Paul Wynter was a competitive bodybuilder and sometimes film actor. He is best known for his two wins in the Mr. Universe competition. A native of

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, he was reported to be 68 years old in 2003. Born on October 28, 1935. He died on January 14 in 2019 aged 83.

Bodybuilding and Mr. Universe

Wynter was first awarded the title of Mr. Universe in 1960. He won the title again in 1966, and placed highly in the same competition over several years from his first placing in 1958. During his career as a bodybuilder he was admired for having one of the most perfectly symmetrical bodies in the world, standing at a relatively average 5'8" tall and weighing 180 lbs. He was featured in at least fourteen issues of ''Health and Strength Magazine'', even as recently as 1997.

Film career

Wynter's best known roles are arguably in the Italian-made

sword and sandal Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget H ...

films '' Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi (1961)'' co-starring

Gordon Mitchell Gordon Mitchell (born Charles Allen Pendleton; July 29, 1923 – September 20, 2003) was an American actor and bodybuilder who made about 200 B movies. Biography Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in hi ...

and '' Maciste, l'uomo più forte del mondo (1961)'' co-starring

Mark Forest Lou Degni (January 6, 1933 – January 7, 2022), known professionally as Mark Forest, was an American actor, opera singer and bodybuilder — widely known as the protagonist in a series of 1960s sword and sandal or ''peplum'' movies — ...

. Additionally, he appeared in several French-made comedies. Wynter performed his strongman act on Granada TV's much-loved variety show,

The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club ''The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club'' was a British television variety show produced by Granada Television from 1974 to 1977. It was set in a fictional working men's club in the North of England and was hosted by comedian Colin Crompton ...

in 1974.

Later life

According to a 2003 article, Wynter was living in

New Moston New Moston is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies four and a half miles north east of Manchester city centre, between Moston, Failsworth and Chadderton. New Moston Primary School was founded in 1901. New Mo ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

with his wife Mary, who two years his junior and manages a care home. In that year, a mentally unstable neighbor broke into the couple's home and attacked them with a knife. While the couple survived the incident, Wynter sustained a stab to the chest that punctured his lung. The local police force honored Wynter with a special award. When it was revealed that the attacker, who had been caught, was awarded freedom by the Manchester court, Wynter boycotted the ceremony out of protest. His wife Mary accepted the award on his behalf.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynter, Paul 1935 births 2019 deaths People associated with physical culture Professional bodybuilders