Whitehead was born in
Hamilton,
Ontario, to Marjorie and Berkeley Kyle Whitehead. His parents had moved there from
Saskatchewan, and the family moved back to
Regina when Whitehead was a child. His parents subsequently divorced due to his father's
epilepsy-related inability to maintain stable employment; Whitehead did not see his father again until his late teens. 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. 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. 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. 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. ==Career==