Jeremy Kemp

Kemp was born 3 February 1935[3][4] in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the son of Elsa May (daughter of Dr James Kemp, of Sheffield) and Edmund Reginald Walker, an engineer, of a Yorkshire landed gentry family that had owned at various times Aldwick Hall at Rotherham, Silton Hall at Northallerton, Ravensthorpe Manor, and Mount St John, at Thirsk.[5][3] Kemp attended Abbotsholme School in Staffordshire from 1943 to 1953. He studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.[2]

In 1958, Kemp joined the Radio Drama Company by winning the Carlton Hobbs Bursary[6] He was an original cast member of Z-Cars playing PC Bob Steele, but left after just over a year in the role. His other television credits include Colditz, Space: 1999 and a number of other series, such as Hart to Hart, The Greatest American Hero, The Fall Guy, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Conan the Adventurer, Star Trek: The Next Generation,[7] The Winds of War, War and Remembrance and Murder, She Wrote. He played King Leontes in the BBC Television production of The Winter's Tale (1981). He also appeared as Cornwall in the 1983 TV movie version of King Lear opposite Laurence Olivier as Lear.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Kemp had a prominent film career, usually appearing as second male leads or top supporting roles. His films include Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Operation Crossbow, The Blue Max, Darling Lili, A Bridge Too Far, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Top Secret! and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Kemp was an avid bird watcher. At various times he lived in Britain and California. Kemp's partner was Christopher Harter. He died on 19 July 2019 at aged 84.[8] Harter, an American woman, predeceased him.[9]

• Jeremy Kemp at IMDb