# Tom Kempinski > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tom_Kempinski > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tom_Kempinski.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Kempinski > Source revision: 1349876487 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English playwright and actor (1938–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Use British English|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Tom Kempinski | image = | image_size = | caption = | nationality = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|3|24|df=yes}} | birth_place = [Hendon](/source/Hendon), England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|8|2|1938|3|24|df=yes}} | death_place = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|[Margaret Nolan](/source/Margaret_Nolan)|1967|1972|end=divorced}} * [Frances de la Tour](/source/Frances_de_la_Tour) (divorced) }} }} '''Thomas Michael John Kempinski''' (24 March 1938 – 2 August 2023) was an English playwright and actor{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba3700118|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715073048/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba3700118|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-15|title=Tom Kempinski|work=BFI}} best known for his 1980 play ''[Duet for One](/source/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''.{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b70f43729|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713165938/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b70f43729|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-13|title=Duet for One|work=BFI}} In addition, he made minor appearances on numerous British television shows including ''[Dixon of Dock Green](/source/Dixon_of_Dock_Green)'' and ''[Z-Cars](/source/Z-Cars)''. ==Early life and education== Kempinski's parents, Gerhard and Melanie Kempinski, were Jewish restaurateurs and hoteliers {{Cite web |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/tom-kempinski-obituary-nlqpst0zn |title=Tom Kempinski obituary |publisher=The Times}} who ran the [Kempinski](/source/Kempinski) hotel in Berlin. They emigrated to London in 1936 as refugees before the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War). 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](/source/Operation_Sea_Lion). On return to London, he was educated at [Abingdon School](/source/Abingdon_School) from 1951 to 1956.{{Cite web |url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1957_April_V011_N002.pdf#page=13 |title=Valete et Salvete |publisher=The Abingdonian}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1968_January_V014_N004.pdf#page=56 |title=OA Notes |publisher=The Abingdonian}} In 1957, he gained a major scholarship in Modern Languages to [Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge](/source/Gonville_and_Caius_College%2C_Cambridge), but suffered a breakdown and left after only ten weeks, albeit having time to join [Footlights](/source/Footlights) in the meantime.{{Cite web |url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1957_January_V011_N001.pdf#page=19 |title=School Notes |publisher=The Abingdonian}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/tom-kempinski-you-fear-you-will-go-berserk-and-murder-everyone-g2n6sx6w2|title = Tom Kempinski: 'You fear you will go berserk and murder everyone'|last1 = Maxwell|first1 = Dominic}} After Cambridge, he had a brief spell in the [Maudsley Hospital](/source/Maudsley_Hospital) in South London. ==Acting career== Kempinski then took up a place at [RADA](/source/RADA) before moving into acting. His first rôle was in [The Damned](/source/The_Damned_(1963_film)) before moving into stage acting with [Lionel Bart](/source/Lionel_Bart)'s [Blitz!](/source/Blitz!). Other stage and film rôles followed, notably in the anti-war play Dingo by [Charles Wood](/source/Charles_Wood_(playwright)) and [Gumshoe](/source/Gumshoe_(film)) by [Stephen Frears](/source/Stephen_Frears). In [May 1968](/source/May_68), Kempinski joined the student revolutionaries who occupied Paris's [Odéon Theatre](/source/Od%C3%A9on-Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre_de_l'Europe) as part of "les événements". ==Personal life and death== Some sources state that Kempinski was married to the actress [Frances de la Tour](/source/Frances_de_la_Tour), who starred in the original London production for ''[Duet for One](/source/Duet_for_One)'',{{cite web|url=http://www.englishtheatre.at/deutsch/ueber-uns/archiv/saison-200809/duet-for-one/author.html|title=Duet For One|publisher=Vienna's English Theatre}} whereas his obituary in ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'' describes de la Tour as his partner. He was married to the actress [Margaret Nolan](/source/Margaret_Nolan) from 1967 to 1972{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/exorcising-the-demons-within-1305602.html|title=Exorcising the demons within|work=The Independent|date=23 October 2011}} and to solicitor Sarah Tingay from 1991.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/tom-kempinski-you-fear-you-will-go-berserk-and-murder-everyone-g2n6sx6w2|title = Tom Kempinski: 'You fear you will go berserk and murder everyone'|last1 = Maxwell|first1 = Dominic}} Tom Kempinski died on 2 August 2023, at the age of 85.{{cite news |last1=Coveney |first1=Michael |title=Tom Kempinski obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/aug/21/tom-kempinski-obituary |access-date=21 August 2023 |work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) |date=21 August 2023}} ==Selected filmography (actor)== * ''[These Are the Damned](/source/These_Are_the_Damned)'' (1962) as Ted * ''Do Be Careful Boys'' (1964) as (voice) * ''[Othello](/source/Othello_(1965_British_film))'' (1965) as Sailor / senators-soldiers-Cypriots * ''[Stranger in the House](/source/Stranger_in_the_House_(1967_film))'' (1967) as shop assistant (uncredited) * ''[The Whisperers](/source/The_Whisperers)'' (1967) as 2nd young man * ''[Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter](/source/Mrs._Brown%2C_You've_Got_a_Lovely_Daughter_(film))'' (1968) as Hobart * ''[The Committee](/source/The_Committee_(film))'' (1968) as victim * ''[Moon Zero Two](/source/Moon_Zero_Two)'' (1969) as 2nd Officer * ''[Taste of Excitement](/source/Taste_of_Excitement)'' (1969) as French Police Officer * ''[Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition](/source/Praise_Marx_and_Pass_the_Ammunition)'' (1970) as designer * ''[The Reckoning](/source/The_Reckoning_(1969_film))'' (1970) as Brunzy * ''[Doctor in Trouble](/source/Doctor_in_Trouble)'' (1970) as Stedman Green * ''[The McKenzie Break](/source/The_McKenzie_Break)'' (1970) as Lt. Schmidt * ''[Gumshoe](/source/Gumshoe_(film))'' (1971) as psychiatrist * ''Adult Fun'' (1972) as plainclothes policeman ==See also== * [List of Old Abingdonians](/source/List_of_Old_Abingdonians) ==References== ==External links== *{{imdb name|0447461}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kempinski, Tom}} Category:1938 births Category:2023 deaths Category:English dramatists and playwrights Category:English male dramatists and playwrights Category:People educated at Abingdon School Category:Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Category:Actors from the London Borough of Barnet Category:People from Hendon --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tom Kempinski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Kempinski) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Kempinski?action=history)). 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