Tall, distinguished star of the English stage and screen, and a stellar member of the generation of British actors which included Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud. A versatile, sensitive and polished actor, Redgrave made a superb screen debut as the musician hero of the classic Hitchcock thriller, "The Lady Vanishes" (1938). He demonstrated a fine talent for comedy, as in Anthony Asquith's "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1952), as well as playing suffering but reserved, upper-class characters in films such as "The Browning Version" (1951; one of his greatest performances) and "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" (1962). The edgy, nervous tension which Redgrave brought to such characters made him memorable as well in the classic horror anthology "Dead of Night" (1945), as a ventriloquist driven crazy by his dummy.
Redgrave was knighted in 1959 for his services to the theater. He also authored two plays and several books, including his autobiography, "Face or Mask" (1958) and was the father, by his wife (and frequent stage co-star) Rachel Kempson, of actors Vanessa, Corin and Lynn Redgrave. He died of Parkinson's disease at the age of 77.
Family
GRANDFATHER: Cornelius Redgrave.
FATHER: Roy Redgrave. Actor. Born in 1873; had been previously wed and had four children before his marriage to Daisy Scudamore; abandoned Daisy and their son and moved to Australia where he died on May 25, 1922.
MOTHER: Daisy Scudamore. Actor. Died in 1958.
STEP-FATHER: J P Anderson. Made fortune working for Ceylon and Eastern Agency; died c. 1947.
HALF-SISTER: Peggy Anderson.
DAUGHTER: Vanessa Redgrave. Actor. Born on January 30, 1937.
SON: Corin Redgrave. Actor. Born on July 16, 1939.
DAUGHTER: Lynn Redgrave. Actor. Born on March 8, 1943.
GRANDDAUGHTER: Natasha Richardson. Actor. Born on May 13, 1963; daughter of Vanessa and Tony Richardson.
GRANDDAUGHTER: Joely Richardson. Actor. Born on January 9, 1965; daughter of Vanessa and Tony Richardson.
GRANDDAUGHTER: Jemma Redgrave. Actor. Born in 1965 daughter of Corin Redgrave and Diedre Hamilton-Hill.
GRANDSON: Luke Redgrave. Cameraman. Born in 1967; son of Corin Redgrave and Diedre Hamilton-Hill.
GRANDSON: Carlo Nero. Director. Born in 1969; son of Vanessa and Carlo Nero.
GRANDDAUGHTER: Kelly Clark. Actor. Born c. 1970; daughter of Lynn Redgrave and John Clark.
Companion
WIFE: Rachel Kempson. Actor. Married from July 18, 1935 until his death.
COMPANION: Noel Coward. Playwright, actor. Had relationship in the late 1930s.
COMPANION: Edith Evans. Actor. Had relationship in the late 1930s.
Milestone
1921: Amateur acting debut in a walk-on part in "Henry IV, Part 2" at Stratford-on-Avon
While at Cambridge, acted in and occasionally directed plays
1934: Professional acting debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in "Counsellor at Law"
1936: Joined the Old Vic in the fall; debuted there in "Love's Labour's Lost"
1938: First credited film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes"
1939: Co-starred in "Stolen Life"
1941: Had title role in the Carol Reed directed, "Kipps"
1941: Played opposite wife Rachel Kempson in "Jeannie"
1945: Starred in London production of "Jacobowsky and the Colonel"
1945: Played a ventriloquist driven mad by his dummy in "Dead of Night"
1946: Second screen teaming with wife in "The Captive Heart"
1947: Earned Best Actor Oscar nomination as Orin Mannon in the film adapation of Eugene O'Neill's "Mourning Becomes Electra"; film not released in Great Britain until 1952
1948: Broadway debut in "Macbeth"
1948: Acted in Fritz Lang's "Secret Beyond the Door"
1951: Won particular praise for his turn as a schoolteacher in "The Browning Version"
1952: Played Jack Worthing in the screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest"
1954: Acted opposite Rachel Kempson as husband and wife in "The Sea Shall Not Have Them"
1955: Reprised London role in "Tiger at the Gates" on Broadway; earned Tony nomination
1956: Appeared in the film version of George Orwell's "1984"
1957: US TV debut in the title role of "Ruggles of Red Gap"
1958: Co-starred with daughter Vanessa in the London production of "A Touch of the Sun"
1958: Had title role in "Hamlet" at the Moscow Art Theatre
1958: Played lead in "Behind the Mask"
1959: Starred in and wrote the play "The Aspern Papers"
1962: Directed by then son-in-law Tony Richardson in "The Lonliness of the Long-Distance Runner"
1962: Enjoyed a stage triumph as Vanya in the Chichester Festival production of "Uncle Vanya"
1967: Starred in the ABC biographical drama "Mr. Dickens of London"
1968: Portrayed Prospero in a BBC production of "The Tempest"
1968: Cast as the grandfather in "Heidi" (NBC)
1969: Played the school headmaster in the musical remake of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"
1971: Appeared as the older version of Dominic Guard's character Leo in "The Go-Between"
1979: Final theatre appearance as Jasper in Simon Gray's "Close of Play"; directed by Harold Pinter
Education
Clifton College - Bristol, England
University of Cambridge - Cambridge, England - 1927 - Enrolled Magdalene College at Cambridge
Bibliography
"An Actor's Ways and Means" Michael Redgrave 1953
"Face or Mask" Michael Redgrave 1958
"The Mountebank's Tale" Michael Redgrave 1959
"In My Mind's Eye: An Autobiography" Michael Redgrave 1983
In March 2000, the Redgrave family turned over Sir Michael's archive to the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden.
Lynn Redgrave's autobiographical book, "This Is Living" (Dutton, 1991) traced her eating problems to her father's bisexuality which she learned of as an adult.
After his death, Michael Redgrave was cremated. As his son Corin recounted in "Michael Redgrave: My Father", his ashes were left at the crematorium for some eight years. Corin then retrieved them and angered his sister Lynn by keeping them in his car.
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