William Whitehead (Canadian writer)
Template:Short description Template:Infobox writer
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<ref name=nextchapter>The Next Chapter, April 8, 2013.</ref> and as the former partner of the late Canadian writer Timothy Findley.<ref>"Canadian writer William (Bill) Whitehead has died at age 86". Toronto Star, February 2, 2018.</ref>
Background
Whitehead was born in Hamilton, Ontario, to Marjorie and Berkeley Kyle Whitehead.<ref name="Globe">Template:Cite news</ref> His parents had moved there from Saskatchewan, and the family moved back to Regina when Whitehead was a child.<ref name="Globe"/> His parents subsequently divorced due to his father's epilepsy-related inability to maintain stable employment;<ref name="Globe"/> Whitehead did not see his father again until his late teens.<ref name="Globe"/>
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.<ref name="Globe"/> 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.<ref name="Globe"/>
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.<ref name="Globe"/> 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.<ref name="Globe"/>
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.<ref name="Globe"/> He remained a writer of radio and television documentaries, including the documentary film Fields of Endless Day, over 100 episodes of the CBC Television series The Nature of Things, and many episodes of the CBC Radio series Ideas.<ref name=nextchapter />
He also co-wrote several works with Findley, including the television documentaries Dieppe 1942 and The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway.<ref name="Globe"/> Whitehead and Findley won the ACTRA Award for Best Writing in a Television Documentary at the 4th ACTRA Awards in 1975 for The National Dream.<ref name=hutt>"William Hutt wins ACTRA best acting award". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, April 24, 1975.</ref>
Following Findley's death in 2002, Whitehead compiled and edited the posthumous collection Journeyman: Travels of a Writer.<ref name="Globe"/> In March 2004, approximately two years after Findley's death, Whitehead donated a collection of Findley's theatre memorabilia to the University of Guelph.<ref name=uoguelph>Template:Cite web</ref> He subsequently began a new relationship, with Trevor Green.<ref name="Globe"/>
In September 2012, his memoir Words to Live By was published by Cormorant Books.<ref>"The Word on the Street interview series: William Whitehead". Open Book Toronto, September 7, 2012.</ref> The book was a shortlisted nominee for the Stephen Leacock Award in 2013.<ref name=nofools>"The authors on the shortlist for the Stephen Leacock Medal are no April Fools". CBC Books, April 2, 2013.</ref>
In 2014 he served on the jury of the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers, selecting Tamai Kobayashi as that year's winner.<ref>"Writers' Trust Presents LGBT Literary Award to Author and Screenwriter, Tamai Kobayashi" Template:Webarchive. Writers' Trust of Canada, June 23, 2014.</ref>
He died at his home in Toronto on February 1, 2018, having earlier been diagnosed with lung cancer.<ref name=Globe />
References
External links
- 1931 births
- 2018 deaths
- Canadian male non-fiction writers
- Canadian science writers
- Canadian people of English descent
- Canadian gay writers
- University of Saskatchewan alumni
- 21st-century Canadian memoirists
- Canadian radio writers
- Gay memoirists
- Writers from Hamilton, Ontario
- Canadian male television writers
- Canadian television writers
- 20th-century Canadian male writers
- 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers
- 21st-century Canadian male writers
- Gay screenwriters
- 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- Canadian Screen Award winning writers
- Screenwriters from Ontario