Ralph Waite

Ralph Waite

Birth : 1928-06-22, White Plains, New York, USA

Death : 2014-02-13

History

Ralph Waite (born June 22, 1928) is an American actor. His most famous role may be John Walton Sr. on the 1970s CBS TV series The Waltons, which he occasionally directed. He is also well known for his portrayal of the slave ship first mate Slater in the mini-series Roots. More recently, he appeared as Reverend Norman Balthus for 16 out of 24 episodes over the two seasons of the HBO series Carnivàle (2003–2005). Currently, he has been portraying the recurring roles of Father Matt on the daytime serial Days of our Lives, of Jethro Gibbs's (Mark Harmon) father, Jackson Gibbs, on NCIS and of Seeley Booth's (David Boreanaz) grandfather, Hank Booth on Bones.

Profile

Ralph Waite

Movies

Gabe the Cupid Dog
R.L. Dutton
When Eric and Marsha break off their long-term relationship, journalist Eric is able to weather it pretty well. He still has his long time canine companion Gabe, and his boss, Ms Andrews, wants to send him to London to open an office. But first Ms Andrews says Eric must find out the true identity of the best-selling author R L Dutton. A bigger obstacle for Eric's trip, however, comes from his dog. Gabe does not want to face six months in quarantine with big pit bulls and mastiffs waiting for an OK to the UK. Getting ideas from a pretty TV host, Gabe acts as Cupid Dog, doing his best to bring Eric and their neighbor Sara together. Gabe's plan works, only to go up in smoke when Eric realizes Sara is the mysterious author. Now Sara thinks Eric was just using her for a story before leaving for London. Gabe the Cupid Dog must go to new lengths to get Sara and Eric to tie the "leash."
25 Hill
Ed
This is the story of an 11-year-old boy whose derby dreams are left in pieces when his soldier father is killed in Afghanistan. The boy teams up with a father figure whose own son, a firefighter, died in the line of duty, and the two help each other find redemption and revive the derby.
Letters to God
Mr. Perryfield
A young boy fighting cancer writes letters to God, touching lives in his neighborhood and inspiring hope among everyone he comes in contact. An unsuspecting substitute postman, with a troubled life of his own, becomes entangled in the boy's journey and his family by reading the letters. They inspire him to seek a better life for himself and his own son he's lost through his alcohol addiction.
Ace Ventura Jr: Pet Detective
Grandpa Ventura
"I will try to be normal" 12-year-old Ace Ventura Jr. promises. Thats cool, except whats normal for him is finding missing mutts, kidnapped kitties or gone gators and creating hilarious chaos every step of the way.
Generation Gap
Chick
When a rebellious teenager is forced to spend the summer with his grandfather, their differences go deeper than just the years that separate them.
Murder 101: If Wishes Were Horses
Jacob Brawley
Dr. Maxwell is called in to investigate the kidnapping of a prize race horse. When the case leads to murder, Maxwell and Detective Bryant suspect the horse's owner.
Silver City
Casey Lyle
The discovery of a corpse threatens to unravel a bumbling local politician's campaign for governor of Colorado.
Blessings
Sheriff
Released from jail after a term basically served instead of friends he refused to rat out, Charles 'Skip' Cuddy is grateful his gentleman instinct gets him a job with living quarters as handyman on a semi-destitute estate Blessings. Working hard, he wins further confidence from the owner, bitter widow Lydia Blessing, unlike her in-living bitch nurse Jennifer. When a baby is left at the state, Skip takes it in and secretly cares for it. Lydia eventually finds out but sides with him, feeling robbed of grandchildren by her careerist only daughter Meredith. Then Skip's past comes knocking, and the baby's birth parents.
Sunshine State
Furman Temple
A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.
Spirit
Jacob Hardesty
When Kelly and her father move to New Orleans after the death of her mother, strange things start happening in their new home. Kelly is convinced that the house is haunted by a ghost who needs her help. Her father does not believe her, so she enlists her friend Cole to help discover the truth.
The President's Man
President Mathews
To many, Joshua McCord is a charismatic Asian studies professor. To the President of the United States, he's America's greatest secret weapon; a covert operative charged with only the most sensitive and dangerous missions.
The Third Twin
Senator Proust
A Walton Easter
John Walton
In 1969, John-Boy is a TV news anchorperson in New York and he is in the throes of writing a new book. He and a very pregnant Janet are making plans to return to Walton's Mountain for the celebration of John and Olivia's 40th wedding anniversary. Accompanying them to see the place John-Boy lived as a child is Aurora, a Time magazine photographer, who is doing a story on John-Boy. Meanwhile, Elizabeth arrives back from her travels and announces to Drew, who is still working at the mill with Ben, that she is back to stay. She is very upset to find that Drew did not wait for her, and that he has a new girlfriend. Also, problems arise for John-Boy and Janet because the longer John-Boy stays on the mountain, the more he becomes convinced that he would like to settle down there, raise his family, and continue with his writing whereas Janet wants to stay in New York.
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
Shadow (voice)
When the pets accidentally get separated from their vacationing owners, Chance, Shadow, and Sassy navigate the mean streets of San Francisco, trying to find their home across the Golden Gate Bridge. But the road is blocked by a series of hazards, both man and beast.
A Walton Wedding
John Walton
In 1964, John-Boy Walton is planning his wedding to Janet Gilchrist, the editor of a New York fashion magazine and the daughter of a diplomat. The two of them plan a small wedding and he invites the family and friends from Walton's Mountain to come to New York for the celebration. However, Janet's Aunt Flo has other ideas and begins to take over their wedding preparations. Added to the wedding plan stress, John-Boy is also trying to write an article about his Grandma, but decides that he needs to go home to escape the wedding preparations, as well as to reunite with his grandmother and fill in some gaps leaving Janet in New York trying to prevent her wedding from getting out of hand. But she too leaves the city and heads for Walton's Mountain to plan their wedding there.
A Season of Hope
Sam Hackett
When trees in their only source of income, a lemon grove, start showing signs of disease, a burdened Californian family reaches their breaking point. Is there any hope left for them?
Sioux City
Drew McDermott
A young Lakota Sioux, adopted by a wealthy Jewish couple in Beverly Hills, gets in touch with his cultural roots and solves a mystery in this thriller
Sin and Redemption
Cal Simms
Taking a short-cut home from work, high-schooler Billie Simms is raped. Not only does the incident cause an unwanted pregnancy that damages her college expectations, but it also outrages her smugly religious father who pressures her to give up the baby.
Keys
Dr. C.J. Halligan
A one-time investigator gets back in the game when a family suffers a trauma similar to her own.
A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion
John Walton
The fourth Waltons reunion TV movie is set in the 1960s , with John-Boy still living in New York, trying to persuade his fiancée to marry him. Meanwhile, Ben and Cindy's daughter Virginia has died, and Cindy is finding life very lonely without her. She tells Ben that she would dearly love to adopt another baby, but Ben feels that it is not a good idea. Ben argues with his father about buying a new truck for their lumber company, but John keeps insisting that they can't afford it. Elsewhere, Erin now has three children and is separated from Paul. Her decision to start seeing another man causes some indignation among the other Walton family members. Ike and Corabeth become grandparents when Aimee has a daughter, while Elizabeth returns from Europe and reunites with Drew, her old beau.
Cliffhanger
Frank
A year after losing his friend in a tragic 4,000-foot fall, former ranger Gabe Walker and his partner, Hal, are called to return to the same peak to rescue a group of stranded climbers, only to learn the climbers are actually thieving hijackers who are looking for boxes full of money.
The Bodyguard
Herb Farmer
A former Secret Service agent grudgingly takes an assignment to protect a pop idol who's threatened by a crazed fan. At first, the safety-obsessed bodyguard and the self-indulgent diva totally clash. But before long, all that tension sparks fireworks of another sort, and the love-averse tough guy is torn between duty and romance.
Wild by Law
Aldo Leopold (voice)
Tells about the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the three men responsible for its passage: forester/philosopher Aldo Leopold, author of the bestselling Sand County almanac and the first to bring the word 'ecology' into standard usage; Bob Marshall, millionaire socialist and founder of the Wilderness Society; and Howard Zahniser, a bureaucrat with a love of the wild places he seldom saw. Singly and together, these three fought from the 1920s through the 1950s to preserve the natural world. Provides an overview of the roots of the environmental movement, offering a deeper understanding of one of the most important issues facing contemporary civilization.
Crash and Burn
Lathan Hooks
Unicom is a powerful organization overseeing most of the world after its economic collapse. They have banned computers and robots in an attempt to insure "life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic stability". When a Unicom Synth robot infiltrates a southwest TV station and kills the manager, a revolutionary against the gestapo-like corporation, a lowly Unicom delivery man must help the rest of the station survive through the incoming "thermal storm".
Sparks: The Price of Passion
Orville Lemon
A female mayor (Victoria Principal) of Albuquerque gets embroiled in a fight over the development of a new economic center. In the midst of this, she receives blackmail photos of an overnight fling she had with a stranger and threats of blackmail. On top of all this, the city is under siege by a serial killer who hunts powerful women. When the FBI moves in for the investigation, the chief officer (Ted Wass) turns out to be the stranger. Ralph Waite shows up as a friend of the mayor pressuring her for the development. Elaine Stritch plays her mother, Hector Elizondo is the city attorney, and William Lucking is the police chief
Red Earth, White Earth
Guy Pehrsson is summoned by his grandfather to return to the farming community of his childhood. He arrives from the City to find that his mother has finally left his alcoholic and abusive father and now lives among the Indians, Guy's childhood friends and neighbours. He also discovers friction between the white farmers and the local Indians, now faced with the choice of selling or retaining their land. A choice made harder by poverty. Guy's boyhood friend, Tom Redfox, leads those Indians who wish to keep their land. Against the background of ensuing confrontation, Guy becomes reacquainted with his estranged parents, his childhood friends and old values, leading to a tragedy that affect the whole community.
Crime Of Innocence
Frank Hayward
Two teenage girls are locked up for a minor offence by a harsh judge who thinks a night in jail will do them good. It's a traumatizing experience that includes an assault. Afterwards, one of the girls and her family seek justice against an unfair legal system.
A Good Sport
Tommy O'Bannon
The stylish editor of a fashion magazine and a rumpled sports reporter endeavor to keep their somewhat offbeat romance on a purely platonic level.
A Good Sport
Executive Producer
The stylish editor of a fashion magazine and a rumpled sports reporter endeavor to keep their somewhat offbeat romance on a purely platonic level.
A Day for Thanks on Waltons Mountain
John Walton
Most of the Waltons have split up in the days approaching Thanksgiving 1947. But most of the family begins to arrive at Walton's Mountain begging with John-Boy recovering from a case of writers block in New York followed by Jason now a struggling musician as well as John Walton whom tries to get everyone together for the special event for Elizabeth, while newlyweds Erin and Paul plan to move out of the Walton homestead.
Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain
John Walton
Mary Ellen marries Jonesy but they don't exactly have a good start.
A Wedding on Waltons Mountain
John Walton
Erin Walton is considering marrying her boyfriend Paul but her old boyfriend Ashley, who left for the war and married someone else, lived through his wife's death and would like to get Erin back, but Paul is not going to give her up so easily. Also Mary Ellen's boyfriend Jonesy who's a veterinarian is trying to establish a practice but everybody doesn't think he is competent. And Ben who has been minding the lumber business while their father's with their ailing mother in Arizona is having some problems and everybody's worried that he's digging himself a hole that he might not get out of.
The Gentleman Bandit
Father Bernard Pagano
Based on the real-life ordeal of Baltimore priest Bernard Pagano, who was accused of several armed robberies in the late Seventies.
Angel City
Jared Teeter
Jared Teeter has to work in a forced labor camp in Florida to make ends meet. "Angel City" is no place for the faint of heart.
On the Nickel
Producer
Sam, a recovering alcoholic, feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his wino friends on "the Nickel" of Los Angeles' skid row.
On the Nickel
Writer
Sam, a recovering alcoholic, feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his wino friends on "the Nickel" of Los Angeles' skid row.
On the Nickel
C.G.
Sam, a recovering alcoholic, feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his wino friends on "the Nickel" of Los Angeles' skid row.
On the Nickel
Director
Sam, a recovering alcoholic, feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his wino friends on "the Nickel" of Los Angeles' skid row.
OHMS
Floyd Wing
A conservative, Midwestern farmer rallies his neighbors against a power company planning to erect huge towers across their land, and a political activist schoolteacher helps them organize into an effective bloc.
Red Alert
Henry Stone
A computer at a nuclear power plant malfunctions and receives erroneous information of a radiation leak. It seals off the compound, trapping the crew inside.
The Secret Life of John Chapman
John Chapman
The true story of John Chapman, a college president who took a sabbatical and went out and got a job as a general laborer, to try to experience life outside his well-ordered but insulated college environment.
The Stone Killer
Mathews
A Los Angeles detective is sent to New York where he must solve a case involving an old Sicilian Mafia family feud.
Kid Blue
Drummer
Bickford Waner, an apparently naive young man from Fort Worth, arrives in the tiny Texas town of Dime Box and takes on a variety of menial jobs. He's befriended by Reese Ford and his wife Molly, but before long Molly has seduced Bickford. Only with the arrival of Bickford's former girlfriend Janet Conforto is it revealed that Bickford is actually the notorious train robber Kid Blue. Humiliated by a scandal arising from his affair with his friend's wife, Bickford gives up on going straight and plots a crime.
Trouble Man
Pete Cockrell
It seems that masked men are knocking over the floating crap games of Chalky and Pete. Chalky and Pete hire the cool, loose, elegant Mr. T to fix things. Then, the masked manipulators set up the death of a collector for a rival gang lord. It looks like it's up to T to hold a gang war from breaking out, keep the police off his back, and earn his fee from Chalky and Pete.
The Magnificent Seven Ride!
Jim Mackay
Marshal Chris Adams turns down a friend's request to help stop the depredations of a gang of Mexican bandits. When his wife is killed by bank robbers and his friend is killed capturing the last thief, Chris feels obligated to take up his friend's cause and recruits a writer and five prisoners to destroy the desperadoes.The last in the original series of four "Magnificent Seven" movies.
Hot Summer Week
John
Two girls pick up a crazed hitchhiker who may or may not be the serial killer murdering hippies in the area.
Chato's Land
Elias Hooker
A posse pursues Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson) a mestizo indian after he killed a US marshal in self-defense. As they get deeper into Indian territory, just who is hunting who.
The Grissom Gang
Mace
The Grissom Gang is a remake of the notorious 1949 British melodrama No Orchids For Miss Blandish. Kim Darby plays a 1920s-era debutante who is kidnapped and held for ransom. Her captors are the Grissoms, a family comprised of sadists and morons, and headed by Ma Barker clone Irene Dailey. One of the Grissoms, played by Scott Wilson, takes a liking to his prisoner, which results in a bloody breakdown of the family unit. Both The Grissom Gang and the original No Orchids For Miss Blandish were inspired by the best-seller by James Hadley Chase, though neither film retains Chase's original ending.
Lawman
Jack Dekker
While passing through the town of Bannock, a bunch of drunken cattlemen go overboard with their celebrating and accidentally kill an old man with a stray shot. They return home to Sabbath unaware of his death. Bannock lawman Jered Maddox later arrives there to arrest everyone involved on a charge of murder. Sabbath is run by land baron Vince Bronson, a benevolent despot, who, upon hearing of the death, offers restitution for the incident.
The Sporting Club
Olson
The wealthy members of an exclusive backwoods retreat face an existential threat from both a disgruntled former manager as well as a subversive, anarchistic current member.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Detective Cromie
William Popper is the son of a stockbroker and is thoroughly disenchanted with "the system." So much so that even though he can prove that he ran over a woman in his car entirely by accident, he accepts a sentence for manslaughter.
Five Easy Pieces
Carl Fidelio Dupea
A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Last Summer
Peter's father
During summer vacation on Fire Island, three young people become very close. When an uncool girl tries to infiltrate the trio's newly found relationship, they construct an elaborate plot that has violent results.
A Lovely Way to Die
Sean Magruder
A cop quits the force after too much disappointment in the system. He becomes a bodyguard of a rich recent widow. She is on trial for her husband's murder. He decides to help her clear her name... and get over her husband.
The Desperate Hours
Lt. Fredericks
The Hilliards are a middle class family whose lives are put in danger when escaped convict Glenn Griffin invades their home. Griffin is crazed, tormenting the Hilliards with his meek brother Hank and sadistic Robish.
Cool Hand Luke
Alibi
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
The Borgia Stick
Man from Toledo
A suburban couple discovers that they are pawns for a powerful crime syndicate. They try to break away from the cartel and go legitimate, but the syndicate doesn't want to give them up so easily.