'Waltons' Patriarch Ralph Waite Dies at 85

Photo Credit: AP/CBSRalph Waite, who played the kind patriarch of a tight-knit rural Southern family on the TV series “The Waltons,” has died, his manager said Thursday. He was 85.

Waite, who lived in the Palm Springs area, died midday Thursday, said his manager, Alan Mills.

Mills did not know the cause of death. He said he was taken aback because Waite had been in good health and still working. He appeared last year in episodes of the series “NCIS,” “Bones” and “Days of Our Lives.”