David Hemmings (November 18, 1941 – November 3, 2003) directed three episodes of Quantum Leap; "Genesis: Part 1" and "Genesis: Part 2" at the beginning of the series in Season 1, and then the Season 5 episode "The Leap Between The States".
Career[]
An English-born and bred actor who got his start in the theatre, David shot to overnight stardon when he played the lead role in Blow-Up (1966), portraying a photographer who had unwittingly taken a photograph of a murder scene. He then appeared in the musical Camelot (1967), the histoical/war film The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), and Barbarella (1968). Hemmings directed the drama film The 14 (1973), which won the Silver Bear at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival.[8] He appeared in the Italian giallo film Profondo Rosso (also known as Deep Red or The Hatchet Murders) (1975) directed by Dario Argento. In 1977 he appeared as Eddy in the film Islands in the Stream, an adaptation of Hemingway's novel of the same name.
David directed David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich in the drama film Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (also known as Just a Gigolo) (1978). The film was poorly received, with Bowie describing it as "my 32 Elvis Presley films rolled into one".[9] Hemmings directed the horror film The Survivor (1981), based on James Herbert's 1976 novel of the same name, starring Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter.
Throughout the 1980s, he also worked extensively as a director on television progras, which include Quantum Leap (e.g., the series premiere); the CBS-TV series Magnum, P.I. (in which he also played characters in several episodes); and two action-adventure series NBC-TV's The A-Team and CBS's Airwolf (in which he also played the role of Doctor Charles Henry Moffet, twisted creator of Airwolf, in the pilot and the second-season episode "Moffett's Ghost" – a typographical error by the studio's titles unit). He once joked, "People thought I was dead. But I wasn't. I was just directing The A-Team." He directed the thriller film Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981), which stars Ken Wahl, Lesley Ann Warren, Donald Pleasence and George Peppard.
Hemmings also directed the puzzle-contest video Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link (1984). He directed the television film The Key to Rebecca (1985), an adaptation of Ken Follett's 1980 novel of the same name. He also briefly served as a producer on the NBC crime-drama television series Stingray.
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.[1]
References[]
- ↑ Staff. "David Hemmings, 62, a Film Star in 'Blowup'", The New York Times, 5 December 2003. Retrieved on 6 February 2012.
