O.Z. Whitehead
American character actor of rather bizarre range, a member of the so-called John Ford Stock Company. Originally a New York stage actor of some repute, Whitehead entered films in the 1930s. He played a wide variety of character parts, often quite different from his own actual age and type. He is probably most familiar as Al Joad in John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath (1940). But twenty-two years later, in his fifth film for Ford, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Whitehead at 51 was playing a lollipop-licking schoolboy! He continued to work predominantly on the stage, appearing now and again in films or on television. In his last years, he suffered from cancer and died in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland, where he had lived in semi-retirement for many years.
The Grapes of Wrath
(Al Joad)
Road House
(Arthur)
Panic in Year Zero!
(Hogan)
The Scarf
(Whoopie)
Beware, My Lovely
(Mr. Franks)
The Hoodlum
(Breckenridge)
The Horse Soldiers
(Otis 'Hoppy' Hopkins)
The Lion in Winter
(Bishop of Durham)
The Last Hurrah
(Norman Cass Jr.)
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
(Isaac Goodpasture)
Comin' Round the Mountain
(Zeke)
Summer Magic
(Mr. Perkins)
The San Francisco Story
(Alfey)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
(Herbert Carruthers)
The Scoundrel
(Calhoun)
The San Francisco Story
For Men Only
(Prof. Bixby)
Two Rode Together
(Lt. Whitehead)
A Song Is Born
(Professor Oddly)
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
(Ninny Nat)
FBI Girl
(Chauncey)
Ma and Pa Kettle
(Mr. Billings)
My Brother Talks to Horses
(Mr. Puddy)
The Body Beautiful
(Oscar Blunt)
Journey Into Light
(Lippy)
Gunsmoke
(Hank Blenis)
Perry Mason
(Harry Beacom)
Studio One
(Peter Kovalesky)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(Mr. Newton)
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Hazel
Suspense
(George Vance)
Cavalcade of America
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(Simms)