Tom Kempinski | |
---|---|
Born |
Hendon, England | 24 March 1938
Died | 2 August 2023 | (aged 85)
Spouses |
Thomas Michael John Kempinski (24 March 1938 – 2 August 2023) was an English playwright and actor [1] best known for his 1980 play Duet for One, which was a major success in London and New York City, and much revived since. Kempinski also wrote the screenplay for the film version of Duet for One. [2] In addition, he made minor appearances on numerous British television shows including Dixon of Dock Green and Z-Cars.
Kempinski's parents, Gerhard and Melanie, Kempinski, were restaurateurs and hoteliers who ran the Kempinski hotel in Berlin. They emigrated to London in 1936 as refugees before the Second World War. [3] Kempinski was born in Hendon in 1938 but was evacuated to stay with his paternal grandparents in New York City at the age of 2 to avoid a potential Nazi invasion of England. On return to London, he was educated at Abingdon School from 1951 to 1956. [4] [5] [3] In 1957, he gained a major scholarship in Modern Languages to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, but suffered a breakdown and left after only ten weeks, albeit having time to join Footlights in the meantime. [6] [7] [3] After Cambridge, he had a brief spell in the Maudsley Hospital in South London. [3]
Kempinski then took up a place at RADA before moving into acting. His first rôle was in The Damned before moving into stage acting with Lionel Bart's Blitz!. [3]
Other stage and film rôles followed, notably in the anti-war play Dingo by Charles Wood and Gumshoe by Stephen Frears. [3]
In May 1968, Kempinski joined the student revolutionaries who occupied Paris's Odéon Theatre as part of "les événements". [3]
Some sources state that Kempinski was married to the actress Frances de la Tour, who starred in the original London production for Duet for One, [8] whereas his obituary in the Guardian describes de la Tour as his partner. [3] He was married to the actress Margaret Nolan from 1967 to 1972, [9] and to solicitor Sarah Tingay from 1991. [10]
Tom Kempinski died on 2 August 2023, at the age of 85. [3]