March 18. On this date in 1911, Oothout Zabriskie Whitehead, known as "O.Z." or "Zebby", an American film and stage actor who authored several volumes of biographical sketches of early members of the Bahá'í Faith, was born in New York City.

 

March 18. On this date in 1911, Oothout Zabriskie Whitehead, known as "O.Z." or "Zebby", an American film and stage actor who authored several volumes of biographical sketches of early members of the Bahá'í Faith, was born in New York City.

Oothout Zabriskie Whitehead was born on March 18, 1911, in New York City. As a child he was fascinated by films and the theatre and decided to make his career as an actor after his father took him to see Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in The Kid in 1921. After years in stage, film and television Whitehead struggled in the Hollywood Studio system due to being a pacifist in World War II and became dissatisfied with the roles he was given.

In his career he was a stage and film character actor, and was one of the longest surviving members of John Ford's "stock company" of character actors. His best-known part was as Al in Ford's 1940 adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath.

O.Z. Whitehead first heard of the Bahá'í Faith in 1949, and at his first informational meeting on the religion he heard Marzieh Gail speak. He became a Bahá'í in late 1950, and began giving public talks on the religion throughout the 1950's, for example at World Religion Day observances. In 1955 Whitehead went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 1963 he attended the first Bahá'í World Congress in London, after which he pioneered to Ireland which allowed him to take advantage of Dublin theatrical opportunities. Whitehead was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Dublin and in 1972, along with Adib Taherzadeh, he was elected to the inaugural National Spiritual Assembly of Ireland on which he served for fifteen years.

From about 1973 until the end of his life Whitehead devoted much of his time to the concerns of the religion including work resulting in publishing three books collecting biographies of early Bahá'ís while in his 6th decade but he also supported the Irish Actors' Equity and the Screen Actors' Guild and served on the executive of the Irish branch of PEN, the international writers' club.

Although he never married, he was in a long-term and very private relationship with actress Katharine Hepburn. The couple met through Dick Hepburn, who studied at Harvard University with Whitehead. After they agreed to part, Whitehead was never known to be in another relationship.

O.Z. Whitehead died of cancer in Dublin, Ireland, on July 29, 1998, at the age of 87.