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.
Movie | The Lion in Winter | Bishop of Durham | 1968-10-30 |
Movie | Summer Magic | Mr. Perkins | 1963-07-07 |
Movie | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | Herbert Carruthers | 1962-04-13 |
Movie | Panic in Year Zero! | Hogan | 1962-07-05 |
Movie | Two Rode Together | Lt. Whitehead | 1961-05-24 |
Series | Hazel | Unknown | 1961-09-28 |
Movie | The Horse Soldiers | Otis 'Hoppy' Hopkins | 1959-06-11 |
Series | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Unknown | 1958-10-06 |
Movie | The Last Hurrah | Norman Cass Jr. | 1958-12-31 |
Movie | Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! | Isaac Goodpasture | 1958-12-23 |
Series | Perry Mason | Harry Beacom | 1957-09-21 |
Series | Gunsmoke | Hank Blenis | 1955-09-10 |
Series | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Simms | 1955-10-02 |
Movie | The Body Beautiful | Oscar Blunt | 1953-08-10 |
Movie | The San Francisco Story | 1952-05-11 | |
Movie | For Men Only | Prof. Bixby | 1952-01-11 |
Movie | Beware, My Lovely | Mr. Franks | 1952-08-29 |
Series | Cavalcade of America | Unknown | 1952-10-01 |
Movie | The Scarf | Whoopie | 1951-04-06 |
Movie | The Hoodlum | Breckenridge | 1951-07-05 |
Movie | Journey Into Light | Lippy | 1951-09-28 |
Movie | FBI Girl | Chauncey | 1951-11-04 |
Movie | Comin' Round the Mountain | Zeke | 1951-07-26 |
Series | Suspense | George Vance | 1949-01-06 |
Movie | Ma and Pa Kettle | Mr. Billings | 1949-04-01 |
Movie | A Song Is Born | Professor Oddly | 1948-10-19 |
Movie | Road House | Arthur | 1948-09-22 |
Series | Studio One | Peter Kovalesky | 1948-11-07 |
Movie | My Brother Talks to Horses | Mr. Puddy | 1947-02-04 |
Movie | The Romance of Rosy Ridge | Ninny Nat | 1947-08-04 |
Movie | The Grapes of Wrath | Al Joad | 1940-03-15 |
Movie | The Scoundrel | Calhoun | 1935-04-30 |