RIP Paul Winfield

[sdelmonte]

I take a moment to remember actor Paul Winfield, who died of a heart attack at the age of 62. Most of the world remembers him for his portrayal of Dr. King in a miniseries in 1978, for his Oscar nominated role in Sounder, for his Emmy-winning work on Picket Fences.

Fandom remembers him differently. In 1982, in Wrath of Khan, he played Capt. Clark Terrell, notable if only because he was Star Trek's first minority captain. Later, and far more memorably, he was Capt. Dathon opposite Capt. Picard in the classic Next Gen episode, "Darmok." His face was almost unrecognizable, but the voice was clear.

His voice is also known to viewers of "The Simpsons," where he was the Don King knockoff Lucius Sweet (having once played Don King in a made for TV film), and to fans of "Gargoyles," where he was the blind novelist Jeffrey Robbins.

Comments

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

That is sad. Thanks for noting his passing.

*hugs*
LMG

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

In an essay about the importance of Deep Space Nine, Stephen Barnes once noted that Paul Winfield frequently played the black guy who got killed in SF movies. Not Winfield's fault, of course, but the fault of the people who made the movies.

Still, Winfield's death in STII was at least a noble one.

[poltr1]

Didn't he play General Franklin -- Dr. Franklin's father -- in an episode of Babylon 5? (The episode was "Gropos".)