Dana Wynter

Dana Wynter (born Dagmar Winter on 8 June 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a German‑born British actress whose career spanned more than four decades. She was the daughter of Dr. Peter Winter, a British surgeon of German descent, and Jutta Oarda, a Hungarian native, and she spent her childhood moving between Britain and Southern Rhodesia after her father relocated the family in the late 1940s. Wynter briefly studied medicine at Rhodes University in South Africa before abandoning her studies to pursue theatre, where she first performed a modest role in a school production of Through a Glass Darkly. Returning to Britain, she entered the film industry at age twenty, taking uncredited parts in movies such as Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) and Knights of the Round Table (1953). An American talent scout discovered her during a West End performance, prompting her move to New York in November 1953, where she found greater success on television and stage. In 1955 she signed a contract with 20th Century Fox and shared the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer with Anita Ekberg and Victoria Shaw. Her breakout role came as Becky Driscoll in the classic sci‑fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), a performance that cemented her reputation as a tall, dark, and elegant beauty capable of portraying both victim and villain. During the late 1950s and 1960s Wynter appeared opposite stars such as Robert Taylor (D‑Day the Sixth of June), Rock Hudson (Something of Value), and Danny Kaye (On the Double), and she featured in notable productions including Sink the Bismarck! (1960) and The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). She later transitioned to television, guest‑starring in series like Wagon Train, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Get Smart, and The Love Boat, often playing sophisticated schemers or tragic heroines. Wynter married Hollywood divorce lawyer Greg Bautzer in 1956, gave birth to her son Mark in 1960, and divided her later years between homes in California and Ireland, where she became an outspoken anti‑apartheid activist and contributed a column to The Guardian. She authored several memoirs, including Irish Eyes and California Eyes, before passing away from congestive heart failure on 5 May 2011 in Ojai, California, at the age of 79.