Editing Paul Winfield (section)

==Career==
A lifetime member of [[The Actors Studio]],<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Garfield |title=A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio |url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf |url-access=registration |year=1980 |publisher=[[Macmillan Inc.]] |location=New York |isbn=0-02-542650-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/280 280] |chapter=Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980}}</ref> Winfield carved out a diverse career in film, television, theater and voiceovers by taking groundbreaking roles at a time when black actors were rarely even cast. He first appeared in the 1965 ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' episode "The Case of the Runaway Racer" as Mitch, a race car mechanic. His first major feature film role was in the 1969 film ''[[The Lost Man]]'' starring [[Sidney Poitier]]. Winfield became well known to TV audiences when he appeared in several seasons of the groundbreaking television series ''[[Julia (1968 TV series)|Julia]]'' opposite [[Diahann Carroll]]. The show, filmed during a high point of racial tension in the U.S., was unique in featuring a black female as the central character. Winfield also starred as [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] in the 1978 miniseries ''[[King (miniseries)|King]]''.

In 1973, Winfield was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] for the 1972 film ''[[Sounder (film)|Sounder]]'';<ref>{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9803EFD6133FE73ABC4D51DFBF668389669EDE |title=Screen: 'Sounder' Opens: Story of a Negro Boy in Louisiana of 1930's |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |first=Roger |last=Greenspun |author-link=Roger Greenspun |date=September 25, 1972 |access-date=December 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130070705/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9803EFD6133FE73ABC4D51DFBF668389669EDE |archive-date=January 30, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> his co-star, [[Cicely Tyson]], was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]. Prior to their nominations and [[Diana Ross]]'s for ''[[Lady Sings the Blues (film)|Lady Sings the Blues]]'' the same year, only three other black Americans – [[Dorothy Dandridge]], [[Sidney Poitier]] and [[James Earl Jones]] – had ever been nominated for a leading role. Winfield also appeared in a different role in the 2003 Disney-produced TV remake of ''[[Sounder (film)|Sounder]]'' directed by [[Kevin Hooks]], his co-star from the original. Winfield played "Jim the Slave" in ''[[Huckleberry Finn (1974 film)|Huckleberry Finn]]'' (1974), a musical based on the [[Mark Twain]] novel. Winfield would recall later in his career that as a young actor he had played one of the leads in a local repertory production of ''[[Of Mice and Men (play)|Of Mice and Men]]'' in whiteface - at the time, a black actor playing the role would have been unthinkable. Winfield also starred in several miniseries, including ''[[Scarlett (miniseries)|Scarlett]]'', and two based on the works of novelist [[Alex Haley]]: ''[[Roots: The Next Generations]]'' and ''[[Queen: The Story of an American Family]]''.

[[File:Paul Winfield in Threepenny Opera.jpg|thumb|upright|Winfield in a 1972 production of ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'']]
Winfield gained a new segment of fans for his brief but memorable roles in several science fiction television series and films. He portrayed Starfleet starship Captain Terrell, an unwilling minion of the villain [[Khan Noonien Singh|Khan]], in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]],'' and Lieutenant [[Ed Traxler]], a friendly but crusty cop partnered with [[Lance Henriksen]] in ''[[The Terminator]]''. In 1996, he was in the 'name' ensemble cast in [[Tim Burton]]'s comic homage to 1950s science fiction ''[[Mars Attacks!]]'', playing the complacently self-satisfied Lt. General Casey. On the small screen, he appeared in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "[[Darmok]]"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bogost |first1=Ian |title=A "Star Trek" Episode Shows the Next Phase of Human Communication |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/star-trek-tng-and-the-limits-of-language-shaka-when-the-walls-fell/372107/ |journal=[[The Atlantic]] |date=June 18, 2014}}</ref> as Dathon, an alien captain who communicates in allegories. He appeared in the second season ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "[[Gropos]]" as General Richard Franklin, the father of regular character Dr. [[Stephen Franklin (Babylon 5)|Stephen Franklin]], and on the fairy tale sitcom ''[[The Charmings]]'' as [[Queen (Snow White)|The Evil Queen]]'s wisecracking Magic Mirror. He also portrayed Julian Barlow in the last two seasons of the TV series ''[[227 (TV series)|227]]''.

Winfield also took on roles as homosexual characters in the films ''[[Mike's Murder]]'' in 1984 and the 1998 film ''[[Relax...It's Just Sex]]''. He found success off-camera due to his unique voice. He provided [[voice acting|voices]] for ''[[Spider-Man (1994 TV series)|Spider-Man]]'', ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'', ''[[Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child]]'', ''[[Gargoyles (TV series)|Gargoyles]]'', ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', ''K10C'', and ''[[The Simpsons]]'', voicing the [[Don King (boxing promoter)|Don King]] parody [[Lucius Sweet]]. In his voiceover career, Winfield is perhaps best known as narrator of the [[A&E Network|A&E]] true crime series ''[[City Confidential]]'' from 1998 until his death in 2004.

Throughout his career, Winfield frequently managed to perform in the theater. ''Checkmates'' (1988), his only [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production, co-starred [[Ruby Dee]] and was also the Broadway debut of [[Denzel Washington]]. Winfield appeared in productions at the [[Mark Taper Forum]] in Los Angeles and [[The Shakespeare Theatre]] in Washington, D.C. He was nominated for an [[Emmy Award]] for ''[[King (miniseries)|King]]'' and ''[[Roots: The Next Generations]]''. In 1995, Winfield won an Emmy Award for [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series|Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series]] for his appearance as Judge Harold Nance in the [[CBS]] drama ''[[Picket Fences]]''.