Oothout Zabriskie Whitehead (1 March 1911 - 29 July 1998) was born in New York City and attended Harvard University. Called "O.Z." or "Zebby", he was a stage star and a prominent character actor who also authored several volumes of biographical sketches of early members of the Bahá'í Faith especially in the West after he moved ("pioneered" as a Bahá'í) to Dublin, Ireland in 1963.

Film, TV, and Theatre actor

Whitehead first appeared on Broadway in Martin Beck Theatre performing in The Lake (1933) in 55 performances from December 1933 to February 1934 which was Katharine Hepburn's first Broadway leading role and 11 other plays by 1939.

O. Z. Whitehead was one of the last surviving members of John Ford's "stock company" of character actors. Along with John Carradine, Donald Meek, Ward Bond, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jnr et al., Whitehead was one of the many actors regularly employed by Ford to breathe life into even the smallest roles in his films. His best- known part was that of Al in Ford's 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.

The Scoundrel (1935) by Ben Hecht, and Charles MacArthur which won a 1936 Oscar for Best Original Story was Whitehead's first film. Whitehead most famously played Al Joad (Henry Fonda's younger brother) in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath(1940) which was nominated and won several Oscars. Whitehead starred as Clarence in Life with Father with Lillian Gish among a total of more than 50 films and TV series episodes performances. Whitehead's first TV episode was The Arrow and the Bow in Cavalcade of America in 1953 and continued in other shows like Gunsmoke (1958), Bonanza (1960), and two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960-1). Shortly thereafter Whitehead moved to Ireland and participated in theatre arts there.

In 1966 he won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Dublin Theatre Festival for his performance in Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, a part he was to reprise at the Peacock until 1989. In 1983 he played the role of American Ambassador David Gray in the RTÉ television drama Caught in a Free State, set in neutral Ireland during World War II. His final role was as the narrator/Voice in the Irish horror movie Biological Maintenance Department (1997).

Oothout Zabriskie (O.Z.) Whitehead died in Dublin on 29 July 1998.

Publications

Personal life

As a child he was fascinated by films and the theatre and decided to make his career as an actor. After years in stage, film and television Whitehead struggled in the Hollywood Studio system and became dissatisfied with the roles he was given access to and then first heard of the Bahá'í Faith in 1949. At his first informational meeting on the religion, Whitehead heard well known researcher Marzieh Gail. Whitehead joined the religion late in 1950, went on pilgrimage to Haifa in 1955, and attended the first Bahá'í World Congress in 1963 in London. He then pioneered to Ireland while also taking to the Dublin theatrical opportunities. Whitehead was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Dublin and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Republic of Ireland on which he served for 15 years following its formation in 1972. From about 1973 through the end of his life Whitehead devoted much of his time to the concerns of the Bahá'í Faith including work resulting in publishing three books while in his 6th decade but he also supported the Irish Actors Equity and the Screen Actor's Guild and served on the executive of the Irish branch of PEN, the international writers' club.

References