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hide captionRalph Waite more recently had a recurring role on the CBS drama NCIS as Jackson Gibbs.
Cliff Lipson/CBS /Landov
Ralph Waite more recently had a recurring role on the CBS drama NCIS as Jackson Gibbs.
Cliff Lipson/CBS /Landov
Ralph Waite may be best known as the father on the hit television show The Waltons.
The show aired on CBS from 1972 until 1981.
It was about a family in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains in the Depression-era 1930s.
He also played John Walton Sr. in many Waltons TV movies.
More recently, Waite had a recurring role on the CBS hit drama NCIS as Jackson Gibbs.
He was the father of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon.
Waite didn’t begin studying acting until he was 30 and made his professional debut in 1960.
He also ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat in 1990 and 1998.
Manager Alan Mills says Waite died on Thursday in the Palm Springs area. He was 85.
Article source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/14/276745921/actor-ralph-waite-father-on-waltons-dies-at-85?ft=1&f=1001