Ralph Waite
Encyclopedia
Ralph Waite is an American actor, whose most notable role was playing John Walton Sr. on the 1970s CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 TV series The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...

, which he also occasionally directed. He is also known for his portrayal of the slave ship
Slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....

 third mate
Third Mate
A Third Mate or Third Officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The third mate is a watchstander and customarily the ship's safety officer and fourth-in-command...

 Slater, in the mini-series Roots
Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...

In addition, he has appeared in many guest roles on numerous television series portraying a large variety of roles.

Personal life

Waite, the oldest of five children, was born in White Plains, New York
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...

, the son of Esther (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Mitchell) and Ralph H. Waite, a construction engineer. Before becoming an actor, Waite, served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1946 to 1948, graduated from Bucknell University
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...

 in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and briefly was a social worker. He earned a master's degree from Yale University Divinity School and was a Presbyterian minister and religious editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 at Harper & Row in New York City before deciding on a career in acting.

He is a former member of the Peninsula Players
Peninsula Players
Peninsula Players is a summer theater program located in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Founded in 1935 by Richard and Caroline Fisher, it is known as "America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre."- History :...

 summer theater program during the 1963 season.

Ralph Waite has married three times; two of his marriages ended in divorce. He had three daughters from his first marriage. One of his daughters died when she was nine years old. His stepson, Liam Waite
Liam Waite
Liam Waite is an American actor who took the name 'Waite' from Hollywood producer and actor, Ralph Waite, his stepfather. He studied acting with under Arthur Mendoza at Actors Circle Theatre...

, is also an actor.

After fifty years being 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
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 in California as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 three times: in 1990 he challenged veteran GOP incumbent Al McCandless
Al McCandless
Alfred "Al" A. McCandless , a Republican politician from CaliforniaMcCANDLESS, Alfred A., a Representative from California; born in Brawley, Imperial County, Calif., July 23, 1927; attended Los Angeles City schools; B.A., University of California at Los Angeles, 1951; served, United States Marine...

 in the Riverside County-based 37th district, losing by five percentage points. In 1998 he ran in the special election for the then-Palm Springs
Palm Springs
Palm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...

-based 44th district left vacant by the death of incumbent Sonny Bono
Sonny Bono
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was an American recording artist, record producer, actor, and politician whose career spanned over three decades.-Early life:...

. He was defeated in that election by Mary Bono
Mary Bono
Mary Bono Mack is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 44th, serving since 1998. She is a member of the Republican Party. The district is based in Palm Springs and includes most of central and eastern Riverside County. Bono Mack sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and is...

, Sonny's widow, and lost to her again that November.

On October 21, 1991, Waite introduced former California Governor Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...

 prior to the latter's speech announcing his candidacy for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1992
The 1992 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1992 U.S. presidential election...

.

Electoral history

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"
|-
!|Year
!|Office
!
!|Democrat
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Republican
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
|-
|1990
|U.S House of Representatives
District 37
|
| |Jeffrey Jacobs 29%
Ralph Waite 71%
| align="right" |103,961
| |44.8%
|
| |Bud Mathewson 27%
Al McCandless 73%
| align="right" |115,469
| |49.8%
|
|-
|1998
|U.S House of Representatives
District 44 (special election)
|
| |Ralph Waite
| align="right" |24,228
| |28.8%
|
| |Mary Bono
| align="right" |53,755
| |64%
|
|-
|1998
|U.S House of Representatives
District 39 (general election)
|
| |Ralph Waite
| align="right" |57,697
| |35.7%
|
| |Mary Bono
| align="right" |97,013
| |60.1%
|

Filmography

  • Hogan's Goat
    Hogan's Goat
    Hogan's Goat is an award-winning 1965 play by William Alfred.The blank-verse drama concerns a mayoral contest between Irish Americans in Brooklyn, New York in 1890. The play's focus is on the personal life of Matthew Stanton, the dynamic leader of the Sixth Ward, who hopes to unseat corrupt...

    (play) (1965)
  • Cool Hand Luke
    Cool Hand Luke
    Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D...

    (1967) Alibi
  • The Borgia Stick
    The Borgia Stick
    The Borgia Stick, is a 1967 American TV film starring Don Murray, and Inger Stevens, featuring Fritz Weaver, Barry Nelson, Barnard Hughes, Conrad Bain and Sorrell Booke in support, and directed by David Lowell Rich. Shot in New York City, the film was one of the highest rated events of the...

    (TV) (1967)
  • A Lovely Way to Die
    A Lovely Way to Die
    A Lovely Way to Die is a 1968 American drama film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Kirk Douglas, Sylva Koscina Eli Wallach and Kenneth Haigh. A police officer resigns from the force, and takes up a role as a bodyguard to the wife of a wealthy man...

    (1968)
  • Five Easy Pieces
    Five Easy Pieces
    Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...

    (1970) Carl Fidelio Dupea
  • Lawman
    Lawman (film)
    Lawman is a 1971 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J. Cobb, and Robert Duvall.The film is about the quest of a lone peace officer, Marshal Jered Maddox , to bring several men to justice...

    (1971)
  • The Grissom Gang
    The Grissom Gang
    The Grissom Gang is a 1971 American period gangster film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich. The screenplay was by Leon Griffiths, based on the novel No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase. The cinematographer was Joseph Biroc...

    (1971)
  • The Pursuit of Happiness (1971)
  • The Sporting Club
    The Sporting Club
    The Sporting Club is the 1969 debut novel of author Thomas McGuane.-Plot summary:The Sporting Club chronicles the friendship and rivalry of Vernor Stanton, an unstable patrician iconoclast, and the protagonist, Stanton's lifelong friend, James Quinn...

    (1971)
  • Chato's Land
    Chato's Land
    Chato's Land is a 1972 American western film directed by Michael Winner, starring Charles Bronson and Jack Palance. It falls more closely into the revisionist Western genre, which was at its height at the time...

    (1972)
  • Girls on the Road (1972)
  • The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972)
  • Trouble Man
    Trouble Man
    Trouble Man is a 1972 blaxploitation film produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film stars Robert Hooks as "Mr. T.", a hard-edged private detective who tends to take justice into his own hands...

    (1972)
  • Hot Summer Week (1973)
  • Kid Blue
    Kid Blue
    Kid Blue is a 1973 film directed by James Frawley and starring Dennis Hopper, Warren Oates, Peter Boyle and Ben Johnson-Plot:Bickford Waner arrives in Dime Box, Texas to find work. He's befriended by Reese Ford and his wife Molly . Molly seduces Bickford...

    (1973)
  • The Stone Killer
    The Stone Killer
    The Stone Killer is a 1973 film starring Charles Bronson directed by Michael Winner. It came out in between The Mechanic and Death Wish, all three of which teamed up actor/director Bronson and Winner. Norman Fell and John Ritter appear as cops in this film, not too long before the TV series Three's...

    (1973)
  • The Thanksgiving Story (TV) (1973)
  • The Secret Life of John Chapman (TV) (1976)
  • Red Alert,(1977)
  • Roots
    Roots (TV miniseries)
    Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...

    (TV) (1977), Third Mate, Slater
  • Waiting for Godot
    Waiting for Godot
    Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...

    (TV) (1977)
  • Angel City (1980)
  • OHMS (the movie) (1980)
  • On the Nickel
    On the Nickel
    On the Nickel is a feature film written, produced by, and starring Ralph Waite ....

    (1980)
  • The Gentleman Bandit (TV) (1981)
  • A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain (TV) (1982)
  • A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (TV) (1982)
  • Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain (TV) (1982)
  • A Good Sport (TV) (1984)
  • Growing Pains
    Growing Pains
    Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

    (TV) (1984) Rob
  • Crime of Innocence (TV) (1985) Frank Hayward
  • Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood (1988) Narrator
  • Red Earth, White Earth (1989) Martin
  • Crash and Burn
    Crash and Burn (film)
    Crash and Burn is a 1990 science fiction movie.-Plot:Unicom is a powerful organization overseeing most of the world after its economic collapse...

    (1990)
  • Desperate Hours
    Desperate Hours
    Desperate Hours is a 1990 remake of the 1955 William Wyler crime drama of the same title. Both films are based on the novel by Joseph Hayes, who also co-wrote the script for this movie with Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal...

    (1990)
  • Sparks: The Price of Passion (TV) (1990)
  • The Bodyguard
    The Bodyguard
    The Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker. Lawrence Kasdan wrote the film in the 1970s,...

    (1992) Herb Farmer
  • Cliffhanger
    Cliffhanger (film)
    Cliffhanger is a 1993 American action film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Sylvester Stallone and John Lithgow. Stallone plays a mountain climber, who becomes embroiled in a failed heist set in a U.S. Treasury plane flying through the Rocky Mountains...

    (1993)
  • A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (TV) (1993)
  • Keys (TV) (1994)
  • Sin & Redemption (TV) (1994)
  • Sioux City
    Sioux City (film)
    Sioux City is a 1994 mystery / crime film directed by and starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Gary Farmer as Russell White, Tantoo Cardinal as Dawn Rainfeather, and future Touched by an Angel star John Dye as Colin Adams....

    (1994)
  • A Season of Hope (TV) (1995)
  • A Walton Wedding (TV) (1995)
  • Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
    Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
    Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco is the 1996 sequel to the 1993 film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Directed by David R. Ellis, the film features the three animals from the first film, Shadow the Golden Retriever , Sassy the Himalayan cat , and Chance the American Bulldog Homeward...

    (1996)
  • The West (1996)
  • A Walton Easter (1997)
  • The Third Twin
    The Third Twin
    The Third Twin is a techno-thriller authored by the British writer Ken Follett and published by Random House publications in 1996. A New York Times bestseller, the book deals genetic engineering and the Nature vs...

    (TV) (1997) Senator Proust
  • The President's Man (TV) (2000)
  • Spirit
    Spirit
    The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...

    (TV) (2001)
  • Sunshine State
    Sunshine State (film)
    Sunshine State is a 2002 American comedy–drama film written and directed by John Sayles. The picture stars an ensemble cast that features Angela Bassett, Edie Falco, Jane Alexander, Alan King, Timothy Hutton, Mary Steenburgen, Bill Cobbs, and others. The movie was filmed on Amelia Island,...

    (2002)
  • Timequest
    Timequest
    Timequest is an interactive fiction game released by Legend Entertainment, and written by Bob Bates.-Plot:In the year 2090 AD, the use of time machines is regulated by officers of the Temporal Corps...

    (2002)
  • Blessings
    Blessings (film)
    Blessings is a 2003 made-for-tv drama film directed by Arvin Brown. Based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Anna Quindlen, the film stars Mary Tyler Moore and Liam Waite.- Plot :...

    (TV) (2003)
  • Silver City (2004)
  • Ace Ventura Jr: Pet Detective (TV) (2009)
  • Letters to God
    Letters to God
    Letters to God is a 2010 Christian drama film directed by David Nixon and starring Robyn Lively, Jeffrey Johnson, Tanner Maguire, Michael Bolten and Bailee Madison. The story was written by Patrick Doughtie about his son Tyler, with the screenplay penned by Doughtie, Art D'Alessandro, Thrift...

    (2010)
  • 25 Hill
    25 hill
    25 Hill is a drama film written and directed by Corbin Bernsen about the All-American Soap Box Derby, the championships of which are held each August in Akron, OH. It stars Nathan Gamble, Corbin Bernsen, Maureen Flannigan, and Ralph Waite.-Plot:...

    (2011)


Television

  • Look Up and Live (1966)
  • N.Y.P.D. 2 episodes — 1967 & 1968
  • Bonanza
    Bonanza
    Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

    (1970) "The Lady and the Mark" — Hoby
  • Nichols (1971)
  • The Waltons
    The Waltons
    The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...

    (1972–81) John Walton, Sr.
  • CBS: On the Air (1978)
  • The Mississippi
    The Mississippi (TV series)
    The Mississippi was a television series which ran for 2 seasons from 1982 to 1984. The series consisted of 27 episodes, 1 pilot, 6 first season episodes and 17 episodes in the second season. The series was written by Aubrey Solomon and starred Ralph Waite, Linda Miller and Stan Shaw. The series...

    (1983) Ben Walker
  • Reading Rainbow
    Reading Rainbow
    Reading Rainbow is an American children's television series aired by PBS from June 6, 1983 until November 10, 2006 that encouraged reading among children. The award-winning public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including scores of Emmy Awards, many for "Outstanding Children's...

    (1987)
  • Murder, She Wrote
    Murder, She Wrote
    Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...

    (1989) DA Paul Robbins
  • Time Trax
    Time Trax
    Time Trax was an American/Australian co-produced science fiction television series that first aired in 1993. A police officer, sent through time into the past, has to track down and return convicted criminals who have escaped prison in the future...

    (1994)
  • Murder One
    Murder One (TV series)
    Murder One is an American legal drama series that first aired on the ABC network in the United States in 1995. The series was created by Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee, and Channing Gibson.-Premise:...

    (1996) Malcolm Dietrich
  • Orleans
    Orleans (TV series)
    Orleans is a short lived American drama series that aired on CBS from January 7, 1997 through April 10, 1997. It ran for only 8 episodes. The series was said to be inspired by the experiences of creater producer Toni Graphia, who was the daughter of a Louisiana judge.-Synopsis:The show was...

    (1997)
  • Chicken Soup for the Soul
    Chicken Soup for the Soul
    Chicken Soup for the Soul is a series of books, usually featuring a collection of short and dense inspirational stories and motivational essays. The 101 stories in the first book of the series were compiled by motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.There have been over 200 titles...

    (1999)
  • The Outer Limits
    The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
    The Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...

    (1999)
  • All My Children
    All My Children
    All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

    (2001) Bart
  • Carnivàle
    Carnivàle
    Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes...

    (2003–2005)
  • The Practice
    The Practice
    The Practice is an American legal drama created by David E. Kelley centering on the partners and associates at a Boston law firm. Running for eight seasons from 1997 to 2004, the show won the Emmy in 1998 and 1999 for Best Drama Series, and spawned the successful and lighter spin-off series Boston...

    (2004)
  • Cold Case (2007) Felton Metz
  • CSI
    CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
    CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

    (2008) Season 9 Episode 9 — "Young Man with a Horn" as Sheriff Montgomery
  • NCIS
    NCIS (TV series)
    NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

    (2008–2010) Season 6 Episode 4 — "Heartland"; Season 7 Episode 10 — "Faith", Season 7 Episode 24 — "Rule Fifty-One", Season 8 Episode 1 - "Spider and the Fly" as Jackson Gibbs.
  • The Cleaner
    The Cleaner (TV series)
    The Cleaner was an A&E television series starring Benjamin Bratt. It debuted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 10:00 pm EST and the last episode aired on September 15, 2009, when the show was officially cancelled....

    (2008)
  • Days of our Lives
    Days of our Lives
    Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

    (2009) Father Matt
  • Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy
    Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

    (2009) Season 6, Episode 4 — "Tainted Obligation" as Irving Waller
  • Bones
    Bones (TV series)
    Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...

    (2009) Season 5, Episode 8 — "The Foot in the Foreclosure" as Hank Booth
  • Off the Map
    Off the Map (TV series)
    Off the Map is a medical drama created by Jenna Bans, who also served as an executive producer, with colleagues from Grey's Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers...

    (2011) "On the Mean Streets of San Miguel" as Abuelito

As director

  • The Waltons
    The Waltons
    The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...

     (TV series)
    (1973–80)
  • On the Nickel
    On the Nickel
    On the Nickel is a feature film written, produced by, and starring Ralph Waite ....

    (1980)
  • The Mississippi (TV series)
    The Mississippi (TV series)
    The Mississippi was a television series which ran for 2 seasons from 1982 to 1984. The series consisted of 27 episodes, 1 pilot, 6 first season episodes and 17 episodes in the second season. The series was written by Aubrey Solomon and starred Ralph Waite, Linda Miller and Stan Shaw. The series...

    (1983)

External links

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