Anouska Hempel

Anouska Hempel, Lady Weinberg is a New Zealand-born film and television actress turned hotelier and interior designer. She is sometimes credited as Anoushka Hempel.

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Early life

Hempel is of Russian and Swiss German ancestry and has speculated that she was born on a boat en route from Papua New Guinea to New Zealand. Her family emigrated to New Zealand where she was born. They later moved to Cronulla, south of Sydney in Australia, where her father owned a garage. As a teenager in the mid-1950s, Hempel attended Sutherland High School. In 1962, she moved to England carrying only £10.

Acting

Hempel's first film appearance was in The Kiss of the Vampire. In 1969 she appeared in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service as one of the 'angels of death'. Thereafter, she appeared in several films, including Scars of Dracula, The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins, Go for a Take, Tiffany Jones, Russ Meyer's controversial Black Snake, Double Exposure, and Lady Oscar. In the 1970s, Hempel appeared in one episode of the BBC series The Lotus Eaters. She appeared in the science-fiction TV series' UFO and Space: 1999. Hempel played the female lead in the ITV mini-series Zodiac. During her career as an actress, she appeared as a regular panellist alongside Patrick Mower for two series of the murder mystery game show Whodunnit?, between 1975 and 1976.

Partial filmography

On Her Majesty's Secret Service – Australian girl
The Breaking of Bumbo – debutante
Scars of Dracula – Tania
UFO – Tamara Paulson
The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins – blonde
Carry On at Your Convenience – new canteen girl
Go for a Take – Suzi Eckmann
Black Snake – Lady Susan Walker
Tiffany Jones – Tiffany Jones
The Doll – Phyllis Du Salle
Double Exposure – Simone
Lady Oscar – Jeanne Vallois / Jeanne de la Motte

Hotel and design

After finishing acting, Hempel has embarked in a career as a hotelier and interior designer. In 2002, she was ranked by Architectural Digest as one of the top 100 interior designers and architects in the world.

Hotels

Hempel has established four hotels. Blakes Hotel was created in 1978 as one of the world's first luxury boutique hotels. Based in South Kensington, it is well known for its design, quality of service and privacy. The hotel's restaurant has become a destination in its own right, featuring a fusion of Hempel's favourite cuisines of Japanese and Italian. Her second hotel, the Hempel Hotel, was noted as a minimalist hotel. Blakes Amsterdam was opened in 1999, drawing inspiration from Amsterdam's historic Dutch East India Company.

Personal life

In 1964, she married Constantine Hempel, with whom she had a son and daughter. He was a journalist and property developer who was killed in 1973, crashing his car into a basement in Pimlico. Hempel and her second husband, theatrical producer Bill Kenwright, divorced after two years of marriage in 1980. Later that year, Hempel married financier Mark Weinberg, with whom she has a son, Jonathan. She appears in a photographic portrait by Bryan Wharton on display in the National Portrait Gallery.