"Her
name is Victoria. I cannot take care of her…" It was these
words, scrawled on a scrap of paper, which provided Victoria
Winters with the only link with her past. Abandoned outside
a New York foundling home on a cold night, Victoria was named
Winters for the season she was left during. Life within the
foundling home, both as a resident and later as a worker,
has taught Victoria the values of compassion and modesty,
which mask a desperate yearning to learn the true identities
of her parents, and link her past to her future. When Elizabeth
Collins Stoddard makes her curious, unsolicited proposal that
Victoria comes to Collinwood to work as governess to David
Collins, that the girl realises that her destiny lies in the
dark mansion on the crest of Widows' Hill…
Alexandra
Moltke was born on
11 February 1945, in Denmark. The daughter of Count Carl Adam
Moltke of Denmark, her father had been engaged in much undercover
resistance work against the Nazis throughout the Second World
War. Learning that their resistance was no longer secret,
the Moltke family were forced to flee to the United States.
The three-month-old Alexandra was placed in a laundry basket
and transported with her parents via a United States Bomber,
beginning a new life in New York, where the Moltke family
settled. Alexandra spent time during her childhood in Denmark
and Ireland, one of her mother's favourite countries. Whilst
there, the family stayed in a house surrounded by moors and
Mount Erigal, perhaps foreshadowing her role on Dark Shadows.
Following education
at the respected Chaplin school, Alexandra then studied at
the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, eventually graduating
in 1965. During this time, she essayed many roles, including
parts in I Remember Mama and The Reluctant Debutant.
Dark Shadows
formed Alexandra's first role in front of the camera, and
Dan Curtis picked her for the pivotal
role of Victoria, claiming that she "was the only innocent
looking actress in New York." Sadly, as the show moved towards
the supernatural, Victoria's role became greatly reduced and
Alexandra favoured a more complex, perhaps even villainous
role, which the producers refused.
Alexandra left Dark
Shadows when she became pregnant with her son Adam. Following
this, she appeared in the television movie Certain Honorable
Men in 1968, under her married name, Alexandra Isles.
She also acted infrequently in the theatre along with working
backstage, and declined the invitation to return to Dark
Shadows, feeling that Victoria Winters had grown bland
and clichéd.
In the 1980s, Alexandra
was the subject of unwelcome publicity, when called as a witness
during the notorious Claus Von Bulow manslaughter trial, which
was widely televised. Following a period of intense public
scrutiny, she chose to retain a low profile in the years that
followed.
In recent years, Alexandra
has carved a new career for herself as a documentary filmmaker.
Her 1995 directorial debut was with The Power of Conscience:
The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews, which
she dedicated to the memory of her father. She also directed
Scandalise My Name, a film exploring the blacklisting
of performers during the McCarthy administration.
In 2001, Alexandra
paid homage to her time on Dark Shadows when she penned
the foreword to the tribute book Dark Shadows Memories,
which she followed with an appearance as part of the Museum
of Television and Radio's salute to the show, held in Los
Angeles.
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