Koo Stark is a patron of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, which runs the museum of the Victorian pioneer photographer.
25 Facts About Koo Stark
1.
2.
Koo Stark's parents were Wilbur Stark, a writer and producer, and Kathi Norris, a writer and television presenter in New York City.
3.
Koo Stark is the youngest of three children, the others being Pamela and Brad.
4.
Koo Stark's grandfather, Edwin Earl Norris, was a cabinetmaker and musician, playing the French horn and the viola in the Newark Symphony Orchestra.
5.
Koo Stark attended the Hewitt School in New York and the Glendower Preparatory School in Kensington, London.
6.
Koo Stark's best-remembered performance is the lead role in the erotic film Emily, directed by Henry Herbert, 17th Earl of Pembroke.
7.
Uncertain whether to accept the part, Stark did so on the advice of Graham Greene, with whom she had worked the year before.
8.
Koo Stark appeared in Cruel Passion, a film based on the novel Justine.
9.
Koo Stark began to work as a fashion model, particularly for Norman Parkinson.
10.
Koo Stark appeared in the comedy Eat the Rich, and then featured in "Timeslides", an episode of the sci-fi show Red Dwarf, playing Lady Sabrina Mulholland-Jjones, the fiancee of a more successful Dave Lister.
11.
Koo Stark has worked as a photographer since the 1980s, and may have been the first person to turn the tables on the pursuing paparazzi by taking photos of them.
12.
Prince Andrew has told how in 1983 a photographic printer, Gene Nocon, invited Koo Stark to take photographs of people taking photos of her, for his exhibition, Personal Points of View, planned for October.
13.
Koo Stark persuaded Nocon to include Andrew's work as well.
14.
Koo Stark travelled to Tobago, where he lived, and he became her mentor.
15.
Koo Stark went on to study the work of leading photographers, including Angus McBean, whom she met and photographed, developing her interests in photography to include reportage, portraits, landscapes, still life, and other work.
16.
Pictures by Koo Stark have appeared in Country Life and other magazines.
17.
Koo Stark has been a practising Buddhist since meeting the Dalai Lama.
18.
Koo Stark continues to live in London and is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.
19.
Koo Stark is a Patron of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, at Dimbola Lodge on the Isle of Wight, home of the Victorian pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
20.
Koo Stark met Prince Andrew in February 1981, and they were close for some two years, before and after his active service in the Falklands War.
21.
In 1997, Prince Andrew became the godfather of Koo Stark's daughter, and in 2015, when the Prince was accused by Virginia Roberts over the Jeffrey Epstein connection, Koo Stark came to his defence, stating that he was a good man and she could help to rebut the claims.
22.
Koo Stark was later engaged to Warren Walker, an American banker, but he cancelled their wedding before the birth of their daughter, Tatiana, in May 1997.
23.
In 1988, Stark brought a successful libel action against The Mail on Sunday over an untrue story headed 'Koo dated Andy after she wed'.
24.
In November 2022, Koo Stark was awarded substantial damages and received an apology in a court case brought against Daily Mails parent company for a 2019 article which falsely referred to her as "a soft porn actress".
25.
In 2002 Koo Stark was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, causing her to lose her hair for a time.