<Tr> <Th> Children </Th> <Td> 3 daughters (1 deceased) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Parent (s) </Th> <Td> Ralph H. Waite and Esther (née Mitchell) Waite </Td> </Tr> <P> Ralph Waite (June 22, 1928--February 13, 2014) was an American actor and political activist, best known for his role as John Walton, Sr. on The Waltons (1972 - 1981), which he occasionally directed . He also had a recurring role in NCIS as Jackson Gibbs, the father of Leroy Jethro Gibbs . Waite had supporting roles in movies like Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Grissom Gang (1971), The Bodyguard (1992), and Cliffhanger (1993). </P> <P> Waite, the eldest of five children, was born in White Plains, New York on June 22, 1928, to Ralph H. Waite, a construction engineer, and Esther (née Mitchell) Waite . Too young for World War II, Waite served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1946 to 1948, then graduated from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania . He worked briefly as a social worker . Waite earned a master's degree from Yale University's Divinity School and was an ordained Presbyterian minister and religious editor at Harper & Row, New York before deciding on an acting career . He was a member of the Peninsula Players summer theater program during the 1963 season . </P>

Who plays leroy jethro gibbs father on ncis