Tessa Dahl

Last updated

Tessa Dahl
Born
Chantal Sophia Dahl

(1957-04-11) 11 April 1957 (age 66)
Oxford, England
Occupation(s)Novelist, journalist
Spouses
  • James Kelly
  • Patrick Donovan
Partner Julian Holloway (1976)
Children4, including Sophie Dahl
Parents
Relatives

Chantal Sophia "Tessa" Dahl (born 11 April 1957) is a British author and former actress. She is the daughter of British-Norwegian author Roald Dahl and American actress Patricia Neal.

Contents

Early life

Dahl was born at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, the second daughter of British author Roald Dahl and American actress Patricia Neal; [1] her elder sister Olivia died from measles in 1962. She grew up in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and attended Roedean and Downe House schools, the Elizabeth Russell Cookery School and the Herbert Bergof Acting Studio.

Career

Dahl has worked as an actress, modelled, worked at an antique shop, worked at an employment agency and written articles for Tatler before publishing her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Working For Love, in 1988. [2] Dahl became an author of children's fiction. Her book Gwenda and the Animals won the Friends of the Earth Best Children's Book of the Year. In addition, she has written extensively for the London Times , Sunday Times , The Daily Telegraph , The Sunday Telegraph , the Daily Mail , The Mail on Sunday , Vogue , House and Garden (US) and YOU Magazine . For many years, she was a contributing editor to the magazine Tatler .

Personal life

Dahl's relationship with actor Julian Holloway produced one daughter, model and author Sophie Dahl; the couple separated shortly afterwards. [3] She subsequently married businessman James Kelly and had two children, Clover and Luke. She then married businessman Patrick Donovan (deceased on 7 February 2021), son of Ambassador Francis Patrick Donovan, and had a son, Ned, a journalist. In 2019, the Jordanian royal court announced Ned's engagement to Princess Raiyah bint Hussein, the youngest daughter of King Hussein I of Jordan and Queen Noor; they married in 2020.

Tessa Dahl has also had relationships with Peter Sellers, David Hemmings, Bryan Ferry, Brian de Palma and Dai Llewellyn. [4] [5]

Filmography

YearFilmRole
1973 Happy Mother's Day, Love George Celia Perry
1975 Royal Flash First Girl
1976 The Slipper and The Rose Princess
1978 Leopard in the Snow Miss Framley

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1975 Movin' On HaleyEpisode: "Prosperity #1"
1992 This Is Your Life HerselfEpisode: "Gary Glitter"
2005 Imagine HerselfEpisode: "Fantastic Mr Dahl"
2005The Wonderful World of Roald DahlHerselfTV movie documentary
2005Come Home Gary GlitterHerselfTV documentary
2017RevoltingHerself - Roald Dahl's DaughterEpisode #1.5

Theatre

Apprenticed at the Barter Theatre, Abingdon, Va. (1972). The Deep Man by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1979) Royal Exchange, Manchester.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roald Dahl</span> British writer and poet (1916–1990)

Roald Dahl was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Dahl has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".

<i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> 1964 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.

Sophie Dahl is an English author and former fashion model. Her first novel, The Man with the Dancing Eyes, was published in 2003 followed by Playing With the Grown-ups in 2007. In 2009, she wrote Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, a cookery book which formed the basis for a six-part BBC Two series named The Delicious Miss Dahl. In 2011, she published her second cookery book From Season to Season. Her first children's book, Madame Badobedah, was released in 2019. She is the daughter of Tessa Dahl and Julian Holloway and the granddaughter of author Roald Dahl, actress Patricia Neal, and actor Stanley Holloway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Neal</span> American stage and film actress (1926–2010)

Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She is well known for, among other roles, playing World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), radio journalist Marcia Jeffries in A Face in the Crowd (1957), wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and the worn-out housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud (1963). She also featured as the matriarch in the television film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971); her role as Olivia Walton was re-cast for the series it inspired, The Waltons. A major star of the 1950s and 1960s, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two British Academy Film Awards, and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>The BFG</i> 1982 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

The BFG is a 1982 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 novel Danny, the Champion of the World. The book is dedicated to Dahl's late daughter, Olivia, who died of measles encephalitis at the age of seven in 1962.

<i>Matilda</i> (novel) 1988 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Matilda is a 1988 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published by Jonathan Cape. The story features Matilda Wormwood, a precocious child with an uncaring mother and father, and her time in school run by the tyrannical headmistress Miss Trunchbull.

<i>The Twits</i> 1980 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

The Twits is a 1980 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was first published by Jonathan Cape. The story features The Twits, a spiteful, idle, unkempt couple who continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other to amuse themselves, and exercise their devious wickedness on their pet monkeys.

<i>Georges Marvellous Medicine</i> 1981 childrens book written by Roald Dahl

George's Marvellous Medicine is a children's novel written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. First published by Jonathan Cape in 1981, it features George Kranky, an eight-year-old boy who concocts his own miracle elixir to replace his tyrannical grandmother's regular prescription medicine.

<i>Esio Trot</i> 1990 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Esio Trot is a 1990 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The title is an anadrome of "tortoise". It was the last of Dahl's books to be published in his lifetime; he died just two months later.

Julian Holloway is a British actor. He is the son of comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and former chorus dancer and actress Violet Lane. He is the father of author and former model Sophie Dahl.

Princess Raiyah bint Al Hussein is the younger daughter of King Hussein of Jordan and Queen Noor. She has two brothers, Hamzah and Hashem, as well as an elder sister, Princess Iman. She is a half-sister to King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Ophelia Magdalena Dahl is a British-American social justice and health care advocate. Dahl co-founded Partners In Health (PIH), a Boston, Massachusetts-based non-profit health care organization dedicated to providing a "preferential option for the poor." She served as executive director for 16 years and has since chaired its board of directors.

<i>The Night Digger</i> 1971 British film

The Night Digger is a 1971 British thriller film based on the novel Nest in a Fallen Tree by Joy Cowley about two women who are visited by a suspicious handy man. It was adapted by Roald Dahl and starred his then wife Patricia Neal.

Dame Felicity Ann Dahl is a British film producer who married the author Roald Dahl in 1983. She was previously married to Charles Reginald Hugh Crosland. The quietly spoken Dahl gave a rare interview in November 2008 to publicise the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize and reflect on her years with the late author.

Barry Farrell was an American journalist and editor who wrote for magazines. He worked for Time, Life and Harper's Magazines in the 1960s and 1970s. He also wrote a book about Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal entitled Pat and Roald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Dahl</span> British screenwriter

Lucy Neal Dahl is a British screenwriter. She is the daughter of British author Roald Dahl and American actress Patricia Neal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Patrick Donovan</span> Australian diplomat and legal professor

Francis Patrick Donovan, was an Australian academic, lawyer, and diplomat. He served as Australian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the OECD, and Ambassador and Special Trade Delegate to the United Nations Office at Geneva. After retirement from the Diplomatic Service, he became a vice-chairman of the International Court of Arbitration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Pichon</span> British author and illustrator of childrens books

Liz Pichon is a British author and illustrator of children's books. She is best known for her Tom Gates series of "satirical realist comedy fiction", which has sold 16.5 million copies and has been translated into 44 languages across 47 international markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe Dahl</span> American fashion designer

Phoebe Patricia Faircloth, known professionally as Phoebe Dahl, is an American fashion designer.

Olivia Twenty Dahl was the oldest child of the author Roald Dahl and the American actress Patricia Neal. She died at the age of seven from encephalitis caused by measles, before a vaccine against the disease had been developed. Roald Dahl's books James and the Giant Peach (1961) and The BFG (1982) were dedicated to Olivia. As a result of her death, her father Roald became an advocate for vaccination and wrote the pamphlet "Measles: A Dangerous Illness" in 1988.

References

  1. Shearer, Stephen Michael (16 March 2021). Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN   978-0-8131-8072-4.
  2. "For Love and Money : Celebrity Daughter Tessa Dahl Wrote Her First Novel Because She Needed a Job. She Also Needed the Applause." Los Angeles Times, 5 March 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2015
  3. "A fairytale life" The Telegraph, 28 January 2003. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  4. "Great dynasties of the world: The Dahls" The Guardian, 19 November 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2017
  5. "'In my youth," Tessa Dahl has said, "I was notorious not famous." Her father was legendary author Roald Dahl and her mother the movie star Patricia Neal. Life was never going to be conventional for Tessa." Sunday Independent (Dublin, Republic of Ireland), 26 December 2010].