Valli Kemp

Valli Kemp (born 19 November 1950) is an Australian former model, actress, fashion designer, painter, teacher and beauty pageant titleholder. She is best known for her involvement in several high-profile beauty contests in the early 1970s, and for her role in the cult 1972 horror film Dr. Phibes Rises Again, in which she appeared opposite Vincent Price as the murderous doctor's silent assistant and accomplice, Vulnavia.

Early life By her own account, Valli Kemp was born in Kenya to British parents. and grew up as a tomboy running wild with her African mates in the jungles of Molo, Kenya, "land of the trees." She also lived in Nairobi until the Mau Mau Uprising of the 1950s, in which Kemp's father "lost everything" (as she later put it) and the family, including seven-year-old Kemp, relocated to London in 1957.

Kemp and her parents subsequently emigrated to Australia in 1962 when she was twelve years old, although her older brother George (eight years her senior) remained in England. The family settled in Sydney. Kemp, who had become interested in art while still a young child in Africa, left school at the age of fourteen and gained a position with Berlei Ltd, a prominent and long-established Australian firm of brassiere and corset manufacturers, where she worked on poster design and window dressing. Her fame began to spread outside Australia as early as December 1969, when a revealing photograph of Kemp in a bikini ("in an old-fashioned check with braids and frills") was published in an Ohio newspaper.

Kemp's modelling profile rose steadily during 1970, when she entered the Quest of Quests, an annual beauty pageant sponsored by Waltons department store in Sydney, which, at that time, was Australia's most prestigious beauty contest. In July of that year, she was photographed on the arm of TV personality Graham Kennedy, attending a special a gala performance of the musical Hair, to celebrate the first anniversary of the show's Sydney premiere. Kemp was described in the press as "a stunning gypsy in a black dress with embroidered bodice and belt, set off with a brilliant scarf, hoop earrings and shiny red boots". Two months later, on 20 September, Kemp won the Quest of Quests and was duly crowned with the title of Miss World Australia in a ceremony held at the Wentworth Hotel. Later accounts of the Quest of Quests beauty contest noted that Kemp, with her "boudoir eyes and full lips", represented the epitome of early 1970s glamour.

In November 1970, Kemp travelled to London to represent Australia in the Miss World competition. Upon her arrival, she announced to the press that she hoped to make contact with her 27-year-old brother, George, whom she had not seen for seven years. After newspapers printed the story, her brother duly came forward and the two siblings were reunited. George Kemp reportedly quipped: "I work as a loader for BOAC, but I didn't recognise Valli when she came off the plane. My, she's changed for the better."

Film and TV (1969-1972) According to Kemp herself, she was "discovered" by eminent Australian theatre director Robert Helpmann, who became her mentor during the early part of her career. However, this role fell through due to a management dispute. By her own account, Kemp also "amassed dozens of TV commercials" during this period, notably spots for Revlon and Lamb's Navy Rum. Kemp recalls that she was originally given a 10-year contract, as the producers were hoping to develop a Dr. Phibes franchise, with at least four subsequent films being proposed. At the time of her marriage in August 1973 (see below), Kemp was reported to be hosting her own TV programme in London.

Further film roles

Notwithstanding the failure of the proposed Dr. Phibes franchise, she went on take small roles in several other films, including Rollerball (1975) (in which she had an uncredited role as a woman at a party) and The Great Muppet Caper (1981), in which she appeared as one of Lady Holiday's models. She later admitted to the Australian press that "comedy is what I like best, and I'd love to do some television work, maybe co-hosting a show."

Art and fashion design Shortly after moving to London, Kemp revived her earlier interest in painting. Her works during this period included a semi-abstract self-portrait, which was to be exhibited in a London discothecque. Kemp's talent for the visual arts received an unexpected boost while filming Dr. Phibes Rises Again in 1972, when her co-star Vincent Price, an art collector and art critic of some distinction, expressed interest in seeing her work. In September 1984, she held her first fashion parade at Pronto, a popular restaurant and bar in the exclusive suburb of Double Bay.

In August 1973, Kemp married Robert Winsor, 32-year-old businessman who owned a point-of-sale company and who had been introduced to her only a few months earlier by actor Richard Johnson. The couple divorced in 1975, but remained friends.

After Kemp returned to Australia permanently in 1985, she remarried and had three children.