Biography
Ralph Waite (1928–2014) was an American actor. He played Carl Fidelio Dupea in the film Five Easy Pieces (1970) and appeared earlier as Alibi in Cool Hand Luke (1967).
Waite trained at Bucknell University and Yale Divinity School before beginning an acting career at the age of 30. He worked in stage productions in New York and made his film debut in the late 1960s. He is best known for portraying John Walton Sr. on the CBS series The Waltons (1972–1981), a role he occasionally directed, and for his performance in the miniseries Roots (1977). Later television work included recurring roles as Jackson Gibbs on NCIS and Hank Booth on Bones.
