Vanessa Redgrave was born on 30 January 1937 inBlackheath, London,[3] the daughter of actors SirMichael Redgrave andRachel Kempson.[4]Laurence Olivier announced her birth to the audience at a performance ofHamlet at theOld Vic, when he said thatLaertes (played by Sir Michael) had a daughter. Accounts say Olivier announced, "A great actress has been born this night."
In the filmJulia (1977), she starred in the title role as a woman murdered by theNazi German regime in the years prior to World War II for heranti-Fascist activism. Her co-star in the film wasJane Fonda (playing writerLillian Hellman). In her 2005 autobiography, Fonda wrote that:
…There is a quality about Vanessa that makes me feel as if she resides in a netherworld of mystery that eludes the rest of us mortals. Her voice seems to come from some deep place that knows all suffering and all secrets. Watching her work is like seeing through layers of glass, each layer painted in mythic watercolour images, layer after layer, until it becomes dark, but even then you know you haven't come to the bottom of it ... The only other time I had experienced this with an actor was with Marlon Brando ... Like Vanessa, he always seemed to be in another reality, working off some secret, magnetic, inner rhythm.[9]
This film opened in 1977, the same year she produced and appeared in the filmThe Palestinian, which followed the activities of thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon.[10][11] The film was criticised by manyJewish groups for its perceived slant on Israel's occupation,[13][14] and members of theJewish Defense League (JDL) picketed Redgrave's nomination outside the Academy Awards ceremony while counter-protestors waved PLO flags.[12] Redgrave won the Oscar and inher acceptance speech, she thanked Hollywood for having "refused to be intimidated by the threats of a small bunch ofZionist hoodlums – whose behaviour is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and to their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression".[15] Her remarks received an on-stage response later in the ceremony from Academy Award–winning screenwriterPaddy Chayefsky, that year's award presenter[12] and sparked controversy. In his biography of Redgrave, Dan Callahan wrote, "The scandal of her awards speech and the negative press it occasioned had a destructive effect on her acting opportunities that would last for years to come".[16]
Later film roles include those ofAgatha Christie inAgatha (1979), Helen inYanks (1979), a Holocaust survivor inPlaying for Time (1980), Leenie Cabrezi inMy Body, My Child (1982), The Queen inSing, Sing (1983), suffragist Olive Chancellor inThe Bostonians (1984, a fourth Best Actress Academy Award nomination), transsexual tennis playerRenée Richards inSecond Serve (1986), Blanche Hudson in the television remake ofWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1991), Mrs. Wilcox inHowards End (1992, her sixth Academy Award nomination, this time in a supporting role); arms dealer Max inMission: Impossible (1996, when discussing the role of Max,Brian DePalma andTom Cruise thought it would be fun to cast an actor like Redgrave; they then decided to go with the real thing);Oscar Wilde's mother inWilde (1997); Clarissa Dalloway inMrs Dalloway (1997); and Dr. Sonia Wick inGirl, Interrupted (1999). Many of these roles and others garnered her widespread accolades.
Her performance as a lesbian mourning the loss of her longtime partner in the HBO seriesIf These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) earned her aGolden Globe for Best TV Series Supporting Actress, as well as earning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a TV Film or Miniseries. This same performance also led to an Excellence in Media Award from theGay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). In 2004, Redgrave joined the second-season cast of theFX seriesNip/Tuck, portrayingDr. Erica Noughton, the mother of Julia McNamara, who was played by her real-life daughterJoely Richardson. She also made appearances in the third and sixth seasons. In 2006, Redgrave starred oppositePeter O'Toole in the filmVenus. A year later, Redgrave starred inEvening andAtonement, in which she received aBroadcast Film Critics Association award nomination for a performance that took up only seven minutes of screen time.
Redgrave in 1994.
In 2008, Redgrave appeared as a narrator in an Arts Alliance production,id – Identity of the Soul. In 2009, Redgrave starred in theBBC remake ofThe Day of the Triffids, with her daughter Joely. In the midst of losing her daughter, Natasha Richardson, Redgrave signed on to playEleanor of Aquitaine inRidley Scott's version ofRobin Hood (2010), which began filming shortly after Natasha's death. Redgrave later withdrew from the film for personal reasons. The part was given to herEvening co-starEileen Atkins.[17] She was next seen inLetters to Juliet opposite her husbandFranco Nero.
In 2017, at the age of 80, Redgrave made her directorial debut with the feature documentarySea Sorrow, which covers the plight of child migrants in theCalaisrefugee camps and the broaderEuropean migrant crisis. It premiered at the2017 Cannes Film Festival.[19] Critics praised the documentary's message but criticised the structure for a "scattershot lack of focus" and the "ungainliness of its production values."[20][21]
In June 2024,principal photography was completed onThe Estate, a feature drama, executive produced by Redgrave, her husbandFranco Nero, and sonCarlo Gabriel Nero. The film is written and directed by her son, and stars Redgrave and Franco Nero.[22]The Estate will premiere in November, 2025 at the 43rdTorino Film Festival, where Redgrave will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.[23]
In 2013, Redgrave starred alongsideJesse Eisenberg in Eisenberg'sThe Revisionist. The New York production ran from 15 February to 27 April. Redgrave played a Polish holocaust survivor in the play.[29][30] In September 2013, Redgrave once again starred oppositeJames Earl Jones in a production ofMuch Ado About Nothing atThe Old Vic, London, directed byMark Rylance.[31]
In February 2022, it was confirmed that she would be playing Mrs Higgins inMy Fair Lady at theLondon Coliseum from May to August 2022.[33]
In a poll of "industry experts" and readers conducted byThe Stage in 2010, Redgrave was ranked as the ninth greatest stage actor/actress of all time.[34]
Redgrave was married to film and theatre directorTony Richardson from 1962 to 1967; the couple had two daughters: actressesNatasha Richardson (1963–2009), andJoely Richardson (b. 1965). In 1967, the year Redgrave divorced Richardson, who left her for the French actressJeanne Moreau, she became romantically involved with Italian actorFranco Nero when they met on the set ofCamelot. In 1969, they had a son,Carlo Gabriel Redgrave Sparanero (known professionally as Carlo Gabriel Nero), a screenwriter and director. From 1971 to 1986, she had a long-term relationship with actorTimothy Dalton, with whom she had appeared in the filmMary, Queen of Scots (1971).[35] Redgrave later reunited with Franco Nero, and they married on 31 December 2006. Carlo Nero directed Redgrave inThe Fever (2004), a film adaptation of theWallace Shawn play.[36] Redgrave has six grandchildren.
Within 14 months in 2009 and 2010, Redgrave lost both a daughter and her two younger siblings. Her daughter Natasha Richardson died on 18 March 2009 from atraumatic brain injury caused by a skiing accident.[37] On 6 April 2010, her brother,Corin Redgrave, died, and on 2 May 2010, her sister,Lynn Redgrave, died.
Redgrave had a near-fatalheart attack in April 2015.[38] In September 2015, she revealed that her lungs are working at only 30 per cent capacity due toemphysema caused by years of smoking.[39]
Redgrave has described herself as a person offaith and said that she "sometimes" attends aCatholic church.[40]
In 1961, Vanessa Redgrave was an active member of theCommittee of 100 and its working group. Redgrave and her brother Corin joined theWorkers Revolutionary Party (WRP) in the 1970s.[41] She ran for parliament several times as a party member but never received more than a few hundred votes.[42] The party disbanded in 1985 amid allegations that chairmanGerry Healy was implicated in sexual abuse of female supporters.
On 17 March 1968, Redgrave participated in the anti-Vietnam War protest outside United States Embassy inGrosvenor Square. She was allowed to enter the embassy to deliver a protest.[43]
Redgrave used her wage fromMary, Queen of Scots to build a nursery school, near her home in west London. She donated the school to the state.[11]
After the1973 Old Bailey bombing, Redgrave volunteered to post bond for the defendants and offered up her own house in West Hampstead, should any of them need a place to stay. None of the defendants were released from custody to take her up on her offer.[44]
In 1977, Redgrave produced and starred in a controversial[14] documentary film,The Palestinian, about the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).[45] She funded the documentary by selling her house.[11] The pro-IsraelAnti-Defamation League's honorary chairman criticised the film, saying that some of the responses of the people she interviews were not translated from Arabic, that the film showed children training with guns and that the phrase, "Kill the enemy!" kept being repeated.[14] The president of Actors Equity in the United States said he had seen a transcript of the film's interview with the chairman of the PLO,Yasser Arafat, in which Arafat said that the only solution to the Middle East problem is the liquidation of theState of Israel, and Redgrave responded with, "Certainly".[46] In June 1978, at one theatre showing the film, a bomb exploded, causing damage to property, but screening of the film resumed the following day.[46] Two months later, aJewish Defense League member was convicted of the bombing and sentenced to a three-month "thorough psychological examination" with the California Youth Authority.[47] In a 2018 interview, Redgrave stood by her acceptance speech (which included the "Zionist hoodlums" remark) during the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony.[48]
In 1977, Redgrave offered a resolution asking the British actors union to boycott Israel, allegedly including the selling of any taped material. The resolution was reportedly not brought to a vote.[46]
In 1980, Redgrave made her American TV debut asconcentration camp survivorFania Fénelon in theArthur Miller-scripted TV moviePlaying for Time, a part for which she won anEmmy as Outstanding Lead Actress in 1981. The decision to cast Redgrave as Fénelon was, however, a source of controversy. In light of Redgrave's support for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),[49] Fénelon herself and the Jewish groups theSimon Wiesenthal Center, theAnti-Defamation League, and theAmerican Jewish Congress objected to Redgrave's casting. RabbiMarvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote in a telegram that, "Your selection shows utter callous disregard of the tens of thousands of survivors for whom Miss Redgrave's portrayal would desecrate the memory of the martyred millions. Your decision could only be compared to selectingJ. Edgar Hoover to portrayMartin Luther King Jr." ProducerDavid L. Wolper, in a telephone interview, compared it to letting the head of theKu Klux Klan play a sympathetic white man inRoots, a miniseries about the slave trade.[50] Miller said "She's a Marxist; this is a political matter. Turning her down because of her ideas was unacceptable to me; after all I suffered theblacklist myself".[16]
In 1984, Redgrave sued theBoston Symphony Orchestra, claiming that the orchestra had fired her from a 1982 performance of Stravinsky'sOedipus Rex[51] because of her support of the PLO.[52]Lillian Hellman testified in court on Redgrave's behalf.[53] Redgrave won on a count ofbreach of contract, but did not win on the claim that the Boston orchestra had violated her civil rights by firing her.[53]
At a press conference, Redgrave said she feared for Zakayev's safety if he were extradited to Russia on terrorism charges. He would "die of a heart attack" or some other mysterious explanation offered by Russia, she said.[55] On 13 November 2003, a London court rejected the Russian government's request for Zakayev's extradition. Instead, the court accepted a plea by lawyers for Zakayev that he would not get a fair trial, and could even face torture, in Russia. "It would be unjust and oppressive to return Mr Zakayev to Russia", Judge Timothy Workman ruled.[56] Due to her support of Zakayev and Chechen independence, she was awarded the Order of Friendship by theChechen government in exile in 2024.[57]
Redgrave has been an outspoken critic of the "war on terrorism".[59][60] During a June 2005 interview onLarry King Live, Redgrave was challenged on this criticism and on her political views. In response she questioned whether there can be true democracy if the political leadership of the United States and Britain does not "uphold the values for which my father's generation fought theNazis, [and] millions of people gave their lives against the Soviet Union's regime. [Such sacrifice was made] because of democracy and what democracy meant: no torture, no camps, no detention forever or without trial.... [Such] techniques are not just alleged [against the governments of the U.S. and Britain], they have actually been written about by theFBI. I don't think it's being 'far left'...to uphold the rule of law."[61]
In March 2006, Redgrave remarked in an interview with US broadcast journalistAmy Goodman: "I don't know of a single government that actually abides by international human rights law, not one, including my own. In fact, [they] violate these laws in the most despicable and obscene way, I would say." Goodman's interview with Redgrave took place in the actress's West London home on the evening of 7 March, and covered a range of subjects, particularly the cancellation by theNew York Theatre Workshop of theAlan Rickman productionMy Name is Rachel Corrie. Such a development, said Redgrave, was an "act of catastrophic cowardice" as "the essence of life and the essence of theatre is to communicate about lives, either lives that have ended or lives that are still alive, [and about] beliefs, and what is in those beliefs."[62]
In June 2006, she was awarded a lifetime achievement award from theTransilvania International Film Festival, one of whose sponsors is a mining company namedGabriel Resources. She dedicated the award to a community organisation fromRoşia Montană, Romania, which is campaigning against agold mine that Gabriel Resources was seeking to build near the village. Gabriel Resources placed an "open letter" inThe Guardian on 23 June 2006, attacking Redgrave, arguing the case for the mine. The open letter was signed by 77 villagers.[63]
In December 2007, Redgrave was named as one of the possible suretors who paid the £50,000 bail forJamil al-Banna, one of three British residents arrested after landing back in the UK following four years' captivity atGuantanamo Bay. Redgrave has declined to be specific about her financial involvement but said she was "very happy" to be of "some small assistance for Jamil and his wife", adding, "It is a profound honour and I am glad to be alive to be able to do this. Guantanamo Bay is a concentration camp."[64]
In 2009, Redgrave, together with artistJulian Schnabel and playwrightMartin Sherman, opposed the cultural boycott of Israel at the Toronto Film Festival, whilst maintaining her critical stance of the Israeli government's occupation of Palestinian territory.[65][66]
In March 2014, Redgrave took part in a protest outsidePentonville Prison in North London after new prison regulations were introduced which forbade sending books to prisoners.[67] She and fellow actorSamuel West, playwrightDavid Hare andPoet LaureateCarol Ann Duffy took turns reading poetry and making speeches. Redgrave stated that the ban was "vicious and deplorable...Literature is something that stirs us beyond our immediate problems, it can help us to learn better our own problems, our own faults or to have a goal to live for, an aspiration."[68] The ban was overturned by theMinistry of Justice the following December.[69]
In 2017, Redgrave made her directorial debut with the movieSea Sorrow, a documentary about theEuropean migrant crisis and the plight of migrants encamped outsideCalais, France, trying to reach Britain.[19] She has heavily criticised the exclusionary policy of the British government towards refugees, stating that the British Government "... has violated these principles (of theDeclaration of Human Rights), and it continues to do so, which I find deeply shameful. The UN signed the Declaration of Human Rights, and now we have to employ lawyers to take the government to court to force them to obey the law. Just thinking about that makes my mind go berserk."[19]
^General Register Office."England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837–2008".FamilySearch. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved24 September 2015.Vanessa Redgrave, 1937, Greenwich, London, England; Mother's maiden name Kempson
^Micheline Steinberg (1985).Flashback, A Pictorial History 1879–1979: 100 Years of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Company. RSC Publications. p. 73.
_(cropped).jpg)
