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Paul Edward Winfield (born May 22, 1939 in Dallas, Texas – March 7, 2004 in Los Angeles, California) was an American film and television actor.
DCAU filmography[]
Batman: The Animated Series
- "The Mechanic" — Earl Cooper
Batman Beyond
- "A Touch of Curaré" — Sam Young
- "Splicers" – Sam Young
- "Sneak Peek" – Sam Young
Background information[]
Born in Dallas, Winfield began working in Hollywood at a time when it was very difficult for African-American performers to get parts. Some of his prominent roles include the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1978 miniseries King, and a struggling sharecropper farmer in the 1972 film Sounder, for which he received an Academy Award Nomination (at that time, one of only four African-Americans to date to be nominated for an acting role).
Winfield also gained a small but loyal fan following for his memorable performances in several science fiction films and TV series, including the well-intentioned-but-doomed Captain Clark Terrell in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and the equally well-intentioned-but-doomed Lt. Traxler in the first Terminator film. He also portrayed Captain Dathon, a leader of the metaphor-minded Tamarian race on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Winfield's unique, whiskey voice was often in demand for other animated productions, including Spider-Man, The Magic School Bus, Gargoyles, and The Simpsons. He also narrated the A&E miniseries City Confidential for six years, from 1998 right up until the time of his death (in which role he was replaced by Keith David).
Winfield died of a fatal heart attack in 2004, in Los Angeles, at the age of 64. He was buried next to his longtime partner, architect Charles Gillan, Jr., who had predeceased him in 2002.