Alexandra Moltke Isles grew up in New York where her father was a permanent member of the Danish Mission to the United Nations and her mother was an editor at VOGUE. As a child she hated school but always had her nose in a book. Growing up as a U.N. brat honed her sensitivity to injustice and a theme running through all her work is social justice and dignity for the outsider. Her historical documentaries are as notable for the memorable personalities interviewed as they are for the richness of the archival material. Isles' passion for research was developed during her years as a Researcher and then Assistant Curator at New York's Museum of Radio & Television, now the Paley Center of Media. Her previous films are The Power of Conscience: The Danish Resistance and Rescue of the Jews
One child, Adam, with Philip Isles.
In the late 1970s Alexandra was the mistress of Claus von Blow, and claimed to be a motive for two alleged attempts by him to murder his wife. As depicted in Reversal of Fortune (wherein she was portrayed by Julie Hagerty ), Claus was eventually acquitted of the charges, though the truth remains unclear.
Daughter of a Danish count and diplomat, Carl Adam Greve von Moltke, and wife Mabel Wilson, and paternal granddaughter of Carl Greve von Moltke (1869-1935) and his American wife Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer, who had some Dutch American ancestry.
