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.
Photos
Movies (27)
Hello, Stranger
1992
Philadelphia, Here I Come
1975 · Ben Burton
The Lion in Winter
1968 · Bishop of Durham
Ulysses
1967 · Alexander J. Dowie
Summer Magic
1963 · Mr. Perkins
Panic in Year Zero!
1962 · Hogan
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962 · Herbert Carruthers
Two Rode Together
1961 · Lt. Whitehead
The Horse Soldiers
1959 · Otis 'Hoppy' Hopkins
The Last Hurrah
1958 · Norman Cass Jr.
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
1958 · Isaac Goodpasture
The Body Beautiful
1953 · Oscar Blunt
Beware, My Lovely
1952 · Mr. Franks
The San Francisco Story
1952 · Alfey
For Men Only
1952 · Prof. Bixby
FBI Girl
1951 · Chauncey
Journey Into Light
1951 · Lippy
Comin' Round the Mountain
1951 · Zeke
The Hoodlum
1951 · Breckenridge
The Scarf
1951 · Whoopie
Ma and Pa Kettle
1949 · Mr. Billings
A Song Is Born
1948 · Professor Oddly
Road House
1948 · Arthur
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
1947 · Ninny Nat
My Brother Talks to Horses
1947 · Mr. Puddy
The Grapes of Wrath
1940 · Al Joad
The Scoundrel
1935 · Calhoun
