16 episodes
1983	The Mississippi	Episode "Mardi Gras"

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	Look Up and Live	Host
1967–1968	N.Y.P.D.	Robert Stryker
1970	Bonanza	Hoby	Episode "The Lady and the Mark"
1971	Nichols	Sam Burton
1972–1981	The Waltons	John Walton Sr.
1977	Roots	Slater, First Mate
1978	CBS: On the Air	Himself
1983	The Mississippi	Ben Walker
1987	Reading Rainbow
1989	Murder, She Wrote	District Attorney Paul Robbins
1993	Roseanne	Dr. Gerald Baker
1994	Time Trax	Lamont Carson
1996	Murder One	Malcolm Dietrich
1997	Orleans	Otis Leblanc
1999	The Outer Limits	Gene Morton
1999	Chicken Soup for the Soul	Dad
1999	Rocket Power	Doc Freimouth	Voice
2001	All My Children	Bart
2003–2005	Carnivàle	Reverend Norman Balthus
2004	The Practice	Walter Josephson
2007	Cold Case	Felton Metz
2008	CSI	Sheriff Montgomery	Episode "Young Man with a Horn"
2008–2013	NCIS	Jackson Gibbs	8 episodes
2008	The Cleaner	Jonus Mullins
2011	Kickin' It	Principal Keener	7 episodes
2009–2014	Days of Our Lives	Father Matt
2009	Grey's Anatomy	Irving Waller	Episode "Tainted Obligation"
2009–2013	Bones	Hank Booth	3 episodes
2011	Off the Map	Abuelito	Episode "On the Mean Streets of San Miguel"

TV movies

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	The Borgia Stick	The Man From Toledo
1973	The Thanksgiving Story
1976	The Secret Life of John Chapman	John Chapman
1977	Red Alert	Henry Stone
1977	Waiting for Godot	Pozzo
1980	OHMS	Floyd Wing
1980	Angel City	Jared Teeter
1981	The Gentleman Bandit	Father Bernard Pagano
1982-1999	A Wedding on Walton's Mountain	John Walton Sr.	Reunion movies
1982-1999	Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain	John Walton Sr.	Reunion movies
1982-1999	A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain	John Walton Sr.	Reunion movies
1982-1999	A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion	John Walton Sr.	Reunion movies
1982-1999	A Walton Wedding	John Walton Sr.	Reunion movies
1982-1999	A Walton Easter	John Walton Sr.	Reunion movies
1984	A Good Sport	Tommy O'Bannon	Also executive producer
1984	Growing Pains	Rob
1985	Crime of Innocence	Frank Hayward
1990	Sparks: The Price of Passion	Orville Lemon
1994	Sin & Redemption	Cal Simms
1994	Keys	Dr. C.J. Halligan
1995	A Season of Hope	Sam Hackett
1997	The Third Twin	Senator Proust
2000	The President's Man	President Mathews
2001	Spirit	Jacob
2003	Blessings	Sheriff
2007	Murder 101: If Wishes Were Horses	Jacob Brawley
2009	Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective	Grandpa Ventura