Hooper Dunbar

Hooper Dunbar (born March 30, 1937) is a painter. He was a member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing institution of the Baháʼí Faith, from 1988 until he resigned in 2010.[1]

Background

A statement from the Baháʼí World News Service announcing the retirement included the following biographical statement about Hooper Dunbar:

Mr. Dunbar, 72, has served in Haifa since 1973 when he was called to the Baha'i World Centre as a member of the International Teaching Centre. He was first elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1988 and since then has been elected to successive terms.

Originally from Los Angeles, as a young man he was an actor on stage, screen and television, making films with Columbia, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Twentieth Century-Fox. In 1958 he began 15 years of residence in Latin America, where he worked as a translator and educator. Mr. Dunbar served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Nicaragua before being named to the Auxiliary Board for Protection. In 1968 he was appointed to the Continental Board of Counselors in South America and served in that position five years until moving to the Holy Land.

He is an accomplished painter whose works have been shown in Europe and elsewhere. He is the author of a book-length study guide to the Kitab-i-Iqan (Book of Certitude), one of the major works of Baha'u'llah, and of "Forces of Our Time: The Dynamics of Light and Darkness," published last year. Mr. Dunbar and his wife, Maralynn George Dunbar, have one son. They will be establishing their new residence in California.[1]

In a biographical video, Dunbar shared that he was born in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California. He was named after his grandfather, becoming Hooper Cameron Dunbar, III. Dunbar graduated from Hollywood High School and as a young man was very interested in stage settings, becoming involved in local theater productions. After graduation from high school he moved to New York and landed a lead role in a play called "The Young Disciple," about the public reaction to the arrival of a messenger of God to New York. He states at that time he had not yet heard of the Baháʼí Faith. He first heard of the Baháʼí Faith from the sculptor and actor Samuel Berger, who would later pioneer to Mexico.[2]

As a Baháʼí, Dunbar traveled extensively. For example, as an Auxiliary Board member he toured Bolivia in 1964,[3] and as a Counselor he visited Botswana in 1984.[4] and as a member of the Universal House of Justice he visited the Czech Republic in 2007.[5]

Acting career

Throughout his acting career, Hooper Dunbar starred in a number of plays, television series, and movies for such Hollywood studios as Columbia, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Twentieth Century-Fox. He eventually gained membership to the Screen Actors Guild. In 1957, Dunbar starred as Alfred Kramer in two episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, a television series broadcast on CBS. Also in 1957, Dunbar starred alongside Pat Boone and Dick Sargent in the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation production of Bernardine.

Artwork

Hooper Dunbar paints in his studios in northern California and Spain.[6] In addition to being held in many private collections throughout the world, his paintings have been exhibited at the United Nations Offices of the New York City Business Integrity Commission (BIC) and the executive offices of SOHO CHINA in Beijing.[7]

Writings
  • Dunbar, Hooper C. (1998). A companion to the study of the Kitab-i-Iqan. Oxford, United Kingdom: George Ronald Pub Ltd.
  • Dunbar, Hooper C. (October 1, 2008). Forces of Our Time: The Dynamics of Light and Darkness. Oxford, United Kingdom: George Ronald Pub Ltd. ISBN 978-0853985389.
  • Dunbar, Hooper (1986). "The Forces of Our Time". Dialogue. 1 (3): 10–14. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  • Articles on Bahaiteachings.org:

References
  1. "Two members of Universal House of Justice leaving after decades of service". Baháʼí World News Service. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  2. Hooper Dunbar (1 April 2016). The Forces of Light & Darkness - Hooper Dunbar (Video). KC Porter. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  3. "Meager Funds, Physical Hardships and Devoted Teachers Mark Efforts in Bolivia". Baháʼí News. No. 405. November 1964. p. 5.
  4. "Botswana". Baháʼí News (647): 15. February 1985. ISSN 0195-9212.
  5. "The 6th Annual Changing Times Presenters". Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
  6. Langness, David (May 8, 2017). "How Hooper Dunbar's Abstract Art Maps the Soul". Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  7. "Hooper C. Dunbar". Ethan Cohen. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.