William Whitehead (Canadian writer)
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 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| 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]
Background[]
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]
Career[]
When Findley left the theatre to concentrate on writing fiction, Whitehead simultaneously took a job writing science documentaries for the CBC Radio documentary series The Learning Stage.[3] He remained an award-winning writer of radio and television documentaries, including over 100 episodes of the CBC Television series The Nature of Things and many episodes of the CBC Radio series Ideas.[1]
He also co-wrote several works with Findley, including the television documentaries Dieppe 1942 and The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway.[3]
Following Findley's death in 2002, Whitehead compiled and edited the posthumous collection Journeyman: Travels of a Writer.[3] In March 2004, approximately two years after Findley's death, Whitehead donated a collection of Findley's theatre memorabilia to the University of Guelph.[4] He subsequently began a new relationship, with Trevor Green.[3]
In September 2012, his memoir Words to Live By was published by Cormorant Books.[5] The book was a shortlisted nominee for the Stephen Leacock Award in 2013.[6]
In 2014 he served on the jury of the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers, selecting Tamai Kobayashi as that year's winner.[7]
He died at his home in Toronto on February 1, 2018, having earlier been diagnosed with lung cancer.[3]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b The Next Chapter, April 8, 2013.
- ^ "Canadian writer William (Bill) Whitehead has died at age 86". Toronto Star, February 2, 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Stoffman, Judy (February 23, 2018). "William Whitehead, 86, was a great CBC documentary writer who lived a life of devotion". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ "Timothy Findley's theatre collection donated to U of G". University of Guelph Campus News. 2004-03-03. Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
- ^ "The Word on the Street interview series: William Whitehead". Open Book Toronto, September 7, 2012.
- ^ "The authors on the shortlist for the Stephen Leacock Medal are no April Fools". CBC Books, April 2, 2013.
- ^ "Writers’ Trust Presents LGBT Literary Award to Author and Screenwriter, Tamai Kobayashi". Writers' Trust of Canada, June 23, 2014.
External links[]
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| General |
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| National libraries | |
| Other | |
- 1931 births
- 2018 deaths
- Canadian science writers
- Canadian people of English descent
- LGBT writers from Canada
- Gay writers
- University of Saskatchewan alumni
- Canadian television writers
- Canadian memoirists
- Canadian radio writers
- LGBT memoirists
- Writers from Hamilton, Ontario
- Writers from Regina, Saskatchewan
- Canadian male television writers
- 20th-century Canadian male writers
- 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers
- 21st-century Canadian male writers
- 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers
- Canadian male non-fiction writers