Wayne Tippit was born in Lubbock, Texas December 19, 1932. He grew up in Tahoka and graduated from Tahoka High School. After graduation he studied speech and drama at Texas Tech College before transferring to the University of Iowa where he graduated in 1953. Tippit was a character actor performing on stage, television and movies.

He was best known to TV fans for his roles as Ted Adamson on the 1970s and 1980s CBS soap opera, Search for Tomorrow and later as Palmer Woodward, the father of Heather Locklear's character, Amanda Woodward, on the Fox primetime soap opera, Melrose Place, during the 1990s.

Tippet died August 28,  2009 of complications from emphysema in Los Angeles. He was 76.