William Whitehead (Canadian writer)
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
William (Bill) Whitehead | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Frederick Whitehead August 16, 1931 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | February 1, 2018 (aged 86) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Radio and television documentary writer, memoirist, filmmaker, actor |
| Language | English |
| Period | 1960s-2010s |
| Notable works | Dieppe 1942, The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway, Wild Africa, Words to Live By |
| Partners | Timothy Findley, Trevor Green |
William Frederick (Bill) Whitehead (August 16, 1931 – February 1, 2018) was a Canadian writer, actor and filmmaker. Whitehead is best known as a writer of radio and television documentaries[1] and as the former partner of the late Canadian writer Timothy Findley.[2]
Whitehead was born in Hamilton, Ontario, to Marjorie and Berkeley Kyle Whitehead.[3] His parents had moved there from Saskatchewan, and the family moved back to Regina when Whitehead was a child.[3] His parents subsequently divorced due to his father's epilepsy-related inability to maintain stable employment;[3] Whitehead did not see his father again until his late teens.[3]
His initial career goal was to become an entomologist — by age 12 he was already a member of the Saskatchewan Natural History Society — but he also had a passion for theatre.[3] He studied biology and theatre arts at the University of Saskatchewan, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1953 and a Master of Arts degree in 1955, but decided against pursuing work as a biologist because he found it depended too strongly on having to kill animals.[3]
He moved to Ontario in 1957 to become an actor, having several small roles with the Stratford Festival while serving as a propmaster and stage manager.[3] He met Findley, at the time also a Stratford Festival actor, in 1962, with their lifelong relationship beginning when Findley appeared in a CBC Television production of Jules Feiffer's play Crawling Arnold and Whitehead invited him over to watch it because Findley didn't own a television set.[3]
