Paul Winfield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Paul Winfield | |
 Winfield as Captain Clark Terrell in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. |
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| Birth name | Paul Edward Winfield |
| Born | May 22, 1939 Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Died | March 7, 2004 (age 64) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Years active | 1966 – 2004 |
| Spouse(s) | Charles Gillan Jr. ca. 1970-2002 |
| Notable roles | Captain Clark Terrell in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Lieutenant Ed Traxler in The Terminator |
| Emmy Awards | |
|---|---|
| Outstanding Guest Actor-Drama Series 1995, Picket Fences |
|
Paul Edward Winfield (May 22, 1939 – March 7, 2004) was an Academy Award-nominated American television and film actor. Winfield was openly gay in his private life, but remained discreet about it in the public eye.[1] He was best known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder and as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the television miniseries King.
[edit] History
Winfield was born in Los Angeles, California. He first became well-known to audiences when he appeared for several years opposite Diahann Carroll on the groundbreaking television series Julia. He also starred as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1978 miniseries King. In 1973, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1972 film Sounder, becoming the third African American to ever earn a nomination for a leading role. The other two were Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier. Though it should be noted that Sounder co-star Cicely Tyson was also nominated that year for a leading role, for Best Actress. He appeared in the 2003 Disney-produced television remake of Sounder. Winfield played the part of “Jim the Slave” in Huckleberry Finn (1974) which was a musical. Winfield would recall late in his career that as a young actor he had played one of the two leads in Of Mice and Men in local reperatory, made up in whiteface, since a black actor playing it would have been unthinkable.
Winfield also starred in more recent miniseries, including Roots: The Next Generations, Queen: The Story of an American Family and Scarlett.
Winfield gained many fans for several of his brief but memorable roles in science fiction TV programs and movies. He was Captain Clark Terrell, an unwitting minion of Khan Noonien Singh, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and a friendly but crusty cop partnered with Lance Henriksen in The Terminator. On the small screen, he appeared as General Richard Franklin, father of regular character Dr. Stephen Franklin, on Babylon 5 and as an alien captain who communicates in metaphor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Darmok.” He also provided voices on the cartoons Spider-Man, The Magic School Bus, Batman Beyond, K10C, and The Simpsons, on the latter voicing the Don King parody Lucius Sweet. He was “The Mirror” on the TV show The Charmings (1987-1988). He also played the long-lost father of Harriette Winslow and her sister Rachel Crawford on Family Matters. At the time of his death, he was a narrator for the A&E show City Confidential.
His first major feature film role was in the 1969 film, The Lost Man starring Sidney Poitier . He appeared as gay characters in the films Mike's Murder in 1984 and again in 1998 in the film Relax...It's Just Sex.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance in the King and Roots: The Next Generations. He won an Emmy Award, in 1995, for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, for his appearance as Judge Harold Nance in an episode of the CBS drama Picket Fences.
Throughout his career, Winfield frequently managed to perform in the theater. His only Broadway production, Checkmates, in 1988, co-starring Ruby Dee, was also the Broadway debut of Denzel Washington. He also appeared in productions at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Winfield died of a heart attack in 2004; he was 64. His long-time partner of 30 years, architect Charles Gillan Jr., preceded him in death in 2002.
[edit] External links
- Paul Winfield at the Internet Movie Database
- Paul Winfield article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Paul Winfield at the glbtq encyclopedia
- Paul Winfield and Charles Gillan Jr. Burial site
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Kiley Picket Fences |
Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series 1993 Picket Fences |
Succeeded by Peter Boyle The X-Files |
