William (Bill) Whitehead | |
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Born | William Frederick Whitehead 1931 |
Occupation | radio and television documentary writer, memoirist |
Language | English |
Nationality | Canadian |
Period | 1960s-2010s |
Notable works | Dieppe 1942, The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway, Words to Live By |
Partner | Timothy Findley |
William Frederick (Bill) Whitehead (born 1931) is a Canadian writer, actor and filmmaker, best known as a writer of radio and television documentaries and as the former partner of the late Canadian writer Timothy Findley.
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. He moved to Ontario in 1957 to become an actor and producer. He is an award-winning writer of radio and television documentaries, including many episodes of the CBC Television series The Nature of Things and the CBC Radio series Ideas. He also co-wrote several works with Findley, including the television documentaries Dieppe 1942 and The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway.
In March 2004, approximately two years after Findley's death, Whitehead donated a collection of Findley's theatre memorabilia to the University of Guelph.
In September 2012, his memoir Words to Live By was published by Cormorant Books. The book was a shortlisted nominee for the Stephen Leacock Award in 2013.
In 2014 he served on the jury of the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers, selecting Tamai Kobayashi as that year's winner.