In Remembrance: David Hemmings

     David Hemmings, whose performance in 1966's Blow Up helped to define the Swinging 60s scene of London, has passed away on Wednesday, December 3, 2003.  He died of a heart attack while on the film set of Samantha's Child. He was 62.

     Born Nov. 18, 1941 in Guilford, England, Hemmings started his career as a professional singer at the age of nine, making nightclub and stage appearances before moving to film in the late 1950s.

     Early roles saw him as one of the many rebellious youthful boys of post-war England,  but he earned his greatest recognition as the fashion photographer in Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up.  He followed up with a stellar performance as Mordred in the forgetful film adaptation of Camelot (1967) and his boyish charm earned him a role opposite Jane Fonda in the 1968 sci-fi cult classic Barbarella. His acting career began to fizzle and innumerable character roles followed.

     Hemmings turned to directing in 1972, taking on both movies and TV series through the following decades. His directing credits include Running Scared(1972) and Just A Gigolo (1979).

     In the 80s, Hemmings transitioned into directing for television, working on several action and mystery series including Magnum, PI, The A-Team, Airwolf, Werewolf and Murder, She Wrote. He also directed the 2 hour pilot and several episodes of the time-travel drama Quantum Leap.

     He returned to acting in 2000, appearing in Ridley Scott's Gladiator as Cassius.  He also appeared in Spy Game (2001),  the straight-to-video Slap Shot 2:Breaking The Ice (2002), Scorcese's Gangs of New York (2002), and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (2003).

     Samantha's Child was filming in Romania at the time of Hemmings' passing and he was scheduled to appear in 2004's Color Me Kubrick.

-John Gibbon