Thomas G. Waites

Did you know?!

1. 

   A role that slipped away

   Waites was fired from The Warriors after disputes with director Walter Hill, then asked the studio to remove his name from the billing entirely, a decision he later regretted.

2. About the name

   Waites added the middle initial G. to his professional name to avoid confusion with singer Tom Waits, who had taught him the song Jersey Girl on guitar.

3. Early training

   After a year at Bucks County Community College, Waites earned a full acting scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York City, where he was part of the Drama Division's Group 7 from 1974 to 1977.

4. 

   Big break

   Three weeks after he was fired from The Warriors, Tom Waites tried out with Al Pacino and won the part of Jeff McCullough in Norman Jewison's 1979 film ...And Justice for All.

5. A role that slipped away

   Waites turned down Snowbound, which offered twice the money, to take Pity the Poor Soldier because it celebrated the bicentennial of the American Revolutionary War.

6. First role

   Waites was the first to play Oliver Treefe in Molly, a Simon Gray play that had its world premiere at the First Annual Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C.