Tom Kempinski
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| Born | (1938-03-24)24 March 1938
Hendon, England
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| Died | 2 August 2023(2023-08-02) (aged 85) |
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(m. 1967; div. 1972)
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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 GumshoebyStephen Frears. [3]
InMay 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]
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