David Hemmings

David Edward Leslie Hemmings (18 November 1941 – 3 December 2003) was an English actor, director, producer, and singer-songwriter.[1] He co-founded the Hemdale Film Corporation in 1967.

David Hemmings
Hemmings in 1976
Born
David Edward Leslie Hemmings

(1941-11-18)18 November 1941
Guildford, Surrey, England
Died3 December 2003(2003-12-03) (aged 62)
Bucharest, Romania
Alma materGlyn Grammar School
Occupation
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
  • singer-songwriter
Years active1954–2003
Spouse(s)
Genista Ouvry
​
​
(m. 1960; div. 1967)​

​
​
(m. 1968; div. 1975)​

Prudence de Casembroot
​
​
(m. 1976; div. 1997)​

Lucy Williams
​
(m. 2002)​
Children6; including Nolan Hemmings

Considered an icon of the "Groovy London" pop cultural movement,[2] Hemmings is best remembered for his roles in British films and television programmes of the 1960s and 70s, particularly the 1966 mystery film Blowup, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Early in his career, Hemmings was a boy soprano appearing in operatic roles.

Biography

Early life

David Hemmings was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, to a biscuit salesman father.[3]

Benjamin Britten

His education at Alleyn's School, Glyn Grammar School in Ewell, and the Arts Educational Schools led him to start his career performing as a boy soprano in several works by the composer Benjamin Britten, who formed a close friendship with him at this time. Most notably, Hemmings created the role of Miles in Britten's chamber opera Turn of the Screw (1954). His intimate, yet innocent, relationship with Britten is described in John Bridcut's book Britten's Children (2006).

Although many commentators identified Britten's relationship with Hemmings as based on an infatuation, throughout his life, Hemmings maintained categorically that Britten's conduct with him was beyond reproach at all times. Hemmings had earlier played the title role in Britten's The Little Sweep (1952), which was part of Britten's Let's Make an Opera! children's production.

Britten's interest in Hemmings ceased very abruptly, from the moment his voice broke, which occurred unexpectedly while singing the aria "Malo" during a performance of The Turn of the Screw in 1956 in Paris. Britten was furious, waved Hemmings away, and never had any further contact with him.[4]

Child actor

Hemmings then moved on to acting and directing in film. He made his first film appearance in the drama film The Rainbow Jacket (1954). He could also be seen in Saint Joan (1957).

Hemmings had bigger roles in Five Clues to Fortune (1957), The Heart Within (1957), and No Trees in the Street (1959), directed by J. Lee Thompson. He could also be seen in Men of Tomorrow (1959), In the Wake of a Stranger (1959), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), and The Wind of Change (1961).

Hemmings began to be known for playing young men in The Painted Smile (1962), Some People (1962).

Teen idol

Hemmings' first lead role was in the low budget teen musical Live It Up! (1963). He went back to support roles for Michael Winner's The System (1964), then starred in a sequel to Live It Up!, Be My Guest (1965).

Hemmings had a role in Two Left Feet (1965) with Michael Crawford.

Blowup and stardom

Hemmings became a star when cast in the lead of Blowup (1966). It was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, who detested the "Method" way of acting.[5] He sought to find a fresh young face for the lead in the film.[6] He found Hemmings, at the time acting in small stage theatre in London, although at their first meeting, Antonioni told Hemmings, "you look wrong. You're too young".[6] Hemmings was offered the part of the protagonist after actor Sean Connery turned the role down because Antonioni would not show him the full script, but only a seven-page treatment stored in a cigarette packet.[7]

The resulting film was a critical and commercial sensation for MGM which financed it, helping turn Hemmings and co-star Vanessa Redgrave into stars. "I've been discovered half a dozen times," said Hemmings. "This time I think I've made it."[8]

He received an offer from Warner Bros to play Mordred in the expensive musical Camelot (1967). He had another superb support part in the thriller Eye of the Devil (1966), playing the brother of Sharon Tate.

Hemmings was then cast as Louis Nolan in the expensive epic The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), which, like Camelot, was widely seen but failed to recoup its cost.

Around 1967, Hemmings was briefly considered for the role of Alex in a planned film version of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), which was to be based on a screen treatment by satirist Terry Southern and British photographer Michael Cooper. Cooper and the Rolling Stones were reportedly upset by the move and it was decided to return to the original plan in which Mick Jagger, the lead vocalist of the Rolling Stones, would play Alex, with the rest of the Stones as his droog gang; the production was shelved after Britain's chief censor, the Lord Chamberlain, indicated that he would not permit it to be made.[9] In 1967 Hemmings released an album, "Happens" on M.G.M. Records E/SE 4490, in September 1967, both in Mono & Stereo. It flopped and after that he forever forsook his recording career. Hemmings co-starred with Richard Attenborough in a comedy, Only When I Larf (1968), then was the sole star of an anti-war film, The Long Day's Dying (1968). Both films flopped.

More popular was Barbarella (1968) in which Hemmings had a key role. He played the lead in two period films for MGM: a comedy, The Best House in London (1969), and the historical epic Alfred the Great (1969), where Hemmings had the title role. Neither film did well at the box office, with Alfred the Great being a notable flop.

Hemmings managed to be cast in some star roles: The Walking Stick (1970) with Samantha Eggar, for MGM; Fragment of Fear (1970), a thriller; and Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971).

Hemmings went to Hollywood to play a supporting role in The Love Machine (1971). Back in Britain he starred in a horror film, Voices (1973).

Director

Hemmings directed the drama film The 14 (1973), which won the Silver Bear at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival.[10]

He went to Spain to star in Lola (1974), and in Britain supported Richard Harris in Juggernaut (1974).

Hemmings appeared in the famous Italian giallo film Profondo Rosso (also known as Deep Red or The Hatchet Murders) (1975) directed by Dario Argento. Back in England he supported Anthony Newley in Mister Quilp (1975).

Character actor

From this point on, Hemmings was basically a supporting actor. In 1977 Hemmings appeared as Eddy in the film Islands in the Stream, an adaptation of Hemingway's novel of the same name, starring George C Scott.

He had support roles in The Squeeze (1977), The Prince and the Pauper (1977), The Heroin Busters (1977), The Disappearance (1977), Squadra antitruffa (1977), Blood Relatives (1978) and Power Play (1978).

Hemmings directed David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich in the drama film Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (also known as Just a Gigolo) (1978). The film was poorly received, with Bowie describing it as "my 32 Elvis Presley films rolled into one".[11]

He had a support role in Murder by Decree (1979).

Australia and New Zealand

Hemmings received an offer to play a supporting role in an Australian vampire film, Thirst. He starred in a TV film, Charlie Muffin then returned to Australia to feature in Harlequin.

Hemmings then received an offer from Ginnane to direct the Australian horror film The Survivor, based on James Herbert's 1976 novel of the same name, starring Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter. Hemmings directed Race for the Yankee Zephyr shot in New Zealand.

While in New Zealand Hemmings played roles in Prisoners and Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

Hollywood

Hemmings relocated to Hollywood. He played supporting roles in Man, Woman and Child (1983) and Airwolf (1984).

He also worked extensively as a director on television programmes including the action-adventure drama series Quantum Leap (e.g., the series premiere); the crime series Magnum, P.I. (in which he also played characters in several episodes); and two action-adventure series The A-Team and Airwolf (in which he also played the role of Doctor Charles Henry Moffet, twisted creator of Airwolf, in the pilot and the second-season episode "Moffett's Ghost" – a typographical error by the studio's titles unit). He once joked, "People thought I was dead. But I wasn't. I was just directing The A-Team."

Hemmings also directed the puzzle-contest video Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link (1984). He directed the television film The Key to Rebecca (1985), an adaptation of Ken Follett's 1980 novel of the same name. He also briefly served as a producer on the NBC crime-drama television series Stingray.

He directed the drama film Dark Horse (1992) and as an actor returned to the voyeuristic preoccupations of his Blowup character with a plum part as the Big Brother-esque villain in the season-three opener for the television horror anthology series Tales From the Crypt.

Later years

In later years, he had roles including appearing as Cassius in the historical epic film Gladiator (2000), with Russell Crowe, as well as appearing in the drama film Last Orders (2001) and the spy film Spy Game (2001). He appeared as Mr. Schermerhorn in the historical film Gangs of New York (2002), directed by Martin Scorsese.

His final screen appearances included the science-fiction action film, Equilibrium (2002), shortly before his death, as well the superhero film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), with Sean Connery and as Frank Sinatra's attorney in the 2003 Australian film The Night We Called It a Day, a comedy based on true events. He also appeared in the horror film Blessed (2004) with Heather Graham, which was dedicated to him in his memory after a fatal heart attack while on set.

Music

In 1967, Hemmings recorded a pop single, "Back Street Mirror" (written by Gene Clark), and a studio album, David Hemmings Happens, in Los Angeles. The album featured instrumental backing by several members of the Byrds, and was produced by Byrds' mentor Jim Dickson.

In the 1970s, he was jointly credited with former Easybeats members Harry Vanda and George Young as a co-composer of the song "Pasadena". The original 1973 recording of this song – the first Australian hit for singer John Paul Young – was produced by Simon Napier-Bell, in whose SNB Records label Hemmings was a partner at the time.

Hemmings also later provided the narration for Rick Wakeman's progressive-rock album Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974) – an adaptation of Jules Verne's science-fiction novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) – which was recorded live.

He starred as Bertie Wooster in the short-lived Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Jeeves (1975).

Autobiography

After his death his autobiography, Blow Up... and Other Exaggerations – The Autobiography of David Hemmings, was published in 2004.

Personal life

He was married four times: to Genista Ouvry (1960–1967), actress Gayle Hunnicutt (1968–1975), Prudence de Casembroot (1976–1997), and Lucy Williams (2002 to his death).[12] Hemmings met Hunnicutt while he was in America promoting Blowup, by which time his marriage to Ouvry was over. At their outdoor wedding, Henry Mancini conducted an orchestra and the Mamas and the Papas performed next to a swimming pool filled with doves dyed puce.[12] Of his relationship with Hunnicutt, Hemmings remarked, "We were the poor man's Taylor and Burton". Their marriage ended when Hunnicutt discovered Hemmings' affairs with actress Samantha Eggar, his co-star in The Walking Stick (1970), and his secretary Prudence de Casembroot.[12] During his subsequent marriage to Prudence de Casembroot, Hemmings continued his infidelities with, among others, Tessa Dahl.[12] Hemmings had six children; he and Ouvry had daughter Deborah, he and Hunnicutt had actor son Nolan, while he and de Casembroot had sons George, Edward and William and daughter Charlotte.

Hemmings was an active supporter of liberal causes, and spoke at a number of meetings on behalf of the UK's Liberal Party.

Hemmings' grave in St Peter's Church near Calne, Wiltshire

Death

Hemmings died at age 62 of a heart attack, in Bucharest, Romania, on the film set of Blessed (working title: Samantha's Child) after he had performed his scenes for the day.[13]

A funeral service was held for him at St Peter's Church, in the hamlet of Blacklands near Calne, Wiltshire, where he had resided in his final years. His body was buried in the church's graveyard.

Filmography and performances in television

Director

Bibliography
  • Hemmings, David (2004). Blow Up... and Other Exaggerations – The Autobiography of David Hemmings. Robson Books (London). ISBN 978-1-86105-789-1.

See also

References
  1. Erickson, Hal. "David Hemmings – About This Person". Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  2. "'People thought I was dead. But I was just directing the A-team' | Film | The Guardian". Amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  3. Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since the Sixties, Alf Catterall and Simon Wells, Fourth Estate, 2002, pg 30
  4. John Bridcut, "The end of innocence", extract from Britten's Children, The Independent, 5 June 2006. Retrieved 30 March 2014
  5. Tomasulo, Frank P. (2004). "The Sounds of Silence: Modernist Acting in Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up", in More Than a Method: Trends and Traditions in Contemporary Film Performance, edited by Cynthia Baron, Diane Carson and Frank P. Tomasulo. Detroit MI: Wayne State University Press. pp. 94–98. ISBN 978-0814330791.
  6. Pomerance, Murray (2011). Michelangelo Red Antonioni Blue: Eight Reflections on Cinema. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 263. ISBN 978-0520266865.
  7. Bray, Christopher (2010). Sean Connery: The measure of a man. London: Faber & Faber. p. 128. ISBN 978-0571238088.
  8. Blow-Up' Role Blew Hemmings Sky High Norma Lee Browning. Chicago Tribune 11 June 1967: g14.
  9. Hill, Lee (2002). A Grand Guy – The Art and Life of Terry Southern. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7475-5835-4.
  10. "Berlinale 1973: Prize Winners". Berlin International Film Festival. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  11. MacKinnon, Angus (13 September 1980). "The Future Isn't What It Used to Be". NME. pp. 32–37.
  12. "David Hemmings". The Daily Telegraph. 5 December 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  13. Staff (5 December 2003). "David Hemmings, 62, a Film Star in 'Blowup'". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
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