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Chris Wade explores the career of actor and director David Hemmings, one of the most unfairly overlooked figures to emerge during the British cinema boom of the 1960s. Primarily known for his lead role in Michelangelo Antonioni's iconic masterpiece Blow Up (1966), Hemmings appeared in dozens of films and TV shows. He also worked prolifically as a director for both the cinema and the small screen. This colourful body of work, which includes roles in such stand out films as Tony Richardson's The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975), is crammed full of surprises and hidden treats. In a series of articles on each era of his life, Wade studies the key work from the Hemmings canon; cult classics like Barbarella (1967), unsung masterpieces like The Long Day's Dying (1969), lost gems such as Fragment of Fear (1970) and Voices (1973), important directorial films including The 14 (1973) and Just A Gigolo (1978), not to mention Hemmings' final screen appearances in such fare as Gladiator (2000) and Last Orders (2001). From early rock and roll pictures to directing The A Team, plus everything in between, the career of David Hemmings is endlessly fascinating.
