Personal details
- Birth Date: 1931-06-08
- Height: 5′ 6½″ (1.69 m)
- Birth Location: Berlin, Germany
- Children: (divorced, 1 child) Mark Ragan Bautzer
- Parents: Jutta Oarda Wynter
- Professions: Actress, Writer, Soundtrack
Dana Wynter, born Dagmar Winter in Berlin, had a pretty wild start, honestly. Her dad was this well-known surgeon, and just when you think you’ve got her childhood pinned down, he up and moves to Morocco for a surgery gig, then falls for Southern Rhodesia. Next thing you know, Dana, her dad, and stepmom are all living there. She jumps into pre-med at Rhodes University—only girl in a lecture hall with 150 dudes. Not bad, right? But she’s also messing around with drama club stuff, lands a role as a blind girl (which she totally admits she bombed). After slogging through classes for a year or so, she nopes out of medicine and heads back to England, but she’s not done flip-flopping. She starts acting. One night, while she’s doing a play in Hammersmith, an American agent spots her and basically says, “Let’s get you to New York.” So off she goes—on Guy Fawkes Day, no less, with fireworks blazing. She always joked it felt like Britain was giving her some dramatic send-off. New York? Way more her vibe than London. She’s popping up everywhere—TV dramas, stage shows, you name it. Hollywood comes calling, and she answers, racking up movie credits and landing in classic TV, even headlining her own globe-trotting series for a hot minute. She married big-shot lawyer Greg Bautzer, but that didn’t stick. People used to call her “Hollywood’s oasis of elegance.” She split her time between California sunshine and the green beauty of County Wicklow, Ireland, pretty much until the end.
Grew up in Southern Rhodesia after World War II, where life was a weird mix of colonial leftovers and change in the air. Ended up heading south to Rhodes University, which was (and still is) one of those places full of brainy types and way too much drama in the dorms. She dove into medicine, which wasn’t exactly an easy ride for a woman, especially back then—think loads of old-school attitudes and professors who probably thought women should be nurses, not doctors. Despite all that, she powered through, picking up all sorts of wild stories from late-night study sessions and the occasional protest on campus. The medical program itself? Brutal. Tons of exams, sleepless nights, and a constant feeling that you might just lose your mind before you get your white coat. Still, there was this sense that she was part of something bigger, maybe a new wave of women totally shaking up the scene in Africa.
Man, I swear, actors back in the day just had this magic, you know? Like, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Bette Davis—those names actually meant something. They had faces and voices you’d never confuse with anyone else, not in a million years. Now, it feels like everybody’s got the same haircut, same jawline, same “smoldering” stare… ugh. I’ll watch a movie and honestly, halfway through, I’m Googling, “Who is this again?” because they all just blur together. Maybe I’m just getting old or picky, but I miss the days when a star had a real persona. There was this grit and weirdness to them, quirks that made them pop off the screen. Now? Feels like Hollywood’s cranking out actors on an assembly line. I just want somebody who’s got that spark, that edge, someone you remember. Is that too much to ask?
June 8, 1931
5′ 6½″ (1.69 m)
Konidela Ram Charan
Berlin, Germany
Yes, Mark Ragan Bautzer
Jutta Oarda Wynter and Surekha
94 years old