Dana Wynter

Dana Wynter (born Dagmar Winter; 8 June 1931 5 May 2011) was a German-born British actress who was raised in the United Kingdom and southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1950s. One of her best-known film performances was in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. A tall, dark, elegant beauty, she played both victim and villain. Her characters both in film and on television sometimes faced horrific dangers, which they often did not survive, but she also played scheming, manipulative women on television mysteries and crime procedural dramas.

Early life Dana Wynter was born Dagmar Winter in 1931 Berlin, Germany, the daughter of Dr. Peter Winter, a British surgeon of German descent, and his wife Jutta Oarda, a native of Hungary.

She grew up in Britain.

She starred opposite Robert Taylor in D-Day the Sixth of June (1956), alongside Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier in Something of Value (1957), Mel Ferrer in Fräulein (1958), Robert Wagner in In Love and War (1958), James Cagney and Don Murray in Shake Hands with the Devil (1959), and the last of her 20th Century Fox contract roles opposite Kenneth More in Sink the Bismarck! (1960).

1960s She then starred opposite Danny Kaye in On the Double (1961), and George C. Scott in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963).

In shooting two films in Ireland, she made a second home there with her husband, Hollywood divorce lawyer Greg Bautzer. Over the following two decades, she guest-starred in dozens of television series, including the title character in several Wagon Train episodes, such as "The Barbara Lindquist Story", and in occasional roles in films such as Airport (1970). She appeared as various British women in the ABC television series Twelve O'Clock High (1964–66).

In 1966–67, she co-starred with Robert Lansing (who had been the original star of Twelve O'Clock High) on The Man Who Never Was, but the series lasted only one season. She guest-starred in 1968 in The Invaders in the episode "The Captive", and in 1969, on the second version of The Donald O'Connor Show. On Get Smart, The Rockford Files, and Hart to Hart, she played beautiful, upper-class schemers and villains. She also was on an episode of The Love Boat, "Sounds of Silence".

Later career She appeared in the Irish soap opera, Bracken (1978–80). In 1993, she returned to television to play Raymond Burr's wife in The Return of Ironside.

Personal life

In 1956, Wynter married celebrity divorce lawyer Greg Bautzer; they divorced in 1981. They had one child, Mark Ragan Bautzer, born on 29 January 1960. Wynter, once referred to as Hollywood's "oasis of elegance", divided her time between her homes in California and Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland. She also had an apartment in Royal Hibernian Way in Dublin. An anti-apartheid advocate, she refused to open a performance centre in South Africa because she discovered that black and white children would have to attend on alternate days.

In the late 1980s, Wynter authored the column "Grassroots" for The Guardian newspaper in London. Writing in both Ireland and California, her works concentrated mainly on life in both locations leading her to use the titles Irish Eyes and California Eyes for a number of her publications.

In July 2008, Wynter was involved in a legal dispute over the proceeds of the sale of a €125,000 Paul Henry painting, Evening on Achill Sound. The painting, which hung in the family home in County Wicklow, was said to have been bought for her in 1996 by her son as a gift. The dispute was resolved in the High Court in 2009.

Death Wynter died on 5 May 2011 from congestive heart failure at the Ojai Valley Community Hospital's Continuing Care Center; she was 79 years old. She had suffered from heart disease in her later years, and was transferred from the hospital's intensive care unit earlier in the day. Her son Mark said she was not expected to survive, and "she stepped off the bus very peacefully."

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1951 Night Without Stars Casino Patron Film debut, Uncredited White Corridors Marjorie Brewster Lady Godiva Rides Again Myrtle Shaw 1952 The Woman's Angle Elaine Credited as Dagmar Wynter The Crimson Pirate Baron Gruda's travelling companion Credited as Dagmar Wynter It Started in Paradise Barbara, the model Credited as Dagmar Wynter 1953 Knights of the Round Table Morgan Le Fay's Servant Uncredited 1955 The 20th Century-Fox Hour Laura Hunt Episode: "A Portrait of Murder" The View from Pompey's Head Dinah Blackford Higgins 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers Becky Driscoll Colonel March of Scotland Yard Francine Rapport Season 1, Episode 24 "Death in the Dressing Room" - credited as Dagmar Wynter D-Day the Sixth of June Valerie Russell 1957 Something of Value Peter's Betrothed – Holly 1958 Fräulein Erika Angermann In Love and War Sue Trumbell 1959 Shake Hands with the Devil Jennifer Curtis 1960 Sink the Bismarck! Second Officer Anne Davis 1961 On the Double Lady Margaret MacKenzie-Smith Wagon Train Lizabeth Ann Calhoun Episode: "The Lizabeth Ann Calhoun Story" 1962 The Dick Powell Show Barbara Bellamore Episode: "The Great Anatole" Wagon Train Lisa Raincloud/Writer Episode: "The Lisa Raincloud Story" 1963 The Virginian Leona Kelland Episode: "If You Have Tears" 1964 Wagon Train Barbara Lindquist Season 8 Episode 5 "The Barbara Lindquist Story" The List of Adrian Messenger Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm Twelve O'Clock High Ann Mcrae Episode: "Interlude" 1965 Twelve O'Clock High Lady Catherine Hammet Episode: "The Cry of Fallen Birds" The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Nurse Stella Season 3 Episode 17: "An Unlocked Window" The Wild Wild West Lady Beatrice Marquand-Gaynesford Episode: "23 – The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo" 1966 My Three Sons Maggie Episode: "From Maggie with Love " 1966–1967 The Man Who Never Was Eva Wainwright 18 episodes 1967 Dundee and the Culhane Martha 1 episode, "The Widow's Weeds Brief" Gunsmoke Isabel Townsend Episode 12 "Death Train" (27 November 1967) 1968 The Invaders Dr. Katherina Serret 1 episode, "The Captive" If He Hollers, Let Him Go! Ellen Whitlock Companions in Nightmare Julie Klanton Television film 1969 Get Smart Ann Cameron Episode: " Widow Often Annie" It Takes a Thief The Contessa del Mundo Episode: " Guess Who's Coming to Rio" 1970 Airport Cindy Bakersfeld Triangle Olive Millikan 1971 Marcus Welby, M.D. Julie Croft Episode: "False Spring" 1972 Hawaii Five-O Claudine Episode: "The Ninety Second War: Part One" 1973 Santee Valerie Cannon Dr. Deedra Pace Episode "Catch Me If You Can" 1974 McMillan and Wife Elena Episode: "The Man Without a Face" Cannon Jackie Akers Episode "Triangle of Terror" 1975 Le Sauvage Jessie Coutances The Lives of Jenny Dolan Andrea Hardesty Television film Cannon Mrs Hobart Episode "Search and Destroy" 1978–1982 Bracken Jill Daly 5 episodes 1979 Backstairs at the White House Mrs. Colgate Miniseries Fantasy Island Mrs. Norma Rawlings Episode: "Goose for the Gander/The Stuntman" The Love Boat Lillian Smith Episode: "Murder on the High Seas/Sounds of Silence/Cyrano de Bricker" The Rockford Files Princess Irene Rachevsky 2-part episode: "Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs" 1981 The Love Boat Margo Beacham Season 4 Episode 16: "Gopher's Bride/Love with a Married Man/Not Tonight, Jack!" Hart to Hart Silvia Van Upton Episode: "Ex-wives Can Be Murder" Magnum, PI Olivia Ross Episode: "Double Jeopardy" 1982 The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana Queen Elizabeth II Television film Magnum, PI Velma Troubshaw Episode: "Foiled Again" 1993 The Return of Ironside Katherine Ironside Television film; Wynter's final film

Awards Year Award Notes 1956 Golden Globes – New Star of the Year -Actress Won with Anita Ekberg and Victoria Shaw