Jeremy Kemp

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Jeremy Kemp
Born	Edmund Jeremy James Walker (1935-02-03)3 February 1935 Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Died	19 July 2019(2019-07-19) (aged 84) London, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Years active	1958–1998
Partner	Christopher Harter (female)

Edmund Jeremy James Walker^[1] (3 February 1935 – 19 July 2019^[2]), known professionally as Jeremy Kemp, was an English actor. He was known for his significant roles in the miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, the film The Blue Max, and the TV series Z-Cars.

Kemp was born 3 February 1935^[3][4] in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the son of engineer Edmund Reginald Walker and Elsa May, daughter of Dr. James Kemp, of Sheffield. Edmund Walker was of a Yorkshire landed gentry family that had owned at various times Aldwick Hall at Rotherham, Silton Hall at Northallerton, Ravensthorpe Manor, and Mount St John, at Thirsk.^[5][3] Kemp attended Abbotsholme School in Staffordshire from 1943 to 1953. He studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.^[2]

As an actor, Kemp adopted his mother's maiden name as his surname. In 1958, he joined the Radio Drama Company by winning the Carleton Hobbs Bursary.^[6] He was an original cast member of Z-Cars, playing PC Bob Steele, but left after just over a year in the role. His other television credits include Colditz, Space: 1999, and a number of other series, such as Hart to Hart, The Greatest American Hero, The Fall Guy, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Conan the Adventurer, Star Trek: The Next Generation,^[7] The Winds of War, War and Remembrance and Murder, She Wrote. He played King Leontes in the BBC Television production of The Winter's Tale (1981). He also appeared as Cornwall in the 1983 TV movie version of King Lear, opposite Laurence Olivier as Lear.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Kemp had a prominent film career, usually appearing as second male leads or top supporting roles. His films include Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Operation Crossbow, The Blue Max, Darling Lili, A Bridge Too Far, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Top Secret! and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Kemp was an avid bird watcher. Private about his personal life, at various times he lived in Britain and California. Kemp's long-term partner was an American woman, Christopher Harter.^[8] Her parents, who had expected a boy, named her in honour of a family friend. Kemp was quoted as saying he found the idea of marriage to be "too tying." He died on 19 July 2019, aged 84,^[9] Harter having predeceased him.^[10]

• Jeremy Kemp at IMDb