# Dana Wynter
**Dana Wynter** (born Dagmar Winter; June 8, 1931 – May 5, 2011) was a German-born English actress best known as Becky Driscoll, the imperiled heroine of [Don Siegel](https://www.edgepedia.org/don-siegel)'s science-fiction film *Invasion of the Body Snatchers* (1956).[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no91003533.html) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/35291-Dana-Wynter) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dana-wynter-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-heroine-dies-at-79/2011/04/27/AFgCCidG_story.html) Under a seven-year contract to 20th Century Fox from 1955, she appeared in films including *Sink the Bismarck!* (1960) and *Airport* (1970), then worked extensively in American television until her final credit, the 1993 TV movie *The Return of Ironside*.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/35291-Dana-Wynter) • [4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/dana-wynter-actress-numerous-films-and-tv-series)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth | Dagmar Winter, June 8, 1931, Berlin, Germany[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no91003533.html) |
| Signature role | Becky Driscoll in *Invasion of the Body Snatchers* (1956), her best-known film[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/35291-Dana-Wynter) • [5](https://www.allmovie.com/artist/dana-wynter-an86169) |
| Studio contract | Seven-year deal with Twentieth Century Fox, signed 1955, after offers from three studios[6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html) |
| Notable films | *Sink the Bismarck!* (1960, Lt. Anna Davis), *Fräulein* (1958), *The List of Adrian Messenger* (1963), *Airport* (1970, Cindy Bakersfeld), *Play Misty for Me* (1971), *Santee* (1973)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/35291-Dana-Wynter) |
| Television | Starred with Robert Lansing in ABC's *The Man Who Never Was*; guest roles on *Wagon Train*, *Cannon*, *The Rockford Files*, *The Love Boat*, *Hart to Hart*; final credit *The Return of Ironside* (1993)[4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/dana-wynter-actress-numerous-films-and-tv-series) |
| Marriage | Greg Bautzer, celebrity attorney; son Mark Ragan Bautzer (born 1960); divorced 1981[7](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/elegant-actor-and-writer-of-great-talent-1.585662) |
| Death | May 5, 2011, Ojai, California, of congestive heart failure, aged 79[8](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dana-wynter-20110508-story.html) |
## Early life and background
She was born Dagmar Winter in Berlin, where her father, a celebrated surgeon, and her mother were living at the time.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary) The obituaries describe her mother as Hungarian, but in her own authorized interview Wynter described her mother as a skilled Rumanian linguist and her father as a German gynecologist; the two accounts have not been reconciled.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary) • [6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html)
Accounts of her upbringing also differ. The Guardian says she was schooled in England and [Southern Rhodesia](https://www.edgepedia.org/southern-rhodesia) (now Zimbabwe); the Irish Times says she was raised in Scotland, England, Rhodesia and South Africa.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary) • [7](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/elegant-actor-and-writer-of-great-talent-1.585662) She studied medicine at Rhodes University in South Africa, dropped out after a year, and returned to England to act.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary) The Library of Congress authority record lists her variant names as Winter, Dagmar and Wynter, Dagmar.[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no91003533.html)
## Career beginnings
Credited as Dagmar Wynter, she appeared in bit parts in British films and in two European-made Hollywood productions, including *The Crimson Pirate*.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary) In New York she worked in live television and on Broadway.[6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html) After being offered contracts by three Hollywood studios, she signed a seven-year deal with Twentieth Century Fox in 1955.[6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html)
## Breakthrough: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
In Don Siegel's *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, produced by the Poverty Row (low-budget, second-tier Hollywood studios of the era) studio Allied Artists, she played Becky Driscoll, the love interest of [Kevin McCarthy](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-mccarthy)'s Dr. Miles Bennell in the story of a small town whose residents are replaced by emotionless duplicates grown in pods.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dana-wynter-20110508-story.html) The Washington Post wrote that the low-budget film won her an enduring place in film history.[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dana-wynter-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-heroine-dies-at-79/2011/04/27/AFgCCidG_story.html)
Science-fiction film expert Tom Weaver told the Los Angeles Times that Wynter was "quite attractively English, and very different from the 'average' sci-fi leading ladies of the '50s, many of whom were pinup girl-types none too convincingly playing scientists or biologists".[8](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dana-wynter-20110508-story.html) In her own interview, Wynter attributed the film's standing over its three remakes to McCarthy's performance, honest and believable casting, and the small-community setting.[6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html)
## Film and television career, 1957–1993
The AFI Catalog credits her in *The View from Pompey's Head* (1955), *D-Day the Sixth of June* (1956), *No Down Payment* (1957), *Something of Value* (1957), *In Love and War* (1958), *Fräulein* (1958, as Erika Angermann), *Shake Hands with the Devil* (1959), *The Night Fighters* (1960), *Sink the Bismarck!* (1960, Lt. Anna Davis), *On the Double* (1961), *The List of Adrian Messenger* (1963), *[Hombre](https://www.edgepedia.org/hombre-film)* (1967), *If He Hollers, Let Him Go!* (1968), *Airport* (1970, Cindy Bakersfeld), *[Play Misty for Me](https://www.edgepedia.org/play-misty-for-me)* (1971), and *Santee* (1973).[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/35291-Dana-Wynter)
Television occupied much of her working life. She starred with Robert Lansing in the ABC series *The Man Who Never Was*, and appeared on *Wagon Train*, *Cannon*, *The Rockford Files*, *The Love Boat*, *Hart to Hart*, *Backstairs at the White House*, *Magnum P.I.*, *Hawaii Five-O*, *Playhouse 90*, *Studio One*, and *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour*.[4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/dana-wynter-actress-numerous-films-and-tv-series) • [6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html) Her final credit was the 1993 made-for-television movie *The Return of Ironside*.[4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/dana-wynter-actress-numerous-films-and-tv-series)
## By the numbers
Her credited feature filmography per the AFI Catalog runs from *The View from Pompey's Head* (1955) to *Santee* (1973), sixteen titles across eighteen years.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/35291-Dana-Wynter) Her television work extended twenty years beyond her last theatrical film, from the early live anthology era through *The Return of Ironside* in 1993.[4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/dana-wynter-actress-numerous-films-and-tv-series)
## Career in context
The Guardian's obituary presented her career in terms of its limitations: 20th Century Fox held her to a seven-year contract but offered her little opportunity to show off her acting abilities, whereas her finest picture, *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, came from Allied Artists, a studio of the "Poverty Row" kind.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary) Weaver's comparison with 1950s science-fiction leading ladies makes the same point from the casting side: her English manner set her apart from the pinup-type actresses then common in the genre.[8](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dana-wynter-20110508-story.html) AllMovie describes her as a tall, dark, elegant beauty who played both victim and villain.[5](https://www.allmovie.com/artist/dana-wynter-an86169) The Guardian called her the epitome of the "[English rose](https://www.edgepedia.org/english-rose-epithet)" and argued that her strikingly beautiful, dark-haired persona did not get the film career she deserved.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary)
## Personal life and later years
She married the celebrity attorney Greg Bautzer, her only husband, and they had one child, Mark Ragan Bautzer, born in 1960; the couple divorced in 1981.[7](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/elegant-actor-and-writer-of-great-talent-1.585662) In the mid-1980s she took up journalism, writing under her own byline in *The Guardian* and contributing to *National Review*, *Country Living*, *Image*, and *The Irish Times*.[6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html) Her book *Other People, Other Places*, essays about her life and memories on four continents, was published by Caladrius Press, Dublin.[6](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html)
## Death and legacy
Wynter died on May 5, 2011, of congestive heart failure at Ojai Valley Community Hospital's Continuing Care Center in [Ojai, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/ojai-california), aged 79, according to her son Mark Bautzer.[8](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dana-wynter-20110508-story.html) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dana-wynter-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-heroine-dies-at-79/2011/04/27/AFgCCidG_story.html) [The Irish Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-irish-times) reported that she had suffered from heart disease in later years, and quoted her son saying she "stepped off the bus very peacefully".[7](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/elegant-actor-and-writer-of-great-talent-1.585662) Her legacy rests chiefly on *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, the film with which AllMovie and the obituaries identify her.[5](https://www.allmovie.com/artist/dana-wynter-an86169) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dana-wynter-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-heroine-dies-at-79/2011/04/27/AFgCCidG_story.html)
## References
1. [Library of Congress Authorities – Wynter, Dana](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no91003533.html)
2. [AFI Catalog – Dana Wynter](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/35291-Dana-Wynter)
3. [Dana Wynter, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' heroine, dies at 79 – The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dana-wynter-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-heroine-dies-at-79/2011/04/27/AFgCCidG_story.html)
4. [Dana Wynter, Actress in Numerous Films and TV Series – Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/dana-wynter-actress-numerous-films-and-tv-series)
5. [Dana Wynter – AllMovie](https://www.allmovie.com/artist/dana-wynter-an86169)
6. [Dana Wynter: Life is an adventure – Films of the Golden Age](https://filmsofthegoldenage.com/current_issue/dana-wynter-life-is-an-adventure/article_2ecca594-c563-54ca-a193-23684e2c2a1d.html)
7. [Elegant actor and writer of great talent – The Irish Times](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/elegant-actor-and-writer-of-great-talent-1.585662)
8. [Dana Wynter obituary – Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dana-wynter-20110508-story.html)
9. [Dana Wynter obituary – The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/may/10/dana-wynter-obituary)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames Q to Y*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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