Alexandra Isles ( Alexandra Cornelia Moltke; born February 11, 1946) is a documentary filmmaker and former actress. She is best-known for her role as the original Victoria Winters from 1966 to 1968 on the gothic TV serial ''

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinspo ...

''.

Background

Alexandra Cornelia Moltke was born in

Uppsala, Sweden Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the capi ...

on February 11, 1946, of Danish and American parentage, the elder of two daughters, to Count Carl Adam Moltke, son of Count Carl Moltke, and Countess Mab Moltke (née Wilson; formerly Wright). Count Moltke was a permanent member of the Danish Mission to the United Nations, and Countess Moltke was an editor at ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''. Through her American grandmother, Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer, Alexandra and her younger sister, Victoria, are descended from the Livingston,

Schuyler Schuyler may refer to: Places United States * Schuyler County, Illinois * Schuyler County, Missouri * Schuyler, Nebraska, a city * Schuyler County, New York * Schuyler, New York, a town * Schuyler Island, Lake Champlain, New York * Schuyler C ...

Bayard Bayard may refer to: People * Bayard (given name) * Bayard (surname) *Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1473–1524) French knight Places * Bayard, Delaware, an unincorporated community *Bayard (Jacksonville), Florida, a neighborhood * Bayard ...

and Van Rensselaer families.

Career

In 1985, she began work at the Museum of Television & Radio where she became a curator specializing in arts, drama and children's programming.Glimmerglass Film Days Guest Speakers 2015: "ALEXANDRA MOLTKE ISLES"
retrieved July 30, 2016 In 1991, a grant from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

launched her on a career as a producer and director of the award-winning documentaries ''The Power of Conscience: The Danish Resistance and Rescue of the Jews'' (1995); ''Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist'' (1999); ''Porraimos: Europe's Gypsies in the Holocaust'' (2002); ''The Healing Gardens of New York'' (2006); and ''Hidden Treasures: Stories from a Great Museum'' (2011). Her films have been seen at the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

(Washington, DC),

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(NY), and numerous film festivals including the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

and

Margaret Mead Film Festival The Margaret Mead Film Festival is an annual film festival held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spe ...

s, and all have aired on PBS. Currently she works at the Metropolitan Museum as a Volunteer Educator.

Personal life

In 1967, she married Philip Henry Isles II of the Lehman banking family at the

Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church is a member church of the Presbyterian Church (USA), located at 73rd Street and Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of New York City. In 1927 George Arthur Buttrick succeeded Henry Sloane Coffin as minister. ...

in Manhattan. She left ''Dark Shadows'' in 1968 due to pregnancy. In 1969, she gave birth to a son, Adam. She was the mistress of

Claus von Bulow Claus (sometimes Clas) is both a given name and a German, Danish, and Dutch surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907–1944), a German officer who, along with others, attempted to assassi ...

and testified at his 1982 and 1985 trials for the murder of his wife,

Sunny von Bülow Martha Sharp "Sunny" von Bülow (; September 1, 1932 − December 6, 2008) was an American heiress and socialite. Her second husband, Claus von Bülow (1926−2019), was convicted in 1982 of attempting to murder her by insulin overdose, but the ...

. In 1985 she began work at the Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center for Media), and became an Assistant Curator, working on exhibitions and screening series on the arts and children's programming. In 1991, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she produced and directed ''Scandalize My Name, Stories from the Blacklist'', introduced by Morgan Freeman and featuring

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

and

Rosetta Le Noire Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or l ...

. That same year she married a physician, Dr. Alfred Jaretzki III. Her subsequent documentary films were ''The Power of Conscience: The Danish Resistance and Rescue of the Jews''; ''Porraimos: Europe's Gypsies in the Holocaust''; ''The Healing Gardens of New York''; ''Hidden Treasures: Stories from a Great Museum''; and ''Harry's Gift: A New York Story''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isles, Alexandra 1946 births American people of Danish descent American people of Dutch descent American television actresses Alexandra Isles Alexandra Isles Alexandra Isles Living people Alexandra Isles Alexandra Isles Alexandra Isles Alexandra Isles