Hal DeWindt

DeWindt was born and raised in Harlem.{{cite magazine|author1=Doug Galloway|title=Hal DeWindt|url=https://variety.com/1997/scene/people-news/hal-dewindt-1116679237/|accessdate=January 4, 2017|magazine=Variety|date=June 19, 1997}} His father Clifford acted with the original Lafayette Theatre.

In 1959, DeWindt became the first male model for the Ebony Fashion Fair. He traveled with that fashion troupe for two years.

DeWindt began his stage career in the Broadway play Golden Boy. He played a leading role in the Louis S. Peterson play Entertain A Ghost.{{cite magazine|title=Ghost Player|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bbMDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hal+DeWindt&pg=PA62|accessdate=January 4, 2017|magazine=Jet|date=April 19, 1962|page=62|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}} He also appeared in the Kurt Weill musical Lost in the Stars.{{cite news|author1=David Lefkowitz|title=Inner City Rep's Hal DeWindt, 63, Dies In L.A.|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/inner-city-reps-hal-dewindt-63-dies-in-la-com-70797|accessdate=January 4, 2017|publisher=Playbill|date=June 24, 1997}} In 1962, DeWindt staged an Off-Broadway production of Raisin' Hell in the Son, a spoof of A Raisin in the Sun that he co-wrote with Reni Santoni.{{cite magazine|title=Critics Offer Harsh Reviews For DeWindt's Play|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gb0DAAAAMBAJ&q=Hal+DeWindt&pg=PA61|accessdate=January 4, 2017|magazine=Jet|date=July 19, 1962|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}}

DeWindt served as production stage manager at the New York Shakespeare Festival for seven years. He was a director with Robert Hooks's Group Theater Workshop, which led to the creation of the Negro Ensemble Company, which he served with as a workshop director.{{cite book|author1=Anthony D. Hill|author2=Douglas Q. Barnett|title=Historical Dictionary of African American Theater|date=December 4, 2008|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810862760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlqYYWiNOEwC&q=Hal+DeWindt&pg=PA141|accessdate=January 4, 2017|pages=18,140}}

DeWindt was the founder and artistic director of the American Theatre of Harlem, and artistic director of the Inner City Repertory Company in Los Angeles. In 1977, he formed the Hal DeWindt Theatre in San Francisco.

DeWindt helped Arthur Mitchell bring the Dance Theatre of Harlem to Broadway, and helped Leonard Bernstein bring black musicians into the New York Philharmonic. In 1969, as assistant producer of The Angel Levine, DeWindt helped run a black apprenticeship program funded by a Ford Foundation grant. He also worked on a number of other film and television productions, and led acting workshops. DeWindt acted on television as well.

In 1983, DeWindt co-authored the book Kill, Bubba, Kill! with former NFL player and actor Bubba Smith.{{cite news|author1=Margalit Fox|title=Bubba Smith, N.F.L. Star and Actor, Dies at 66|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/sports/football/bubba-smith-nfl-star-and-actor-dies-at-66.html|accessdate=January 4, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=August 3, 2011}}{{cite book|title=Kill, Bubba, Kill!|author1=Bubba Smith|author2=Hal DeWindt|authorlink1=Bubba Smith|date=1983|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=9780671476472|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOQuairwOZsC|accessdate=January 4, 2017}} DeWindt was serving as an acting professor at Loyola Marymount University at the time of his death.

In 1958, DeWindt and his wife Violet had their first child, Hal D. Jr.{{cite magazine|title=This Week's Census|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ikEDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hal+DeWindt+Violet&pg=PA46|accessdate=January 4, 2017|magazine=Jet|date=November 13, 1958|page=46|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}} In 1975, DeWindt met actress Sheila Wills when she enrolled in an actor's workshop he was teaching in Los Angeles. They married two years later.{{cite magazine|title=Sheila De Windt: BJ And Bear Star Says Beauty Can Be A Handicap|date=August 6, 1981|magazine=Jet|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkIDAAAAMBAJ&q=dewindt&pg=PA54|accessdate=January 4, 2017}} The couple divorced in 1981.{{cite magazine|author1=Sylvia P. Flanagan|title=Sheila DeWindt Combines Successful Career With Motherhood|date=October 21, 1985|magazine=Jet|page=57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rADAAAAMBAJ&q=dewindt&pg=PA58|accessdate=January 4, 2017}} In 1984, DeWindt married actress/model Angelique.{{cite magazine|author1=Gerri Major|title=Society World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALMDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hal+DeWindt+wife&pg=PA32|accessdate=January 4, 2017|magazine=Jet|date=April 9, 1984}} He later married another woman, Suzanne.

DeWindt died of cancer in Los Angeles on June 22, 1997. The New York Times reported his age at death as 63.

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• {{IMDb name|nm0212400|Hal De Windt}}

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Category:1997 deaths

Category:African-American film producers

Category:Film producers from New York (state)

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American theatre directors

Category:African-American television directors

Category:American television directors

Category:Television producers from New York City

Category:African-American male actors

Category:African-American male models

Category:American male models

Category:Male actors from Manhattan