Dean Winters of Allstate commercial fame recalls how he was brought 'back to life after around four-and-a-half minutes' of death
Actor Dean Winters opened up about his near-death experience that occurred nearly a decade ago, on June 19, 2009, amid a bacterial infection.
'I had a rough ride in an ambulance,' the 54-year-old actor, known for playing the Mayhem character in the All-State commercials, told US while at the Tribeca Film Festival in his native New York City Friday. 'I went septic due to an illness that I had as a kid and it caught up with me.'
Winters, who also played cunning inmate Ryan O'Reily on the groundbreaking HBO prison drama Oz, said he 'had no idea what happened' as his heart stopped beating.
The latest: Actor Dean Winters, 54, opened up about his near-death experience that occurred nearly a decade ago, on June 19, 2009, amid a bacterial infection. He was snapped Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC
'I was dead in the back of an ambulance,' he said, 'and the great doctors at Lenox Hill Hospital brought me back to life after around four-and-a-half minutes.'
The New York City native, who's also been seen on 30 Rock, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, said doctors didn't tell him 'what happened until a couple of months later' in an effort to protect the patient.
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'They don't want to send you back into a mental trauma,' Winters said. 'It woke me up to a lot of things that were fuzzy.'
Winters, speaking to Page Six a year after the incident, described the physical effects he experienced amid the illness, collapsing as his 'whole head' swelled up.
Tough time: The actor said he 'had no idea what happened' amid the health crisis 10 years ago
Resilient: Winters in recent years has appeared as Mayhem in the popular Allstate commercials
Breakout role: Winters played inmate Ryan O'Reily on the groundbreaking HBO prison drama Oz
Winters said he 'died on Fifth Avenue' while in an ambulance until paramedics revived him. He told the paper his recovery in the year that followed included a three-week stay in Lenox Hill's ICU, and 10 operations performed over 95 days in medical facilities.
Amid a case of gangrene, doctors had to amputate two of his toes and a portion of his thumb.
'I feel like I’m a member of a very exclusive club - with a very tight door policy. It’s gonna take more than a finger and a couple of toes to keep me down,' he said.
