Ralph Waite, 1928–2014
The actor who was a father to America
Long after the television series The Waltons had been relegated to reruns, a stranger approached Ralph Waite, who had played the benevolent patriarch of the namesake Depression-era mountain family. His alter ego, she said, had been her surrogate father when she was a child. “I went to school and college because of you,” the woman told Waite. “Now I’m a lawyer, and I don’t think I would be if I hadn’t seen that show.” Waite never tired of fans telling him such stories. “I’m still amazed by that. It happens all the time,” he said.
Born in White Plains, N.Y., Waite didn’t turn to theater until he was 32, said The New York Times. Before that he’d been a Marine, a social worker, a Presbyterian minister, a bartender, and a book editor. He tried out acting school on a friend’s suggestion and ended up off-Broadway in Jean Genet’s The Balcony. An acclaimed theater career led to roles in movies such as Five Easy Pieces and Cool Hand Luke, and a turn as a brutal slave runner on the TV miniseries Roots. Waite was wary of full-time television in 1971, when he assumed the role of John Walton Sr., the owner of a struggling lumber mill and softhearted, soft-spoken head of a large, loving family in rural Virginia. Waite’s character loomed large for decades after the show ended in 1981. President George H.W. Bush urged American families to be “a lot less like the Simpsons” and more like the Waltons. In 2004, John Sr. placed No. 3 in a TV Guide readers’ poll of television’s best dads of all time.
Waite battled a drinking problem for much of his career, said People.com. After The Waltons he led a program for recovering alcoholics and delved into politics, but his two congressional runs ended in defeat. He remained a familiar guest star on TV shows like NCIS and Bones. He also returned to the pulpit, preaching at a church near his Palm Desert, Calif., home. “I’m not any more moral than my neighbors,” he said. “But at the same time I feel in my bones you lose a lot of life’s value if you don’t see yourself as a member of the family of man.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 17, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - political anxiety, jury sorting hat, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Arid Gulf states hit with year's worth of rain
Speed Read The historic flooding in Dubai is tied to climate change
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Barry Humphries obituary: cerebral satirist who created Dame Edna Everage
feature Actor and comedian was best known as the monstrous Melbourne housewife and Sir Les Patterson
By The Week Staff Published
-
Mary Quant obituary: pioneering designer who created the 1960s look
feature One of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century remembered as the mother of the miniskirt
By The Week Staff Published