O.Z. Whitehead
Known for: Acting
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.
Filmography
Series
Perry Mason
Harry Beacom
1957
Series
Studio One
Peter Kovalesky
1948
Series
Gunsmoke
Hank Blenis
1955
Series
Hazel
1961
Series
Suspense
George Vance
1949
Series
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Mr. Newton
1955
Series
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Simms
1955
Series
Cavalcade of America
1952
Film
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Herbert Carruthers
1962
Film
The Lion in Winter
Bishop of Durham
1968
Film
The Grapes of Wrath
Al Joad
1940
Film
The Horse Soldiers
Otis 'Hoppy' Hopkins
1959
Film
Two Rode Together
Lt. Whitehead
1961
Film
The Last Hurrah
Norman Cass Jr.
1958
Film
Panic in Year Zero!
Hogan
1962
Film
A Song Is Born
Professor Oddly
1948
Film
Summer Magic
Mr. Perkins
1963
Film
Road House
Arthur
1948
Hello, Stranger
1992
Film
The Scarf
Whoopie
1951
Film
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
Ninny Nat
1947
Film
Beware, My Lovely
Mr. Franks
1952
Film
Ulysses
Alexander J. Dowie
1967
Film
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
Isaac Goodpasture
1958
Film
For Men Only
Prof. Bixby
1952
Film
Comin' Round the Mountain
Zeke
1951
Film
The San Francisco Story
Alfey
1952
Film
The San Francisco Story
1952
Film
My Brother Talks to Horses
Mr. Puddy
1947
Film
Ma and Pa Kettle
Mr. Billings
1949
The Body Beautiful
Oscar Blunt
1953
Film
FBI Girl
Chauncey
1951
Film
The Scoundrel
Calhoun
1935
Film
Journey Into Light
Lippy
1951
Film
The Hoodlum
Breckenridge
1951
Film
Philadelphia, Here I Come
Ben Burton
1975