Sir Michael Redgrave


(1908-1985)

Books | Dvds | Videos
Dam Busters | Heroes of Telemark
Oh! What a Lovely War

Date of birth (location): 20 March 1908 Bristol, UK
Date of death (details): 21 March 1985, Denham, Bucks, UK. (Parkinson's disease)

The son of British actor Roy Redgrave, Michael Redgrave attended Clifton College and Cambridge University. While teaching high school, Redgrave became involved with amateur theatricals. A professional by 1934, Redgrave made his London debut in Love's Labours Lost in 1936, and that same year appeared in an uncredited role in his first film, Hitchcock's The Secret Agent (1936).

It was thanks to his leading role in another Hitchcock effort, The Lady Vanishes (1938), that Redgrave achieved stardom.


Michael Redgrave, Hamlet, 1950
He was excellent in several starring vehicles of the 1940s, and at his very best in his 20-minute turn as a paranoid ventriloquist in Dead of Night (1946). An attempt to become a Hollywood star via Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) was scuttled due to the film's poor box office take, though Redgrave did earn an Oscar nomination for his performance.

After starring in The Dam Busters, Britain's most popular 1955 movie release, Redgrave settled into film character roles, continuing all the while to headline on stage.

He also wrote and directed several theatrical productions throughout his career, and was the author of four books: the instructional The Actor's Ways and Means, the novel The Mountebank's Tale, and two autobiographies.

In 1959, Redgrave was knighted for his achievements in his chosen field. Long married to actress Rachel Kempson, who died in 2003, Michael Redgrave was the father of actors Vanessa, Corin and Lynn Redgrave; and the grandfather of actresses Jemma Redgrave, Natasha and Joely Richardson.

Throughout his life he wrestled with his bi-sexuality in a time where society wasn't really forgiving of anything other than hetrosexuality. It was something he could not deny or kill as he admits in his autobiography. The affairs led to arguments and fights with his long suffering wife.

He died in 1985, a cruel, painful death, ravaged by Parkinson's disease. But his memory lingers on and is a bright star in British stage and cinema history.

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    michael redgrave dvds




    michael redgrave videos





    michael redgrave

    books | dvds | videos

    john gielgud | alec guinness | margaret lockwood | john mills | richard todd
    laurence olivier | clark gable | vivien leigh | john ford | alfred hitchcock | robert montgomery | grace kelly | conrad veidt
    olivia de havilland | humphrey bogart | howard hawks | frank capra | charlie chaplin | lauren bacall | fritz lang
    jean harlow | greta garbo | ava gardner | audrey hepburn | edward g. robinson | john garfield
    erich von stroheim | wim wenders | john ford | marlene dietrich | rita hayworth




    Page created by: lenin@netcomuk.co.uk
    Changes last made: 2004