David Edward Leslie Hemmings (18 November 1941 – 3 December 2003) was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer. He and his manager created the Hemdale Film Corporation in 1967.

He is noted for his role as the photographer in the drama mystery-thriller film Blowup (1966), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Early in his career, Hemmings was a boy soprano appearing in operatic roles. In his later acting career, he was known for his distinctive eyebrows and gravelly voice.

Biography

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). Hemmings met Hunnicutt while he was in America promoting Blow-Up, 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. 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. During his subsequent marriage to Prudence de Casembroot, Hemmings continued his infidelities with, among others, Tessa Dahl, the daughter of Roald Dahl.

He was an active supporter of Liberal causes, and spoke at a number of meetings on behalf of the Liberal Party.


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 playing his scenes for the day.

He was survived by his wife Lucy; a daughter, Deborah, by his marriage to Ouvry; a son, Nolan Hemmings, by his marriage to Hunnicutt; and four children, George, Edward, Charlotte and William, by his marriage to Prudence de Casembroot.

His funeral was held in Calne, Wiltshire, where he had made his home for several years.


Cultural References
In an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus Graham Chapman plays a megalomaniac Hollywood producer who maps out an epic movie that would feature "David Hemmings as a hippie Gestapo officer."

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