Albert de Winton

born: 09 November 1879
Crickhowell, Breconshire,
Wales
died: May 1934
Brazil

(age 54)

Welsh-born actor. In 1933, a fifty-three-year-old Englishman named Albert de Winton arrived in Cuiabá, vowing to find Percy Fawcett, a explorer who was in Brazil who got lost in the Amazon while searching for an ancient city he called "Z", dead or alive. Winton had recently had minor roles in several Hollywood films, including "The King of the Wild." According to the Washington Post, he had “given up on the imitation thrills of the movies for the real ones of the jungle.” Wearing a crisp safari uniform, a gun strapped to his waist, and smoking a pipe, he headed into the jungle; he emerged nine months later with his clothes in tatters, his face emaciated.
On February 4, 1934, a photograph of him appeared in newspapers with the caption "Albert Winton, Los Angeles actor, is not made up for a role in a film drama. This is what nine months in a South American wilderness did for him." Within days, he had returned to the Xingu region. Months elapsed without any word from him. Then, in September, an Indian runner came out of the forest with a crumpled note. It said that Winton had been taken prisoner by a tribe and pleaded, "Please send help." He, too, was never seen again. Only years later did Brazilian officials learn from Indians in the region that a member of the Kamayura tribe had smashed Winton’s head in with a club, then taken his rifle.
It is possible that his death location may be Mato Grosso because the Kamayura tribe resides there and the Xingu region is located there.
Real name: Albert De Winton Jones
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography.

4
(1)


1928
The Ol' Gray Hoss
Bearded taxi customer

1929
Movie Night
Theatre patron

1930
Una Cana Al Aire 
Nightclub patron

1932
Now We'll Tell One
Professor Serge Petschnikoff

Acknowledgements:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/09/19/the-lost-city-of-z
https://www.nytimes.com/1934/09/16/archives/actor-begs-rescue-from-jungle-tribe-albert-winton-seeking-col.html
http://theluckycorner.com/rms/078.html (Robert Demoss/The Lucky Corner)
Jesse Brisson (identification in Una Cana Al Aire, Now We'll Tell One)
Frederick Fralick (information in bio; identification in Movie Night)

This page was last updated on: 18 May 2025