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3-9-04. Oscar-nominated actor, Paul Winfield, died of a sudden heart attack
at age 62 at the Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. He was a
versatile actor on the stage, and in film / television roles. he was highly
praised for his 1978 miniseries depiction of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Winfield played Paul, the boyfriend of Diahann Carroll, in her
breakthrough Black sitcom "Julia" in 1968. It was the first to star an African
American woman in a non-stereotypical role and was one of the hallmarks of
Integration-era Hollywood. He received his first film role from Sidney Poitier
in the 1969 film "The Lost Man."
Three years later he earned an Oscar nomination for best actor for his role
as father in "Sounder." He played Nathan Lee Morgan, the patriarch of a 1933
sharecropper family.
His Emmy nominations include best actor for the title role in "King" and best
supporting actor for playing a college chancellor in "Roots: The Next
Generation." He won a 1995 Emmy for a guest appearance on "Picket Fences," where
he played a federal judge whose rulings on busing inner-city children are
challenged. Winfield also had supporting roles in a 1974 remake of "Huckleberry
Finn" as Jim, an appearance in the Broadway play "Checkmates" with Denzel
Washington, a role in "A Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich with Cicely Tyson
whom he had an intimate relationship for 19 months, and as Don King in a 1995
HBO movie.
Other acting credits: "The Women of Brewster Place," "Go Tell It on the
Mountain," 227," "The Terminator," "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," "Presumed
Innocent," and "Love Letters" opposite Carroll. He also was the voice for
superhero Black Marvel in a 1994 "Spiderman" cartoon and narrated A&E's cable
series, "City Confidential."
Winfield, a Los Angeles native, was born May 22, 1941. He was raised by Lois
Edwards, a union organizer in the garment industry, who later married his
stepfather, Clarence Winfield, a construction worker. After moving to Watts, he
was bused to a predominately white manual arts high school in Los Angeles and
was named best actor for three years in a row in an annual Southern California
high school drama competition. He was gifted at the violin and cello, and won a
scholarship to Yale University. He accepted a drama scholarship to the
University of Oregon instead. He left the University of California at Los
Angeles after studying drama at four colleges. He was six credits short of a
bachelor's degree. In a 1984 interview with The Times, he said he had
been "given a lot of prestige -- [as] a distinguished black actor -- but very
little power. They give prestige out by the buckets, but they give power by the
teaspoon, just enough to stroke your ego."
Last year, he had a cameo appearance in the ABC remake of "Sounder." It was
his last film role.
Winfield suffered from a lifelong battle with obesity. The last 20 years he
suffered from diabetes. A few years ago he went into a diabetic coma at a Denver
dog show (he bred and showed black pug dogs) and was hospitalized for three
weeks. He never married and shared his Hollywood Hills home with seven pugs,
each named after a Shakespearean character. He also had more than 600 ceramic
and bronze pug figures.
He is survived by his sister, Patricia Wilson, of Las Vegas, Nevada.
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