Ralph Waite, who played the kind-and-steady patriarch of a tight-knit rural Southern family on the TV series The Waltons, has died at the age of 85.
Waite, who lived in California's Palm Springs area, died at midday, manager Alan Mills said.
Mills, who did not know the cause of death, said he was taken aback because Waite had been in good health and still working.
Waite appeared last year in episodes of the series NCIS, in which he played the dad of star Mark Harmon's character. He also appeared in Bones and Days of Our Lives.
The Waltons, which aired on CBS from 1972 to 1981, starred Waite as John Walton, and Richard Thomas played his oldest son, John-Boy, an aspiring novelist.
The gentle family drama was set in Virginia's Blue Ridge mountains.
The show, which followed the Waltons' triumphs and setbacks through the Great Depression and World War II, was narrated by its rich-voiced creator, Earl Hamner Jr, who based it on his family memories.
His co-stars on Thursday praised both the actor and the man.
"I am devastated to announce the loss of my precious 'papa' Walton, Ralph Waite," said Mary McDonough, who played daughter Erin Walton.
"He was like a real father to me. Goodnight Daddy. I love you."
Michael Learned, who played wife Olivia Walton, said she was "devastated" by the death of "a good honest actor and a good honest man".
"We loved each other for over forty years. He died a working actor at the top of his game," she said.
Waite, a native of White Plains, New York, served in the US Marines and became an ordained Presbyterian minister before falling under the spell of acting.
He received an Emmy nomination for The Waltons and another for his performance in the ABC miniseries Roots.
