St. Petersburg Times January 26, 1978
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Ralph Waite
LesterFester — 12 years ago(February 15, 2014 08:32 PM)
St. Petersburg Times January 26, 1978
RALPH WAITE PUT THE BOTTLE DOWN AND DRANK IN LIFE
by William Overend
'It became very clear that the key for any kind of life for me was not drinking. I was out of that nightmare Just not drinking, one day at a time.
That's really the most important thing to me. Maybe that's why I can do these other things. I've learned that everything else will take care of itself.'
Ralph Waite, a recovering alcoholic
LOS ANGELES Skid Row is a strange place to find the head of the Walton family out on an afternoon stroll. But Ralph Waite seems at home as he walks past the rescue missions and the cheap hotels and bars that line E. 5th St. in downtown Los Angeles. They call this strip "The Nickel," Waite says. It will the setting for the movie he is here to make.
Wait already has spent several months down here, getting to know the people in the area. His movie planned for November theater release is called Rose's Park. It's about these people, and it attempts to tell something about the way t2000hey live. For lack of a simpler description, the people around Waite call it a love story.
Wait was still drinking when he landed the part of John Walton on the Walton's seven years ago, he says. He'd show up on the set in the morning with a quart of vodka and orange juice to get him through the day, then drink himself into a blackout every night. But he realized he couldn't last much longer, and one day he found his way to a recovery program for alcoholics. That was almost 6 years ago. Waite hasn't had a drink since.
IN FRONT of a bar called Hardrock Cafe, he pauses for a moment to say hello to an old man named Thousand Mile Shorty. Then the tour continues. Waite points out St. Vincent's Center, known as misery house. Not far away is the Emmanuel Baptist Rescue Mission. "They call it Gravy Joe's because they mainly feed 'em bread and gravy." Waite says.
He has put a lot of himself into this movie. He wrote the script and borrowed the money to produce it himself. He is directing it as well as playing one of the lead roles. Now there are some final details to go over before the filming starts. Waite won't have time to talk much more about the movie or his own story until filming ends in another six weeks.
"I don't go out of my way to dwell on my alcoholism," he says, heading back to the downtown hotel where he has set up his production offices. "As far as the movie goes, you can't do any preaching. But I have found so much humility down here. And Skid Row alcoholics aren't treated humanely. I would hope the movie might help to change that. I'm so grateful for my own recovery There is a way out If I can communicate that, that's really my life's work."
He was born in White Plains, New York.not quite 50 years ago, and he didn't decide to become an actor until he was 32. Before that, he had been a social worker, a minister and a publicity man for the religious books division of a New York publishing house. He had some early successes after he started working as an actor, but his career was just sputtering along when he landed a job on The Waltons. And so was his life.
Waite is home now, relaxing after the conclusion of the filming. There's a new England flavor to the relatively modest house on Mulholland Drive where he lives with his second wife, Kerry Shear, an actress whom he married last year. She's back in New York at the moment. He'll be seeing her there in a few days taking the train back, something he's always wanted to do, he says.
EVERYTHING, it seems, has gone well for Waite since he stopped drinking. The Waltons, now entering its seventh year, made him wealthy and famous. The success of the Los Angeles Actors' Theater, which he founded three years ago, gave him added prestige. At the same time, his personal problems overcome, he's been able to put his energies into social causes that had always interested him., from the United Farm Workers to alcohol rehabilitation programs.
"The idea of doing my own movie started about a year ago," Waite says. "I thought this was going to be the last year of the Waltons, and was planning on going back to serious theater in New York, thinking of splitting my time between there and Los Angeles. Before I left, I wanted to do my picture here as sort of a goodbye. But I really didn't know what kind of picture I wanted to do.
"Then I read the stories in the Los Angeles Times of Skid Row winos who had been turned over by the courts to hospitals," he says. "That interested me. I went down and started walking around, got to know some of the people and heard their stories. What I found was a real community of people overlook by the rest of society in the most callous way. I've always felt the artist in society is here to speak for those who can't speak for themselves."
Waite's story revolves around three characters, Sam, an ex-drunk who returns to Skid Row in a search for an old friend; CG (played by Waite), Sam's friend, who dies from his alcoholism, and Rose, -
mlbroberts — 12 years ago(February 20, 2014 06:56 AM)
Great. Thanks for this. Waite was one of those fine actors who found his own way through life without Hollywood dictating his path. He contributed a ton to the community with his LA Actors Theatre and God bless him for it.