Veteran character actor Paxton Whitehead, who was nominated for a Tony for his performance in “Camelot,” died last Friday. He was 85.
His son Charles told The Hollywood Reporter that he died at a hospital in Virginia.
Whitehead’s most memorable role got here within the 1986 hit film “Back To School,” as Dr. Phillip Barbay, the stuffy professor who has to cope with Thornton Melon, played by Rodney Dangerfield as a businessman who attempts to earn his college degree.
He spent most of his early profession on the stage, signing with the Royal Shakespeare Company within the late Nineteen Fifties.
Whitehead also served as artistic director of the Shaw Festival, considered one of the biggest repertory theater corporations, which originally only featured shows written by George Bernard Shaw.
For his work as Pellinore within the 1980 revival of “Camelot” Whitehead received a Tony nomination.
Whitehead was a well-known face for TV fans, appearing on hit shows including “third Rock From The Sun,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” The West Wing,” and “The Drew Carey Show.”
In 2017, Whitehead spoke about the differences in acting in movies, TV and stage.
“Theatre is about projection and into the scale of the theatre,” he said. “Film isn’t about projection in any respect. It’s about internalism and what you’re considering – it’s minimalist. Nowadays numerous television is definitely filmed. After which there was different type of thing when it was done with 4 cameras on videotape.
“That was more like theatre since it was one directional – all of the cameras were in front of you on a staged set. And although they angled in, you were still looking as when you were taking a look at a proscenium. It was like doing a small one-act play without the projection required for a Broadway house or a big scale theatre like Westport.”
Whitehead is survived by a son and daughter.