Michael Redgrave
Encyclopedia
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE
(20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English
stage and film actor, director, manager and author.
, England
, the son of the silent film
actor Roy Redgrave
and the actress Margaret Scudamore
. He never knew his father, who left when Michael was only six months old to pursue a career in Australia
. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter, but Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather.
He studied at Clifton College
and Magdalene College, Cambridge
. He was a schoolmaster at Cranleigh School
in Surrey
before becoming an actor in 1934. There he directed the boys in Hamlet
, King Lear
and The Tempest
, but managed to play all the leading roles himself. The 'Redgrave Room' at the school was later named after him. In the new Guildford School of Acting
building which opened in January 2010, there is the Sir Michael Redgrave studio.
on 30 August 1934 as Roy Darwin in Counsellor-at-Law (by Elmer Rice
), then spent two years with its Liverpool Repertory Company where he met his future wife Rachel Kempson
. They married on 18 July 1935.
, he made his first professional appearance in London at the Old Vic
on 14 September 1936, playing Ferdinand in Love's Labours Lost. During the 1936-37 season he also played Mr Horner in The Country Wife
, Orlando in As You Like It
, Warbeck in The Witch of Edmonton
and Laertes to Laurence Olivier
's Hamlet. His hit of the season was Orlando. Edith Evans
was his Rosalind and the two fell very much in love. As he later explained: "Edith always had a habit of falling in love with her leading men; with us it just went rather further." As You Like It transferred to the New Theatre
in February 1937 when he again played Orlando.
At the Embassy Theatre
in March 1937 he played Anderson in a mystery play, The Bat, before returning to the Old Vic in April, succeeding Marius Goring
as Chorus in Henry V
. Other roles that year included Christopher Drew in Daisy Fisher's comedy A Ship Comes Home at the St Martin's Theatre
in May and Larry Starr in Philip Leaver's comedy Three Set Out at the Embassy in June, before joining John Gielgud
's Company at the Queen's Theatre
, September 1937 to April 1938, where he played Bolingbroke in Richard II
, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal
and Baron Tusenbach in Three Sisters
.
Other roles included:
Redgrave joined the Royal Navy
as an Ordinary seaman in July 1941, but was discharged on medical grounds in November 1942. Having spent most of 1942 in the Reserve he managed to direct Lifeline (Norman Armstrong) starring Frank Pettingell
at the Duchess Theatre
in July; and The Duke in Darkness (Patrick Hamilton
) starring Leslie Banks
at the St James's Theatre
in October, also taking the role of Gribaux.
Resuming his stage career he played/directed:
Joining the Old Vic
Company at the New Theatre
for its 1949–50 season, he played:
At the Apollo in June 1955 he played Hector in Tiger at the Gates, appearing in the same role at the Plymouth Theatre, New York
in October 1955 for which he received the New York Critics Award. While in New York he directed A Month in the Country at the Phoenix Theatre in April 1956, and directed and played the Prince Regent in The Sleeping Prince at the Coronet Theatre in November 1956.
Returning to London in January 1958 he appeared as Philip Lester in A Touch of the Sun (N C Hunter) at the Saville Theatre
— Best Actor in the Evening Standard Awards
1958 — before rejoining the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in June 1958, to play Hamlet and Benedick, also playing Hamlet with the company in Leningrad and Moscow in December 1958 (while his wife Rachel Kempson played Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing
and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet
).
At the Queen's Theatre in London in August 1959 he played HJ in his own adaptation of the Henry James novella The Aspern Papers. His play was later to be successfully revived on Broadway in 1962, with Dame Wendy Hiller
and Maurice Evans
, while the 1984 London revival featured his daughter, Vanessa Redgrave, along with Christopher Reeve
and Hiller, this time in the role of Miss Bordereau.
Returning to England, in July 1962 he took part in the Chichester Festival Theatre
's opening season, playing the title role in Chekhov
's Uncle Vanya
to the Astrov of Laurence Olivier
who also directed.
Alongside John Dexter
's Chichester staging of Saint Joan, Olivier's Uncle Vanya was first revived in Chichester in 1963 before transferring to the Old Vic as part of the nascent Royal National Theatre
's inaugural season, winning rave reviews and Redgrave's second win as Best Actor in the 1963 Evening Standard Awards
. Critic Michael Billington
recalled: "In Redgrave's Vanya you saw both a tremulous victim of a lifetime's emotional repression and the wasted potential of a Chekhovian might-have-been: as Redgrave and Olivier took their joint curtain call, linked hands held triumphantly aloft, we were not to know that this was to symbolise the end of their artistic amity."
Redgrave played (and co-presented) Lancelot Dodd MA in Arthur Watkyn's Out of Bounds at Wyndham's Theatre in November 1962, following it at the Old Vic with his portrayal of Claudius opposite the Hamlet of Peter O'Toole
in 22 October 1963. This Hamlet
was in fact the National Theatre's official opening production, directed by Olivier, but Simon Callow
has dubbed it "slow, solemn, long", while Ken Campbell
vividly described it as "brochure theatre."
In January 1964 at the National he played the title role in Hobson's Choice, which he admitted was well outside his range: "I couldn't do the Lancashire accent and that shook my nerve terribly - all the other performances suffered." While still at the National in June 1964 he also played Halvard Solness in The Master Builder, which he said 'went wrong'. At this time he had incipient Parkinson's disease, although he did not know it.
In May and June 1965 Redgrave directed the opening festival of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
in Guildford
, including directing and playing Rakitin in A Month in the Country (co-starring with Ingrid Bergman
as Natalya Petrovna), and Samson in Samson Agonistes (co-starring with Rachel Kempson as Chorus). He again played Rakitin in September 1965, when his production transferred to the Cambridge Theatre
in London. For the Glyndebourne Festival Opera
he directed Werther
in 1966 and La Boheme
in 1967.
in July 1971 he played Mr Jaraby in The Old Boys (William Trevor) and had an unfortunate experience: "My memory went, and on the first night they made me wear a deaf aid to hear some lines from the prompter and it literally fell to pieces - there were little bits of machinery all over the floor, so I then knew I really couldn't go on, at least not learning new plays."
Nevertheless, he successfully took over the part of Father in John Mortimer
's A Voyage Round My Father
at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, also touring Canada and Australia in the role in 1972-73. International touring continued in 1974-75 with a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Hollow Crown, visiting major venues in the US and Australia, while in 1976-77 he toured South America, Canada and the UK in the anthology, Shakespeare's People.
Redgrave's final theatre appearance came in May 1979 when he portrayed Jasper in Simon Gray
's Close of Play, directed on the Lyttelton stage at the National Theatre by Harold Pinter
. It was a silent, seated role, based on Gray's own father, who had died a year before he wrote the play. As Gray has said: "Jasper is in fact dead but is forced to endure, as if alive, a traditional English Sunday, helpless in his favourite armchair as his three sons and their wives fall to pieces in the usual English middle-class style, sometimes blaming him, sometimes appealing to him for help and sobbing at his feet for forgiveness, but basically ignoring him. In other words I had stuck him in Hell, which turns out to be 'life, old life itself'."
His final work, in 1975, a narrative of the epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
, a poem that Redgrave taught as a young schoolmaster and visualized by producer-director Raul da Silva, received six international film festival prizes of which five were first place in category. This work was to be his last before the onslaught of Parkinson's disease
.
in 1937, in scenes from Romeo and Juliet. His first major film role was in Alfred Hitchcock
's The Lady Vanishes
(1938). Redgrave also starred in The Stars Look Down
(1939), with James Mason
in the film of Robert Ardrey
's play Thunder Rock
(1942), and in the ventriloquist's dummy episode of the Ealing
compendium film Dead of Night
(1945).
His first American film role was opposite Rosalind Russell
in Mourning Becomes Electra
(1947), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor
. In 1951 he starred in The Browning Version
, from Terence Rattigan
's play of the same name. The Daily Mirror described Redgrave's performance as Crocker-Harris as "one of the greatest performances ever seen in films". The 1950s also saw Redgrave in The Importance of Being Earnest
(1952), The Dambusters
(1954), and 1984
(1956).
Notable television performances include voice-overs for The Great War
(1964), a history of the first World War using stills and 'stretched' archive film, and the less successful Lost Peace series (BBC Television, 1964 and 1966). Of the latter, Philip Purser
wrote: "The commentary, spoken by Sir Michael Redgrave, took on an unremittingly pessimistic tone from the outset."
, one day after his 77th birthday.
for 50 years from 1935 until his death. Their children Vanessa
(b. 1937), Corin
(1939–2010) and Lynn Redgrave
(1943–2010) and their grandchildren - Natasha
(1963–2009), Joely Richardson
(b. 1965) and Jemma
are also involved in theatre or film as actors. His grandson Carlo Gabriel Nero is a screenwriter and film director whilst Luke Redgrave is not connected to acting.
His daughter Lynn created a one-woman play for herself called Shakespeare for My Father, in which she was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award
, in which she traced her love for Shakespeare as a way of following and finding her often absent father.
Redgrave owned White Roding Windmill
from 1937 to 1946. He and his family lived in "Bedford House" on Chiswick
Mall from 1945 to 1954. His entry for Who's Who in the Theatre (1981) gives his address as Wilks Water, Odiham
, Hampshire.
The 1996 BBC documentary film Michael Redgrave: My Father, narrated by Corin Redgrave, and based on his book of the same name, discusses Michael's bisexuality
in some depth. Rachel Kempson recounted that, when she proposed to him, Redgrave said that there were "difficulties to do with his nature, and that he felt he ought not to marry". She said that she understood, it didn't matter and that she loved him. To this, Redgrave replied, "Very well. If you're sure, we will".
During the filming of Fritz Lang
's Secret Beyond the Door (1948), Redgrave met Bob Michell. They became lovers, Michell set up house close to the Redgraves, and he became a surrogate "uncle" to Redgrave's children (then aged 11, 9 and 5), who adored him. Michell later had children of his own, including a son he named Michael.
A card was found among Redgrave's effects after his death. The card was signed "Tommy, Liverpool, January 1940", and on it were the words (quoted from W. H. Auden
): "The world is love. Surely one fearless kiss would cure the million fevers".
and twice received the Variety Club of Great Britain 'Actor of the Year' Award (in the same years).
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) in 1952 and was knighted
in 1959. He was also appointed Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog
, Denmark
in 1955.
Redgrave became the First President of the English Speaking Board in 1953, and President of the Questors Theatre
, Ealing
in 1958.
In 1966 he received an honorary DLitt
degree from the University of Bristol
.
The Redgrave Theatre in Farnham
, Surrey, 1974–1998, was named in his honour.
His plays include The Seventh Man and Circus Boy, both performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1935, and his adaptations of A Woman in Love (Amourese) at the Embassy Theatre in 1949 and the Henry James
novella The Aspern Papers at the Queen's Theatre in 1959.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
stage and film actor, director, manager and author.
Youth and education
Redgrave was born in BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of the silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
actor Roy Redgrave
Roy Redgrave
Roy Redgrave was an English stage and silent film actor. Redgrave was the founder of the Redgrave acting family.-Early life:...
and the actress Margaret Scudamore
Margaret Scudamore
Daisy Bertha Mary "Margaret" Scudamore was an English actress who began in ingenue roles.-Life and career:...
. He never knew his father, who left when Michael was only six months old to pursue a career in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter, but Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather.
He studied at Clifton College
Clifton College
Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
and Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
. He was a schoolmaster at Cranleigh School
Cranleigh School
Cranleigh School is an independent English boarding school in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. It was founded in 1865 as a boys' school and started to admit girls in the early 1970s. It is now co-educational. The current headmaster is Guy de W...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
before becoming an actor in 1934. There he directed the boys in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
and The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, but managed to play all the leading roles himself. The 'Redgrave Room' at the school was later named after him. In the new Guildford School of Acting
Guildford School of Acting
Guildford School of Acting is a drama school located in Guildford, Surrey, England. It is an affiliate of the University of Surrey and is an accredited member of the National Council for Drama Training and The Conference of Drama Schools.-Overview:...
building which opened in January 2010, there is the Sir Michael Redgrave studio.
Theatre career
Redgrave made his first professional appearance at the Liverpool PlayhouseLiverpool Playhouse
The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...
on 30 August 1934 as Roy Darwin in Counsellor-at-Law (by Elmer Rice
Elmer Rice
Elmer Rice was an American playwright. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1929 play, Street Scene.-Early years:...
), then spent two years with its Liverpool Repertory Company where he met his future wife Rachel Kempson
Rachel Kempson
Rachel, Lady Redgrave , known primarily by her birth name as Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty.-Career:...
. They married on 18 July 1935.
1930s
Offered a job by Tyrone GuthrieTyrone Guthrie
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...
, he made his first professional appearance in London at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
on 14 September 1936, playing Ferdinand in Love's Labours Lost. During the 1936-37 season he also played Mr Horner in The Country Wife
The Country Wife
The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun...
, Orlando in As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
, Warbeck in The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton is an English Jacobean play, written by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford in 1621.The play—"probably the most sophisticated treatment of domestic tragedy in the whole of Elizabethan-Jacobean drama"—is based on supposedly real-life events that took place...
and Laertes to Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
's Hamlet. His hit of the season was Orlando. Edith Evans
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...
was his Rosalind and the two fell very much in love. As he later explained: "Edith always had a habit of falling in love with her leading men; with us it just went rather further." As You Like It transferred to the New Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by...
in February 1937 when he again played Orlando.
At the Embassy Theatre
Embassy Theatre (London)
The Embassy Theatre is a theatre at 64, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London.- Early years :The Embassy Theatre was opened as a repertory company in September 1928 on the initiative of Sybil Arundale and Herbert Jay., when the premises of Hampstead Conservatoire of Music were adapted by architect...
in March 1937 he played Anderson in a mystery play, The Bat, before returning to the Old Vic in April, succeeding Marius Goring
Marius Goring
Marius Goring CBE was an English stage and cinema actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes...
as Chorus in Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
. Other roles that year included Christopher Drew in Daisy Fisher's comedy A Ship Comes Home at the St Martin's Theatre
St Martin's Theatre
St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre, located in West Street, near Charing Cross Road, in the London Borough of Camden. It was designed as one of a pair of theatres with the Ambassadors Theatre by W.G.R...
in May and Larry Starr in Philip Leaver's comedy Three Set Out at the Embassy in June, before joining John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
's Company at the Queen's Theatre
Queen's Theatre
The Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
, September 1937 to April 1938, where he played Bolingbroke in Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...
and Baron Tusenbach in Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
.
Other roles included:
- Alexei Turbin in The White Guard (The Days of the Turbins by Mikhail BulgakovMikhail BulgakovMikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
), Phoenix TheatrePhoenix TheatrePhoenix Theatre may refer to:*Phoenix Arts Centre, former name was Phoenix Theatre in Leicester, UK*Phoenix Theatre , a West End theatre*Phoenix Theatre , a professional alternative theatre*Phoenix Theatre , a regional theatre...
October 1938 - Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, Phoenix December 1938
- Harry, Lord Monchesney in The Family ReunionThe Family ReunionThe Family Reunion is a play by T. S. Eliot. Written mostly in blank verse, it incorporates elements from Greek drama and mid-twentieth-century detective plays to portray the hero's journey from guilt to redemption. The play was unsuccessful when first presented in 1939, and was later regarded as...
(T S Eliot), Westminster TheatreWestminster TheatreThe Westminster Theatre was a London theatre, on Palace Street in Westminster. It was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, which was altered and given a new frontage for use as a cinema from 1924 onwards. It finally became a theatre in 1931 after radical alterations...
March 1939 - Henry in Springtime for Henry, touring 1939
Second World War
Once the London theatres were re-opened, after the outbreak of war, he played:- Captain Macheath in The Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
, Theatre Royal Haymarket, March 1940 - Charleston in Thunder Rock (Robert Ardrey), Neighbourhood Theatre June 1940; Globe TheatreGlobe TheatreThe Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
July 1940
Redgrave joined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as an Ordinary seaman in July 1941, but was discharged on medical grounds in November 1942. Having spent most of 1942 in the Reserve he managed to direct Lifeline (Norman Armstrong) starring Frank Pettingell
Frank Pettingell
Frank Pettingell was an English actor.Pettingell was born in Liverpool, and educated at Manchester University...
at the Duchess Theatre
Duchess Theatre
The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels....
in July; and The Duke in Darkness (Patrick Hamilton
Patrick Hamilton
Patrick Hamilton is the name of:*Patrick Hamilton of Kincavil , Scottish nobleman*Patrick Hamilton , Scottish Protestant reformer and son of the above*Patrick Hamilton , Church of Scotland minister and poet...
) starring Leslie Banks
Leslie Banks
Leslie Banks, CBE was an English theatre and cinema actor, director and producer, now best remembered playing gruff, menacing characters in black and white movies of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...
at the St James's Theatre
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was a 1,200-seat theatre located in King Street, at Duke Street, St James's, London. The elaborate theatre was designed with a neo-classical exterior and a Louis XIV style interior by Samuel Beazley and built by the partnership of Peto & Grissell for the tenor and theatre...
in October, also taking the role of Gribaux.
Resuming his stage career he played/directed:
- Rakitin in A Month in the CountryA Month in the Country (play)A Month in the Country is a comedy in five acts by Ivan Turgenev. It was written in France between 1848 and 1850 and was first published in 1855...
(Turgenev), St James's Theatre March 1943 - Lafont in six matinees of Parisienne, a comedy by Henry Becque, translated by Ashley DukesAshley DukesAshley Dukes was an English playwright, critic, and theatre manager.In 1933, he founded the Mercury Theatre of London and wrote plays that appeared in the London West End and on Broadway...
, (Redgrave also directed and managed) co-starring Sonia DresdelSonia DresdelSonia Dresdel was an English actress, whose career ran between the 1940s and 1970s.She was born Lois Obee in Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, England and was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls....
, St James's Theatre June 1943 - Blow Your Own Trumpet, a comedy by Peter UstinovPeter UstinovPeter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
, (directed), Playhouse TheatrePlayhouse TheatreThe Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery...
August 1943 - The Wingless Victory, a period romance by Maxwell AndersonMaxwell AndersonJames Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist.-Early years:Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent...
, (directed) starring Rachel KempsonRachel KempsonRachel, Lady Redgrave , known primarily by her birth name as Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty.-Career:...
as Faith Ingalls, Phoenix TheatrePhoenix TheatrePhoenix Theatre may refer to:*Phoenix Arts Centre, former name was Phoenix Theatre in Leicester, UK*Phoenix Theatre , a West End theatre*Phoenix Theatre , a professional alternative theatre*Phoenix Theatre , a regional theatre...
September 1943 - Harry Quincey in Uncle Harry, a thriller by Thomas Job, (also co-directed with William Armstrong) with Beatrix LehmannBeatrix LehmannBeatrix Alice Lehmann was a British actress, theatre director and author.She trained at the RADA and made her stage debut as Peggy in a 1924 production The Way of the World at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. As well as her extensive theatrical career she appeared in films and on television...
as Leslie Quincey and Rachel Kempson as Lucy Forrest, Garrick TheatreGarrick TheatreThe Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...
March 1944 - Colonel Stjerbinsky in Jacobowsky and the Colonel, a comedy by Franz WerfelFranz WerfelFranz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...
, adapted by S N Behrman, (Redgrave also directed) with Rachel Kempson as Marianne, Piccadilly TheatrePiccadilly TheatreThe Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, England.-Early years:Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A...
, June 1945
Post-war years
- Title role in Macbeth, Aldwych TheatreAldwych TheatreThe Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
December 1947; National Theater, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(NY debut, with Flora RobsonFlora RobsonDame Flora McKenzie Robson DBE was an English actress, renowned as a character actress, who played roles ranging from queens to villainesses.-Early life:...
as Lady Macbeth) 31 March 1948 - Captain in The Father (August StrindbergAugust StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
) directed by Dennis Arundell with Freda JacksonFreda JacksonFreda Maud Jackson was an English stage actress who also worked in film and TV. Born in Nottingham, she was famous for her stage role as the cruel landlady Mrs. Voray in the play No Room at the Inn in the mid-1940s; she appeared in the film adaptation of 1948...
as Laura, Embassy Theatre November 1948; and Duchess Theatre January 1949 - Etienne in A Woman in Love (also co-adapted with Diana Gould and directed) with Margaret RawlingsMargaret RawlingsMargaret Rawlings was a distinguished English stage actress, born in Osaka, Japan, daughter of the Rev George William Rawlings and his wife Lilian . She died two weeks three days before her 90th birthday....
as Germaine, Embassy April 1949
Joining the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
Company at the New Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by...
for its 1949–50 season, he played:
- Berowne in Love's Labours Lost
- Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer
- Rakitin in A Month in the CountryA Month in the Country (play)A Month in the Country is a comedy in five acts by Ivan Turgenev. It was written in France between 1848 and 1850 and was first published in 1855...
- His first Hamlet, which he also played at the Zurich Festival, the Holland Festival and at Kronborg CastleKronborg CastleKronborg is a star fortress situated near the town of Helsingør on the extreme northeastern tip of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between Denmark and Sweden...
in ElsinoreElsinoreHelsingør is a city and the municipal seat of Helsingør municipality on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Helsingør has a population of 46,279 including the southern suburbs of Snekkersten and Espergærde...
, June 1950
1950s
Redgrave joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre company at Stratford upon Avon and for the 1951 season appeared as Prospero in The Tempest as well as playing Richard II, Hotspur and Chorus in the Cycle of Histories, for which he also directed Henry IV Part Two. After appearing as Frank Elgin in Winter Journey at the St James's April 1952, he rejoined the Stratford company in 1953 (together with his actress wife Rachel Kempson) appearing as Shylock, King Lear and Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, also playing Antony when the company transferred to the Princes Theatre in November 1953 before touring to Holland, Belgium and Paris.At the Apollo in June 1955 he played Hector in Tiger at the Gates, appearing in the same role at the Plymouth Theatre, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in October 1955 for which he received the New York Critics Award. While in New York he directed A Month in the Country at the Phoenix Theatre in April 1956, and directed and played the Prince Regent in The Sleeping Prince at the Coronet Theatre in November 1956.
Returning to London in January 1958 he appeared as Philip Lester in A Touch of the Sun (N C Hunter) at the Saville Theatre
Saville Theatre
The Saville Theatre is a former West End theatre at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a music venue during the 1960s, finally being converted to a cinema in 1970.-Theatre years:...
— Best Actor in the Evening Standard Awards
Evening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
1958 — before rejoining the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in June 1958, to play Hamlet and Benedick, also playing Hamlet with the company in Leningrad and Moscow in December 1958 (while his wife Rachel Kempson played Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
).
At the Queen's Theatre in London in August 1959 he played HJ in his own adaptation of the Henry James novella The Aspern Papers. His play was later to be successfully revived on Broadway in 1962, with Dame Wendy Hiller
Wendy Hiller
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...
and Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
, while the 1984 London revival featured his daughter, Vanessa Redgrave, along with Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
and Hiller, this time in the role of Miss Bordereau.
1960s
Roles included:- Jack Dean in The Tiger and the Horse by Robert BoltRobert BoltRobert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.-Career:He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended the University of Manchester, and, after war service, the University of...
(which Redgrave also co-presented, directed by Frith BanburyFrith BanburyFrith Banbury, MBE was a British theatre actor and stage director.- Biography :Frith Banbury was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 4 May 1912. He was the son of Rear Admiral Frederick Arthur Frith Banbury and his wife Winifred...
), Queen's Theatre August 1960 - Victor Rhodes in The Complaisant Lover by Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, Ethel Barrymore TheatreEthel Barrymore TheatreThe Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....
, New York, November 1961 - 101 performances
Returning to England, in July 1962 he took part in the Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
's opening season, playing the title role in Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
to the Astrov of Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
who also directed.
Alongside John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter was an English theatre, opera, and film director.- Theatre :Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British army during World War II. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for...
's Chichester staging of Saint Joan, Olivier's Uncle Vanya was first revived in Chichester in 1963 before transferring to the Old Vic as part of the nascent Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
's inaugural season, winning rave reviews and Redgrave's second win as Best Actor in the 1963 Evening Standard Awards
Evening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
. Critic Michael Billington
Michael Billington
Michael Billington may refer to:* Michael Billington , British film and television actor* Michael Billington , drama critic of The Guardian* Michael Billington , author and activist in the LaRouche movement...
recalled: "In Redgrave's Vanya you saw both a tremulous victim of a lifetime's emotional repression and the wasted potential of a Chekhovian might-have-been: as Redgrave and Olivier took their joint curtain call, linked hands held triumphantly aloft, we were not to know that this was to symbolise the end of their artistic amity."
Redgrave played (and co-presented) Lancelot Dodd MA in Arthur Watkyn's Out of Bounds at Wyndham's Theatre in November 1962, following it at the Old Vic with his portrayal of Claudius opposite the Hamlet of Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
in 22 October 1963. This Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
was in fact the National Theatre's official opening production, directed by Olivier, but Simon Callow
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...
has dubbed it "slow, solemn, long", while Ken Campbell
Ken Campbell (actor)
Kenneth Victor Campbell was an English writer, actor, director and comedian known for his work in experimental theatre...
vividly described it as "brochure theatre."
In January 1964 at the National he played the title role in Hobson's Choice, which he admitted was well outside his range: "I couldn't do the Lancashire accent and that shook my nerve terribly - all the other performances suffered." While still at the National in June 1964 he also played Halvard Solness in The Master Builder, which he said 'went wrong'. At this time he had incipient Parkinson's disease, although he did not know it.
In May and June 1965 Redgrave directed the opening festival of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Surrey presents in-house productions which often tour and transfer to London's West End. Other performances include opera, ballet and pantomime. Named after the actress Yvonne Arnaud, the company has two performance venues, a main theatre and the smaller Mill...
in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, including directing and playing Rakitin in A Month in the Country (co-starring with Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
as Natalya Petrovna), and Samson in Samson Agonistes (co-starring with Rachel Kempson as Chorus). He again played Rakitin in September 1965, when his production transferred to the Cambridge Theatre
Cambridge Theatre
The Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929-30. It was designed by Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor Anthony Gibbons...
in London. For the Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
he directed Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
in 1966 and La Boheme
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
in 1967.
1970s
At the Mermaid TheatreMermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
in July 1971 he played Mr Jaraby in The Old Boys (William Trevor) and had an unfortunate experience: "My memory went, and on the first night they made me wear a deaf aid to hear some lines from the prompter and it literally fell to pieces - there were little bits of machinery all over the floor, so I then knew I really couldn't go on, at least not learning new plays."
Nevertheless, he successfully took over the part of Father in John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
's A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father is an autobiographical play by John Mortimer, later adapted for television.The first version of the play appeared as a series of three half-hour sketches for BBC radio in 1963. It then became a television play with Ian Richardson playing Mortimer, Tim Good as the young...
at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, also touring Canada and Australia in the role in 1972-73. International touring continued in 1974-75 with a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Hollow Crown, visiting major venues in the US and Australia, while in 1976-77 he toured South America, Canada and the UK in the anthology, Shakespeare's People.
Redgrave's final theatre appearance came in May 1979 when he portrayed Jasper in Simon Gray
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
's Close of Play, directed on the Lyttelton stage at the National Theatre by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
. It was a silent, seated role, based on Gray's own father, who had died a year before he wrote the play. As Gray has said: "Jasper is in fact dead but is forced to endure, as if alive, a traditional English Sunday, helpless in his favourite armchair as his three sons and their wives fall to pieces in the usual English middle-class style, sometimes blaming him, sometimes appealing to him for help and sobbing at his feet for forgiveness, but basically ignoring him. In other words I had stuck him in Hell, which turns out to be 'life, old life itself'."
His final work, in 1975, a narrative of the epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and was published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a later revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss...
, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
, a poem that Redgrave taught as a young schoolmaster and visualized by producer-director Raul da Silva, received six international film festival prizes of which five were first place in category. This work was to be his last before the onslaught of Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
.
Film and television work
Redgrave first appeared on BBC television at the Alexandra PalaceAlexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...
in 1937, in scenes from Romeo and Juliet. His first major film role was in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's The Lady Vanishes
The Lady Vanishes (1938 film)
The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder from the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White...
(1938). Redgrave also starred in The Stars Look Down
The Stars Look Down (film)
The Stars Look Down is a 1940 British film based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title, initially published in 1935, which chronicles various injustices in a mining community in North East England. The film, co-scripted by Cronin and directed by Carol Reed, stars Michael Redgrave as Davey...
(1939), with James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
in the film of Robert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey was an American playwright and screenwriter who returned to his academic training in anthropology and the behavioral sciences in the 1950s....
's play Thunder Rock
Thunder Rock (film)
Thunder Rock is a 1942 British drama film with supernatural elements, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Lilli Palmer and Barbara Mullen.-Background:...
(1942), and in the ventriloquist's dummy episode of the Ealing
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
compendium film Dead of Night
Dead of Night
Dead of Night is a British portmanteau horror film made by Ealing Studios, its various episodes directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. The film stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Michael Redgrave...
(1945).
His first American film role was opposite Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
in Mourning Becomes Electra
Mourning Becomes Electra
Mourning Becomes Electra is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932...
(1947), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. In 1951 he starred in The Browning Version
The Browning Version (1951 film)
The Browning Version is a 1951 British film based on the 1948 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and starred Michael Redgrave.-Plot:...
, from Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's play of the same name. The Daily Mirror described Redgrave's performance as Crocker-Harris as "one of the greatest performances ever seen in films". The 1950s also saw Redgrave in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952 film)
The Importance of Being Earnest is a British film adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, who also adapted the screenplay, and was produced by Teddy Baird.-Adaptation:...
(1952), The Dambusters
The Dam Busters (film)
The Dam Busters is a 1955 British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Wallis's...
(1954), and 1984
1984 (1956 film)
1984 is a 1956 film based on the novel of the same name by George Orwell. This is the first cinema rendition of the story, directed by Michael Anderson, and starring Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence, Jan Sterling, and Michael Redgrave...
(1956).
Notable television performances include voice-overs for The Great War
The Great War (documentary)
The Great War is a 26-episode documentary series from 1964 on the First World War. It was a co-production involving the resources of the Imperial War Museum, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
(1964), a history of the first World War using stills and 'stretched' archive film, and the less successful Lost Peace series (BBC Television, 1964 and 1966). Of the latter, Philip Purser
Philip Purser
Philip Purser is a British television critic and novelist.A contributor to the News Chronicle in the 1950s, he was television critic of The Sunday Telegraph from its launch in 1961 until he was sacked in 1987 by Peregrine Worsthorne, the then editor...
wrote: "The commentary, spoken by Sir Michael Redgrave, took on an unremittingly pessimistic tone from the outset."
Last years and death
Redgrave died in a nursing home in Denham, Buckinghamshire, in 1985, from Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
, one day after his 77th birthday.
Family
Redgrave was married to the actress Rachel KempsonRachel Kempson
Rachel, Lady Redgrave , known primarily by her birth name as Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty.-Career:...
for 50 years from 1935 until his death. Their children Vanessa
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
(b. 1937), Corin
Corin Redgrave
Corin William Redgrave was an English actor and political activist.-Early life:Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
(1939–2010) and Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
(1943–2010) and their grandchildren - Natasha
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
(1963–2009), Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
(b. 1965) and Jemma
Jemma Redgrave
Jemma Redgrave is a fourth-generation English actress of the Redgrave family.-Early life/family:Born in London as Jemima Rebecca Redgrave, she is the daughter of the late actor Corin Redgrave and his first wife, the late Deirdre Hamilton-Hill, a former fashion model. They divorced when Jemma was...
are also involved in theatre or film as actors. His grandson Carlo Gabriel Nero is a screenwriter and film director whilst Luke Redgrave is not connected to acting.
His daughter Lynn created a one-woman play for herself called Shakespeare for My Father, in which she was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, in which she traced her love for Shakespeare as a way of following and finding her often absent father.
Redgrave owned White Roding Windmill
White Roding Windmill
White Roding Windmill is a grade II listed Tower mill at White Roding, Essex, England which has been preserved.-History:White Roding Windmill was built in 1877, replacing a post mill which had stood on the site since 1609. The post mill was destroyed on 1 January 1877 when the main post broke...
from 1937 to 1946. He and his family lived in "Bedford House" on Chiswick
Chiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
Mall from 1945 to 1954. His entry for Who's Who in the Theatre (1981) gives his address as Wilks Water, Odiham
Odiham
Odiham is a historic village and large civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The current population is 4,406. The parish contains an acreage of 7,354 acres with 50 acres of land covered with water. The nearest...
, Hampshire.
Bisexuality
Corin helped his father in the writing of his last autobiography. During one of Corin's visits to his father, the latter said, "There is something I ought to tell you". Then, after a very long pause, "I am, to say the least of it, bisexual". Corin encouraged him to acknowledge his bisexuality in the book. Michael agreed to do so, but in the end he chose to remain silent about it. Alan Strachan's 2004 biography of Redgrave discusses his affairs with both men and women.The 1996 BBC documentary film Michael Redgrave: My Father, narrated by Corin Redgrave, and based on his book of the same name, discusses Michael's bisexuality
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
in some depth. Rachel Kempson recounted that, when she proposed to him, Redgrave said that there were "difficulties to do with his nature, and that he felt he ought not to marry". She said that she understood, it didn't matter and that she loved him. To this, Redgrave replied, "Very well. If you're sure, we will".
During the filming of Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's Secret Beyond the Door (1948), Redgrave met Bob Michell. They became lovers, Michell set up house close to the Redgraves, and he became a surrogate "uncle" to Redgrave's children (then aged 11, 9 and 5), who adored him. Michell later had children of his own, including a son he named Michael.
A card was found among Redgrave's effects after his death. The card was signed "Tommy, Liverpool, January 1940", and on it were the words (quoted from W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
): "The world is love. Surely one fearless kiss would cure the million fevers".
Honours, awards and appointments
Redgrave twice (1958 and 1963) won Best Actor trophies in the Evening Standard AwardsEvening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
and twice received the Variety Club of Great Britain 'Actor of the Year' Award (in the same years).
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in 1952 and was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 1959. He was also appointed Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
in 1955.
Redgrave became the First President of the English Speaking Board in 1953, and President of the Questors Theatre
Questors Theatre
The Questors Theatre is a theatre venue located in the London Borough of Ealing, west London. It is home of The Questors, a non-professional theatre company and is a member of The Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain.-Activities:...
, Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
in 1958.
In 1966 he received an honorary DLitt
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
degree from the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
.
The Redgrave Theatre in Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, Surrey, 1974–1998, was named in his honour.
Filmography
- The Lady VanishesThe Lady Vanishes (1938 film)The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder from the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White...
(1938) - Climbing HighClimbing High-Plot:Nicky Brooke is as an aristocratic young man engaged to be married. He falls for Diana Castles , a model and makes attempts to woo her by pretending to be despite his engagement.-Cast:*Jessie Matthews as Diana Castles...
(1938) - Stolen Life (1939)
- The Stars Look DownThe Stars Look Down (film)The Stars Look Down is a 1940 British film based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title, initially published in 1935, which chronicles various injustices in a mining community in North East England. The film, co-scripted by Cronin and directed by Carol Reed, stars Michael Redgrave as Davey...
(1939) - The Big BlockadeThe Big BlockadeThe Big Blockade is a 1942 British, black-and-white, comedy-drama, propaganda film, war film, directed by Charles Frend and starring Will Hay, Ronald Shiner as the Shipping Clerk and John Mills. It was produced by Ealing Studios...
(1940) - A Window in LondonA Window in LondonA Window in London is a 1940 British thriller film directed by Herbert Mason starring Michael Redgrave, Sally Gray, Paul Lukas and Hartley Power.-Synopsis:...
(1940) - Atlantic FerryAtlantic FerryAtlantic Ferry is a 1941 British film starring Michael Redgrave and Valerie Hobson. It was made at Teddington Studios...
(1941) - KippsKipps (1941 film)Kipps, also known as The Remarkable Mr. Kipps, is a 1941 comedy film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Carol Reed...
(1941) - JeannieJeannie (film)Jeannie is a 1941 British romantic comedy film directed by Harold French.-Plot:Jeannie McLean is Scottish girl who finds that she has received an inheritance...
(1941) - Thunder RockThunder Rock (film)Thunder Rock is a 1942 British drama film with supernatural elements, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Lilli Palmer and Barbara Mullen.-Background:...
(1942) - The Way to the StarsThe Way to the StarsThe Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...
(1945) - Dead of NightDead of NightDead of Night is a British portmanteau horror film made by Ealing Studios, its various episodes directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. The film stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Michael Redgrave...
(1945) - The Captive HeartThe Captive HeartThe Captive Heart is a 1946 British war drama, directed by Basil Dearden for Ealing Studios. The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
(1946) - The Years BetweenThe Years Between (film)The Years Between is a 1946 British film starring Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson and Flora Robson in an adaptation of The Years Between by Daphne du Maurier...
(1946) - The Man WithinThe Man Within (film)The Man Within is a 1947 British, Technicolor, adventure, crime, drama film, directed by Bernard Knowles and starring Ronald Shiner as Cockney Harry, Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent, Joan Greenwood and Richard Attenborough. It was produced by Triton Films and Production Film Service. The film was also...
(1947) - Fame is the SpurFame is the Spur (film)Fame is the Spur is a 1947 British drama film directed by Roy Boulting. It stars Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bernard Miles, David Tomlinson, Maurice Denham and Kenneth Griffith. A British politician rises to power, abandoning on the way his radical views for more conservative ones...
(1947) - Mourning Becomes ElectraMourning Becomes ElectraMourning Becomes Electra is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932...
(1947) - Secret Beyond the Door...Secret Beyond the Door...Secret Beyond the Door... is a psychological thriller and modern updating of the Bluebeard fairytale, directed by Fritz Lang, produced by Lang's Diana Productions, and released by Universal Pictures. The film starred Joan Bennett and was produced by her husband Walter Wanger...
(1948) - The Browning VersionThe Browning Version (1951 film)The Browning Version is a 1951 British film based on the 1948 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and starred Michael Redgrave.-Plot:...
(1951) - The Magic BoxThe Magic BoxThe Magic Box is a fictional magic shop in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. It is located in Sunnydale and was last owned and operated by Rupert Giles, and served as the primary headquarters of the Scooby Gang for seasons five and six.-Ownership history:The shop went...
(1951) - The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest (1952 film)The Importance of Being Earnest is a British film adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, who also adapted the screenplay, and was produced by Teddy Baird.-Adaptation:...
(1952) - The Green ScarfThe Green ScarfThe Green Scarf is a 1954 British mystery film directed by George More O'Ferrall and starring Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, Leo Genn, Kieron Moore, Richard O'Sullivan and Michael Medwin. A man is accused of a seemingly motiveless murder...
(1954) - The Sea Shall Not Have ThemThe Sea Shall Not Have ThemThe Sea Shall Not Have Them is a 1954 British war film starring Michael Redgrave, Dirk Bogarde and Anthony Steel. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and is based on the 1953 novel by John Harris, set during the Second World War. Musical soundtrack by composer Malcolm Arnold.A British aircraft is...
(1954) - The Night My Number Came UpThe Night My Number Came UpThe Night My Number Came Up is a film, directed by Les Norman at Ealing Studios. The screenplay was written by R. C. Sherriff based on a real incident in the life of British Air Marshal Sir Victor Goddard.-Plot summary:...
(1955) - Mr. ArkadinMr. ArkadinMr. Arkadin is a French-Spanish-Swiss coproduction film, written and directed by Orson Welles and shot in several Spanish locations, including Segovia, Valladolid and Madrid.Its history is convoluted...
(1955) - The Dam BustersThe Dam Busters (film)The Dam Busters is a 1955 British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Wallis's...
(1955) - Oh... Rosalinda!!Oh... Rosalinda!!Oh... Rosalinda!! is a film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film stars Michael Redgrave, Mel Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, dancer Ludmilla Tchérina and Anton Walbrook and features Dennis Price....
(1955) - 19841984 (1956 film)1984 is a 1956 film based on the novel of the same name by George Orwell. This is the first cinema rendition of the story, directed by Michael Anderson, and starring Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence, Jan Sterling, and Michael Redgrave...
(1956)
- Time Without PityTime Without PityTime Without Pity is a thriller about a father trying to save his son from execution for murder.It stars Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, and Leo McKern.-Plot:David Graham has only 24 hours to save his son, Alec, from hanging...
(1957) - The Happy RoadThe Happy RoadThe Happy Road is a 1957 French-American comedy film starring Gene Kelly, Barbara Laage, Michael Redgrave and Bobby Clark. Two students escape from their Swiss private school and make for Paris....
(1957) - Behind the MaskBehind the Mask (1958 film)Behind the Mask is a 1958 British drama film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Bannen and Lionel Jeffries. It portrays the life of a surgeon in a busy hospital.-Cast:...
(1958) - The Quiet American (1958)
- Law and DisorderLaw and Disorder (1958 film)Law and Disorder is a 1958 British comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Michael Redgrave, Robert Morley, Joan Hickson, Lionel Jeffries and John Le Mesurier. It was based on the 1954 novel Smugglers' Circuit by Denys Roberts. The film was started by director Henry Cornelius who died...
(1958) - Shake Hands with the DevilShake Hands with the Devil (1959 film)Shake Hands with the Devil is a 1959 film directed by the English director Michael Anderson.It is set in 1921 Dublin, where the Irish Republican Army battles the "Black and Tans," the ex-British soldiers sent to suppress the IRA with excessively harsh measures.The film stars James Cagney as Sean...
(1959) - The Wreck of the Mary DeareThe Wreck of the Mary DeareThe Wreck of the Mary Deare is a novel written by British author Hammond Innes and later a movie starring Gary Cooper. It tells the story of the titular ship, which is found adrift at sea by John Sands. Sands boards it hoping to claim it for salvage, but finds the first officer, Gideon Patch, still...
(1959) - The Innocents (1961)
- No My Darling DaughterNo My Darling DaughterNo My Darling Daughter is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and featuring Michael Redgrave, Michael Craig, Roger Livesey, James Westmoreland, and Juliet Mills...
(1961) - The Loneliness of the Long Distance RunnerThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is a short story by Alan Sillitoe which was set in Irvine Beach, and published in 1959 as part of a short story collection of the same name. The work focuses on Colin, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a blue-collar area, who has bleak...
(1962) - Uncle VanyaUncle Vanya (1963 film)Uncle Vanya is a 1963 British film adaptation of the work Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov. The film was directed by Stuart Burge. It was a filmed version of the Chichester Festival production, directed by Laurence Olivier as Astrov,...
(1963) - The HillThe Hill (film)The Hill is a 1965 film directed by Sidney Lumet, set in a British army prison in North Africa in World War II. It stars Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Ossie Davis, Ian Hendry, Alfred Lynch, Roy Kinnear and Michael Redgrave.-Plot:...
(1965) - The Heroes of TelemarkThe Heroes of TelemarkThe Heroes of Telemark is a 1965 war film directed by Anthony Mann based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during World War II...
(1965) - Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland (1966 film)Alice in Wonderland is a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe....
(1966) - The 25th HourThe 25th Hour (1967 film)La Vingt-cinquième Heure is a 1967 war drama film, starring Anthony Quinn and Virna Lisi. It was produced by Italian producer Carlo Ponti and directed by french director Henri Verneuil. The film is based on a novel by C. Virgil Gheorghiu...
(1967) - HeidiHeidi (1968 film)Heidi was a 1968 NBC made-for-TV film version of the original 1880 novel of the same name which debuted on November 17, 1968. It starred actress Jennifer Edwards, stepdaughter of Julie Andrews and daughter of Blake Edwards, in the title role, alongside Maximillian Schell, Jean Simmons, and Michael...
(1968) (TV) - Assignment KAssignment KAssignment K is a 1968 British thriller film directed by Val Guest, and starring Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv, Michael Redgrave and Leo McKern...
(1968) - Oh! What a Lovely WarOh! What a Lovely WarOh! What a Lovely War is a musical film based on the stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop created in 1963,...
(1969) - Battle of BritainBattle of Britain (film)Battle of Britain is a 1969 Technicolor film directed by Guy Hamilton, and produced by Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz. The film broadly relates the events of the Battle of Britain...
(1969) - Goodbye, Mr. ChipsGoodbye, Mr. Chips (1969 film)Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a 1969 American musical film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Terence Rattigan is based on James Hilton's 1934 novella of the same name, which originally was adapted for the screen in 1939.-Plot:...
(1969) - David CopperfieldDavid Copperfield (1969 film)David Copperfield is a 1969 American television film directed by Delbert Mann based on the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens adapted by Jack Pulman, who later went on to adapt the Roman saga I, Claudius for BBC Television. The film was made in the UK for 20th Century Fox Television.The film...
(1969) - Goodbye GeminiGoodbye GeminiGoodbye Gemini is a 1970 thriller directed by Alan Gibson from the novel Ask Agamemnon by Jenni Hall.-Plot:Jacki and Julian Dewar, a pair of fraternal twins, arrive via bus to London; they are home from university on Spring break, and their father is in Mexico on business...
(1970) - Connecting RoomsConnecting RoomsConnecting Rooms is a 1970 British drama film written and directed by Franklin Gollings. The screenplay is based on the play The Cellist by Marion Hart....
(1970) - The Go-BetweenThe Go-Between (film)The Go-Between is Harold Pinter's 1970 film adaptation of the novel by L. P. Hartley. A British production directed by Joseph Losey, it stars Dominic Guard , Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Michael Redgrave, Michael Gough and Edward Fox.Pinter's screenplay—his final collaboration...
(1970) - A Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol (1971 film)A Christmas Carol is an Academy Award-winning animated cartoon adaptation of Charles Dickens' venerable 1843 novella which was a made-for-television production originally broadcast on ABC in the United States.-Cast and characters:...
(1971), narration - Nicholas and AlexandraNicholas and AlexandraNicholas and Alexandra is a 1971 biographical film which tells the story of the last Russian monarch, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra....
(1971) - The Last TargetThe Last TargetThe Last Target is a 1972 British thriller film starring Michael Redgrave. It is one of his last films....
(1972) - Rime of the Ancient MarinerRime of the Ancient Mariner (1975 film)Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a 1975 film by director Raúl daSilva. It is a photoanimated-live action visualization of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem of the same name, featuring a direct reading given by renowned British actor Sir Michael Redgrave...
(1975), narration
Writings
Redgrave wrote four books:- The Actor's Ways and Means Heinemann (1953)
- Mask or Face: Reflections in an Actor's Mirror Heinemann (1958)
- The Mountebank's Tale Heinemann (1959)
- In My Mind's I: An Actor's Autobiography Viking (1983) ISBN 0670142336
His plays include The Seventh Man and Circus Boy, both performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1935, and his adaptations of A Woman in Love (Amourese) at the Embassy Theatre in 1949 and the Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
novella The Aspern Papers at the Queen's Theatre in 1959.
Further reading
- Who's Who in the Theatre 17th edition, Gale (1981) ISBN 0810302157
- Theatre RecordTheatre RecordTheatre Record is a periodical that reprints reviews, production photographs, and other information about the British theatre.-Overview:Founded by Ian Herbert and published fortnightly since January 1981, Theatre Record is printed and published in England every two weeks.It reprints unabridged all...
and its annual Indexes - The Great Stage Stars by Sheridan Morley, Angus & Robertson (1986) ISBN 0207149704