O.Z. Whitehead

Acting

O.Z. Whitehead

Born 1911-03-01 · New York City, New York, USA

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.

Acting credits

The Grapes of Wrath poster
7.8

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

The Grapes of Wrath

1940

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance poster
7.8

Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

1962

The Lion in Winter poster
7.4

Christmas 1183, Angevin Empire: King Henry II plans to announce his successor to the throne. Jockeying for the crown, though, is complex. Henry has three sons and wants his boy Prince John to take over. Henry's wife, Queen Eleanor, believes their son Prince Richard should be king. As family and various schemers gather for the holiday, each tries to make the indecisive king choose their option.

The Lion in Winter

1968

Two Rode Together poster
6.4

Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.

Two Rode Together

1961

The Horse Soldiers poster
6.9

A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence.

The Horse Soldiers

1959

My Brother Talks to Horses poster
7.5

Living with his family in Baltimore, 9-year-old Lewie Penrose claims that he can converse with horses--and also pick the winners of upcoming races. When it appears as though Lewie is telling the truth, he attracts the interest of gambler Rich Roeder who needs a "sure thing" in the upcoming Preakness. Meanwhile, Lewie's older brother John carries on a romance with the lovely Martha.

My Brother Talks to Horses

1947

The Last Hurrah poster
7.2

In a changing world where television has become the main source of information, Adam Caulfield, a young sports journalist, witnesses how his uncle, Frank Skeffington, a veteran and honest politician, mayor of a New England town, tries to be reelected while bankers and captains of industry conspire in the shadows to place a weak and manageable candidate in the city hall.

The Last Hurrah

1958

Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! poster
5.2

Harry Bannerman, a Connecticut suburbanite, becomes involved in various shenanigans when his wife Grace leads a protest movement against a secret army plan to set up a missile base in their community.

Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!

1958

A Song Is Born poster
6.4

The story of seven scholars in search of an expert to teach them about swing music. They seem to have found the perfect candidate in winsome nightclub singer Honey Swanson. But Honey's gangster boyfriend doesn't want to give her up.

A Song Is Born

1948

Panic in Year Zero! poster
6.3

While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be the first casualties.

Panic in Year Zero!

1962

Road House poster
6.7

A night club owner becomes infatuated with a torch singer and frames his best friend/manager for embezzlement when the chanteuse falls in love with him.

Road House

1948

Summer Magic poster
6.7

Mother Carey, a Bostonian widow, and her three children move to Maine. Postmaster Osh Popham helps them move into a run-down old house and fixes it up for them. It's not entirely uninhabited, though; the owner, Mr. Hamilton, is a mysterious character away in Europe, but Osh assures them he won't mind their living there, since he won't be coming home for a long time yet. The children and a cousin who comes to live with them have various adventures before an unexpected visitor shows up

Summer Magic

1963

For Men Only poster
6.3

A college professor begins to suspect that a student's accidental death was tied to his refusal to take part in a traditional "hazing" and was no accident.

For Men Only

1952

No artwork available
9.0

Over lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel, an acquaintance tells the protagonist about his troubles.

Hello, Stranger

1992

Ma and Pa Kettle poster
7.2

The Kettles and their fifteen children are about to be evicted from their rundown rustic home when Pa wins the grand prize by coming up with a new tobacco slogan. Birdie Hicks is jealous of the family's new wealth, which includes a completely automated modern home, and accuses Pa of stealing the slogan. Reporter Kim Parker proves Birdie wrong and marries Tom Kettle.

Ma and Pa Kettle

1949

Comin' Round the Mountain poster
6.1

Al Stewart and Wilbert are magicians doing a stage act when they run into Wilbert's cousin, Dorothy McCoy. They find out that Wilbert's grandfather, Squeeze-box McCoy, had treasure hidden in the hills of Kentucky, which they go to find.

Comin' Round the Mountain

1951

Journey Into Light poster
6.5

John Burrows, an ordained minister from a small village in the East, envisions himself with a larger congregation. He is mortified when his wife drunkenly interrupts a sermon, then despondent after her suicide. Burrows travels to Los Angeles for a fresh start, but takes to the bottle himself and ends up arrested for public intoxication. A skid-row con man, Gandy, finds him a bed at a flop house, while a street preacher, Doc Thorssen, and daughter Christine take him to a local mission. Christine is blind. She falls in love with Burrows, enjoying his discussions of the spirit and the soul but knowing little of his past. One day she is struck by a streetcar and knocked unconscious, causing Burrows to once again question his faith. He ultimately accepts the Lord's will and is offered a better place to live and preach. Burrows decides he is better suited to the mission, with Christine by his side.

Journey Into Light

1951

The Romance of Rosy Ridge poster
6.7

A mysterious Civil War veteran courts a Missouri farmer's daughter amid postwar unrest.

The Romance of Rosy Ridge

1947

Beware, My Lovely poster
6.1

A psychopath on the run takes a job as a handyman at the house of a lonely widow.

Beware, My Lovely

1952

The Scoundrel poster
6.3

A ruthless, cynical, hated publisher is killed in a plane crash, doomed to be a "restless" spirit for being unloved. A heavenly power gives him a month on Earth to find one person to shed a tear for him before his fate is sealed.

The Scoundrel

1935

The San Francisco Story poster
4.9

After five years of being away, Rick Nelson returns to San Francisco to find it filled with corruption - and crooked politicians. It isn't until he meets a beautiful San Franciscan, that Nelson decides to get involved with bringing law-and-order to the city by the bay!

The San Francisco Story

1952

The San Francisco Story poster
4.9

After five years of being away, Rick Nelson returns to San Francisco to find it filled with corruption - and crooked politicians. It isn't until he meets a beautiful San Franciscan, that Nelson decides to get involved with bringing law-and-order to the city by the bay!

The San Francisco Story

1952

Ulysses poster
5.9

Dublin; June 16, 1904. Stephen Dedalus, who fancies himself as a poet, embarks on a day of wandering about the city during which he finds friendship and a father figure in Leopold Bloom, a middle-aged Jew. Meanwhile, Bloom's day, illuminated by a funeral and an evening of drinking and revelry that stirs paternal feelings toward Stephen, ends with a rapprochement with Molly, his earthy wife.

Ulysses

1967

The Hoodlum poster
6.2

Vincent Lubeck is a vicious ex-convict. His criminal activities are despised by his family, but he uses and abuses them in the course of his crimes. Eventually his own brother must stand up to him.

The Hoodlum

1951