Lindsay Kemp
British mime (1938-2018)
Lindsay Keith Kemp (3 May 1938 – 24 August 2018) was a British dancer, actor, teacher, mime artist, and choreographer.
He was probably best known for his 1974 flagship production of Flowers, a mime and music show based on Jean Genet's novel Our Lady of the Flowers, in which he played the lead role of Divine. Owing to its gay themes and perceived decadence, reviews were sometimes hostile, but it was widely considered a theatrical and sensory sensation, and it toured globally for many years. Kemp appeared in films roles in The Wicker Man (1973), Derek Jarman's Sebastiane (1976) and Jubilee (1977) the Kate Bush short film The Line, the Cross & the Curve (1994) and Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine (1998). He was also a mentor to David Bowie and Kate Bush.
Early life
Kemp was born in his parental home, 'Tyneholme', Coombe Road, in Irby, Wirral, but grew up in South Shields, near Newcastle upon Tyne. His father, a seaman, was lost at sea in 1940. According to Kemp, he danced from early childhood: "I'd dance on the kitchen table to entertain the neighbours. I mean, it was a novelty in South Shields to see a little boy in full make-up dancing on pointe. Finally it got a bit too much for my mother, and she decided to send me to boarding school at the age of eight, hoping that it would knock some sense into me." Kemp's mother moved away from South Shields, and Kemp attended Bearwood College, near Wokingham, Berkshire, a school for the sons of merchant seamen.
The public source identifies “Lindsay Kemp” as british mime (1938-2018). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lindsay, Kemp and British.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2669884. VIAF identifies the subject as 94252426. The Library of Congress control number is n81091350. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 2018, 1974 and 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lindsay Kemp” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.