Ralph Waite | |
---|---|
Born | White Plains, New York, U.S. | June 22, 1928
Died | February 13, 2014 85) Palm Desert, California, U.S. | (aged
Resting place | White Plains Rural Cemetery |
Alma mater | Bucknell University and Yale Divinity School |
Occupation(s) | Actor, political activist |
Years active | 1954–2014 |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Beverly Waite (m. 1951;div. 1966)Kerry Shear Waite (m. 1977;div. 1981)Linda East (m. 1982) |
Children | 3 |
Ralph Waite (June 22, 1928 – February 13, 2014) was an American actor, best known for his lead role as John Walton Sr. on The Waltons (1972–1981), 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 (1967), Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Grissom Gang (1971), The Bodyguard (1992), and Cliffhanger (1993). [1]
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 (née Mitchell) Waite. [2] 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. [3] He was a member of the Peninsula Players summer theater program during the 1963 season. [4]
In 1963, Waite made his Broadway debut as the Minister in Marathon '33, written and directed by June Havoc. [5] He next appeared in Blues for Mister Charlie , and worked on- and off-Broadway steadily throughout the 1960s. [6]
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 (2002). [7] He also voiced Shadow in Homeward Bound II.
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. [8]
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. [9] 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. [3]
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. [10] He was defeated in that election by Mary Bono, Sonny's widow, and lost to her again that November. [11]
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. [12]
Year | Office | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | U.S House of Representatives District 37 | Jeffrey Jacobs 29% Ralph Waite 71% | 103,961 | 44.8% | Bud Mathewson 27% Al McCandless 73% | 115,469 | 49.8% |
1998 | U.S House of Representatives District 44 (special election) | Ralph Waite | 24,228 | 28.8% | Mary Bono | 53,755 | 64% |
1998 | U.S House of Representatives District 39 (general election) | Ralph Waite | 57,697 | 35.7% | Mary Bono | 97,013 | 60.1% |
On February 13, 2014, Waite died in Palm Desert, California, of natural causes at age 85. [13] He is buried in White Plains Rural Cemetery in New York.
The Waltons is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book Spencer's Mountain and the 1963 film of the same name. The series aired from 1972 to 1981.
Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including Young Cassidy (1965), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Train Robbers (1973) and A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975).
Walter Stacy Keach Jr. is an American actor, active in theatre, film and television since the 1960s. Keach first distinguished himself in Off-Broadway productions and remained a prominent figure in American theatre across his career, particularly as a noted Shakespearean. He is the recipient of several theatrical accolades, four Drama Desk Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards and two Obie Awards for Distinguished Performance by an Actor. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Arthur Kopit's 1969 production of Indians.
William Joseph Devane is an American actor. He is known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing (1983–1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial dramas 24 (2001–2010) and 24: Live Another Day (2014). He is also known for his work in films such as Family Plot (1976), Marathon Man (1976), Rolling Thunder (1977), Payback (1999), and Space Cowboys (2000).
Robert Lansing was an American stage, film, and television actor.
James Gregory was an American character actor who played roles such as Schaffer in Al Capone (1959), the McCarthy-like Sen. John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), and crusty Inspector Frank Luger in the television sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982).
Fritz William Weaver was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 theatre, television, and film productions in a career spanning nearly 60 years.
Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor and singer. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City (1952) and The War of the Worlds (1953) and for his portrayal of the title characters in the TV series Bat Masterson and Burke's Law, among many roles.
Noah Lindsey Beery was an American actor often specializing in warm, friendly character roles similar to many portrayed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Wallace Beery. Unlike his more famous uncle, however, Beery Jr. seldom broke away from playing supporting roles. Active as an actor in films or television for well over half a century, he was best known for playing James Garner's character's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, in the NBC television series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). His father, Noah Beery, enjoyed a similarly lengthy film career as an extremely prominent supporting actor in major films, although the elder Beery was also frequently a leading man during the silent film era.
Andrew Duggan was an American character actor. His work includes 185 screen credits between 1949 and 1987 for roles in both film and television, as well a number more on stage.
Peter Donat was a Canadian-American actor.
Terence Christopher Gerald Rigby was an English actor with a number of film and television credits to his name. In the 1970s he was well known as police dog-handler PC Snow in the long-running series Softly, Softly: Task Force.
Donald Moffat was a British-American actor with a decades-long career in film and stage in the United States. He began his acting career on- and off-Broadway, which included appearances in The Wild Duck and Right You Are If You Think You Are, earning Tony Award nominations for both, as well as Painting Churches, for which he received an Obie Award. Moffat also appeared in several feature films, including The Thing (1982), The Right Stuff (1983) and, in a rare leading role on film, as a tenuously-recovering alcoholic in On the Nickel (1980). Moffat also made guest appearances in numerous television series, including such shows as Little House on the Prairie, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and The West Wing. He also was a principal in the 1993 TV miniseries Tales of the City.
James Joseph Frawley was an American director and actor. He was a member of the Actors Studio since around 1961.He was best known for directing The Muppet Movie (1979), and The Monkees television series.
John Patrick Ryan was an American actor, best known for his role as Warden Ranken in the 1985 film Runaway Train.
Jaime Luis Sánchez Rodríguez is a Puerto Rican stage, film and television actor, active since the 1950s.
On the Nickel is a 1980 feature film written, produced by, and starring Ralph Waite, as well as Donald Moffat. It features five original songs composed for the movie by Tom Waits.
John Steadman was an American actor, radio personality and editor.
John McLiam was a Canadian actor noted for his skill at different accents. His film appearances include My Fair Lady (1964), In Cold Blood (1967), John Frankenheimer's movie of The Iceman Cometh (1973), The Missouri Breaks (1976), and First Blood (1982). He was a guest star in numerous television series and wrote a Broadway play, The Sin of Pat Muldoon.
Victor Mohica was an American actor. Though of Puerto Rican descent, he often portrayed Native Americans in his roles. His works include guest-star episode of Dark Shadows television series in 1969, featured actor in an episode of the Bearcats! television series in the fall of 1971, featured actor in the pilot episode of Ellery Queen television series in 1975, Cannon, Little House on the Prairie Pilot Movie in 1974 and West Side Story Broadway version in 1968. His film credits include roles in Showdown (1973), Johnny Firecloud (1975), Victory at Entebbe (1976), Don't Answer the Phone (1980), The Final Countdown (1980), The Ghost Dance (1980) and Blood In Blood Out (1993).