Dana Wynter, who starred with Kevin McCarthy in Don Siegel’s 1956 sci-fi cult movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,”  died May 5 at age 79. Her demise came in California, the result of congestive heart failure.

The low-budget movie is set in a small California town where people are replaced by emotionless duplicates hatched from alien pods.McCarthy, who plays a doctor, Miles Bennell,  battling the pod people, died last September. Wynter portrayed the doctor’s girl friend, Becky Driscoll.  Siegel’s movie, based on a story by Jack Finney, was remade three times — but the original is still the one to see.  

Wynter was often seen on TV shows such as “Wagon Train,” “Cannon” and “The Rockford Files,” but was best known for “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” She was born Dagmar Winter in Germany and grew up in England. She studied to be a doctor in South Africa before turning to acting. In her later years, she divided her time between California and Ireland.