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Friends And Colleagues Pay Tribute To Late TV Actor Ralph Waite

By Victoria Pavlova in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 14 February 2014

Waite won the love and respect not only of his family and friends, but of anyone who worked with him.

Ralph Waite, a veteran TV actor known for his role in The Waltons and, more recently, recurring roles in Bones, NCIS and Days of Our Lives, has passed away at age 85. He died on Thursday, January 13, at his home in South Palm Desert, California, according to Desert Sun. His friend Jerry Preece told the news outlet that Waite had died of “a tired heart”, explaining that the actor’s health had been steadily deteriorating in recent months.

Since the announcement of Waite’s death, the casts and production teams of the shows he was part of have issued statements, honoring their late colleague.

The cast and crew of CBS’ NCIS, on which Waite played the father of Mark Harmon’s Gibbs, had this to say about the actor’s life and career (via Entertainment Weekly): “Everyone at NCIS is deeply saddened by the passing of our friend and colleague Ralph Waite. Ralph was family to us, a tremendous talent and a very special man. We truly cherish the time we had with him. Our hearts and prayers go out to his loved ones.”

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Roots Review

By Christopher Null

Excellent

When you think of epic mini-series, what comes to mind? Rich Man, Poor Man? Shogun? More likely than not, it's Roots, the based-on-a-true story tale that spooled over 12 hours and six nights, the story of "an American family," albeit one that began captured in Africa in 1750, then sold into slavery in the U.S. colonies.

Roots begins with Kunta Kinte, emerging from childhood and undergoing warrior training in his tribal homeland. The slavers arrive soon enough, and after a harrowing three-month ride back across the Atlantic, Kunta is sold, becomes Toby under his new master, attempts repeated escapes, and eventually accepts his fate as he settles down with a wife and child. The Revolutionary War comes and goes, and Toby's daughter Kizzy is sold, becoming the mother of her new master's son, known as Chicken George. Chicken George in turn is sent to England to pay off a gambling debt. When he returns home after 14 years, he is a free man. The Civil War arrives, and the rest of the slaves are freed. Soon enough the family faces the perils of vehement racism and the KKK, and Chicken George finally leads his family to safety in a new settlement.

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Silver City Review

By Jules Brenner

What are they using on the moviemaking plantation this election year to have produced such a bumper crop of Democrat-leaning political films? The fertile harvest may have something to do with outright fear of a Bush win in November. Or, determination to clarify the issues for swing voters still formulating their judgments.

Now, after Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, Robert Greenwald's Uncovered: The War on Iraq, France's The World According to Bush, the upcoming Bush's Brain, and many more, filmmaker John Sayles adds his satiric shovelful with Silver City, a (fictional) feature film which explores the ramifications of a political system that lends itself to corrupt and unseemly influences.

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