David Hemmings

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David Hemmings, 1976

David Hemmings (born November 18, 1941 in Guildford , Surrey , † December 3, 2003 in Bucharest , Romania ) was a British actor and director .

Life

Hemmings was already on the stage of the English Opera Group as a boy soprano at the age of nine . On September 14, 1954 he sang Miles in the premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw at the Venice Festival . A recording of the opera in this line-up was released by DECCA. In 1955 he sang, also with DECCA, in the complete recording of the children's opera The Little Sweep by the same composer. However, there was no singing career; instead, he turned to acting. In his mid-twenties he had his international breakthrough in the role of scene photographer Thomas in the multi-layered film work of art Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni . Other films followed, most recently The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York and Ridley Scott's Gladiator .

Hemmings played a leading role in the character of the king in the English film Alfred the Great - Conqueror of the Vikings (Alfred the Great). The film shows a rather unusual mood and scenery for its 1968 production year; it seems like an anticipation of films of the same genre from the last few years, but without the technically exaggerated influences and implementations that are common today. It stands out clearly because it tries to portray the life and work of the English king in a documentary rather than effective way. In 1974, Hemmings took over the speaking role for the concert recordings of Rick Wakeman's rock opera Journey to the Center of the Earth .

One of Hemmings' most successful films was Charlie Muffin (1979, based on the novel by Brian Freemantle ), directed by Jack Gold . Only in the last few years has he made a comeback as an actor. He portrayed Cassius in Ridley Scott's Gladiator film, appeared in Scorsese's Gangs of New York , played a supporting role in the film Spy Game and most recently in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen alongside Sean Connery .

Hemmings was also successful as a director . One of his first directorial work was the film Beautiful Gigolo, Poor Gigolo , in which he also played a leading role and Marlene Dietrich played her last film role. He also worked for television . Under his direction, individual episodes and sometimes entire seasons of the series Airwolf , Magnum , Stingray , Back to the Past and The A-Team were created in the 1980s .

David Hemmings died of a heart attack in 2003 while making another film . He was married four times and had six children.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : David Hemmings  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Kilb: Beautiful gigolo. The actor David Hemmings turns sixty. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of November 17, 2001, p. 47.
personal data
SURNAME Hemmings, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Guildford , Surrey
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 2003
Place of death Bucharest , Romania