Ralph's a good 'un

Great to see Ralph Waite showing all the old magic in NCIS last night. Perhaps the greatest actor of all time, Waite has clearly still got it all. The charm, the timing, the gravitas, the cheeky smile.

And he's looking in remarkably good nick for 81.

Let's not forget that Ralph supplied the world with nine years of pure joy with his portrayal of John Walton senior in 'The Waltons', perhaps most memorably of all in the 200th episode of the series, at the start of the ninth and final season, when he visited president Franklin D. Roosevelt to attempt to clear his black friend Harley Foster (adroitly played by Hal Williams) from a fabricated criminal charge.

In the United States of America, Ralph Waite is often referred to as "The Dennis Amiss of acting."