Alexandra Isles ( Alexandra Cornelia von Moltke; born February 11, 1945) 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 fiction, Gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulatio ...

''.

Early life

Alexandra Cornelia von Moltke was born in

Uppsala, Sweden Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital 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 capital Stockholm, it is ...

on February 11, 1945, of Danish and American parentage, the elder of two daughters, to Count Carl Adam Moltke, son of Count

Carl Moltke Count Carl Poul Oscar Moltke (2 January 1869 – 5 September 1935) was the Danish minister to the United States in 1908 and the Foreign Minister of Denmark 1924–1926. Early life Carl Poul Oscar Moltke was born on 2 January 1869 in Denmark. ...

, 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 Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

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

Career

In 1985, Isles began work at the

Museum of Television & Radio The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...

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, dedicated to the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust. Opened in 1993, the museum explores the Holocaust through p ...

(

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

(New York), and numerous film festivals including the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

and Margaret Mead Film Festivals, and all have aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. Currently, Isles works at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

as a Volunteer Educator.

Personal life

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

Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church (MAPC) is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA). It is located at East 73rd Street and Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. History The congregation was organized in ...

in Manhattan. She left ''

'' in 1968 due to pregnancy. In 1969, she gave birth to a son. Isles was the mistress of Claus von Bülow and testified at his 1982 and 1985 trials for the attempted murder of his wife, Sunny. She was portrayed by

Julie Hagerty Julie Beth Hagerty (born June 15, 1955) is an American actress. She starred as Elaine Dickinson in the films ''Airplane!'' (1980) and '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982). Her other film roles include ''A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy'' (1982), '' ...

in the 1990 film '' Reversal of Fortune'' that dramatized these events. In 1985, Isles 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 Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...

and featuring

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

and

Ossie Davis Ossie Davis (born Raiford Chatman Davis; December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, Film director, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He received num ...

. That same year, she married a physician, Dr. Alfred Jaretzki III. Isles' 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''.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isles, Alexandra 1946 births 20th-century American actresses Living people American people of Danish descent American people of Dutch descent American television actresses Bayard family Cornell family Lehman family Livingston family Moltke family Schuyler family Van Rensselaer family