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Ralph Waite Biography

Birth Name:
Ralph Harold Waite
Birth Place:
White Plains, New York, United States
Profession
Actor

Fast Facts

  • The eldest of five children
  • Joined the Marines in 1946
  • Following graduation from Yale Divinity School, became an ordained Presbyterian minister, but left after his eldest daughter died
  • Worked as a religious book editor at Harper & Row
  • Made his Broadway debut in the play Marathon '33 in 1963
  • Unsuccessfully ran for Congress twice, in 1990 and 1998
  • Founded an experimental theater company, the Los Angeles Actors Theater, in 1975
  • Played the father of two leading men on two long-running series at the same time – Gibbs on NCIS and Booth on Bones

Awards

  • 1978Emmy-Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: nominated

Relationships