Winfield: The Trials of an Actor

As soon as Paul Winfield completed Scott Turow’s best seller “Presumed Innocent” three years ago, he became an actor obsessed. He informed his agent that if and when the film version of the thriller was made, he had to have the juicy role of the charming, crafty Judge Larren Lyttle.

For the next 2 1/2 years, Winfield pursued the part before he got it in the critically acclaimed film, which stars Harrison Ford. “Maybe two days would go by when I wouldn’t think about it,” says the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor of “Sounder” and “King” fame.

As soon as he learned that Alan J. Pakula had been signed to direct, Winfield “knocked on his door. I heard through the casting person he wasn’t familiar with my work,” he says. So, he kept setting up meetings and sending Pakula tickets to see “Checkmates,” the play he was starring in on Broadway. For some reason or another, Pakula always canceled. “I was getting manic about it,” says Winfield.

Finally, he met with Pakula here in Los Angeles. “My agents said at this point in my career I shouldn’t audition, but just chitchat,” he says. “I would rather come in and read and let them know how I would approach the part. I would feel much better then if I didn’t get the part. Otherwise I’d think I’d failed chitchat.”

Six months later, Pakula finally told him the role of Lyttle was his. “The character was so well-written in the book,” says Winfield, “you really have a vivid impression of what he is like. But when I got the screenplay, all you were left with was his dialogue. It was a real shock to me. I said to myself, ‘How am I going to make these four scenes work?’ ”

Meeting with three black judges in New York and Detriot helped him flesh out Lyttle. The Detriot judge even allowed Winfield to wear judicial robes and sit on the bench while court was in session.

“We worked--and it was work--for three hours,” recalls Winfield. “I began to realize it takes a special kind of listening, a concentrated listening that is very exhausting. The most important thing I learned was the kind of power you get when you put those robes on and you sit on that elevated bench. Something happens.”