Michael Redgrave

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English actor and filmmaker. Beginning his career in theatre, he first appeared in the West End in 1937. He made his film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes in 1938. He and his contemporaries John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson made up a quartet of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century.

Redgrave received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), as well as two BAFTA nominations for Best British Actor for his performances in The Night My Number Came Up (1955) and Time Without Pity (1957).

At the 4th Cannes Film Festival, he won Best Actor for his performance in The Browning Version (1951).

Youth and education Redgrave was born in Bristol, England, the son of actress Margaret Scudamore and the silent film actor Roy Redgrave. Roy left when Redgrave was six months old to pursue a career in Australia. He died when Redgrave was 14. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter. Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather.

Redgrave attended Clifton College in Bristol. Clifton College Theatre was opened in 1966 by Redgrave as the first purpose-built school theatre in the country. After his death, the building was renamed The Redgrave Theatre in his honour.

Upon leaving Clifton, Redgrave went on to study the modern languages and English triposes at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Under the direction of Dadie Rylands, he garnered great acclaim for his starring roles on the Cambridge stage as Edgar, Prince Hal and Captain Brassbound. Alongside the art historian Anthony Blunt and schoolfriend Robin Fedden, Redgrave also edited an avant-garde literary magazine called The Venture, which published work by Louis MacNeice, Julian Bell and John Lehmann. He graduated with a third-class degree in 1931.

Redgrave taught modern languages at Cranleigh School in Surrey for three years before becoming an actor in 1934. He directed the boys in Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest, but played all the leading roles himself.

Theatre career Redgrave made his first professional appearance at the Playhouse in Liverpool on 30 August 1934 as Roy Darwin in Counsellor-at-Law (by Elmer Rice). He then spent two years with the Liverpool Repertory Company; while there, he met his future wife, Rachel Kempson.

1930s Offered a job by Tyrone Guthrie, Redgrave made his professional debut in London at the Old Vic on 14 September 1936, playing Ferdinand in Love's Labours Lost. During 1936–37 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." 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 Gribaud.

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 Prince's Theatre in November 1953, before touring in the Netherlands, Belgium and Paris.

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 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.

1970s At the Mermaid Theatre 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."

Film and television career

Redgrave first appeared on BBC television at the Alexandra Palace in 1937, in scenes from Romeo and Juliet. His first major film role was in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), which included a scene where he hummed the "Colonel Bogey March" in what was the first appearance of the tune in film. Ted Black put him under contract at Gainsborough.

Redgrave also starred in The Stars Look Down (1940), 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).

In 1946, the Motion Picture Herald annual poll of British film exhibitors showed that Redgrave was ranked in fourth place on a list of the most popular British stars at the box office.

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".

In 1951, the Motion Picture Herald annual poll of British film exhibitors showed that Redgrave was ranked in ninth place on a list of the most popular British stars at the box office.

The 1950s also saw Redgrave in The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), The Dambusters (1954) with his portrayal of the inventor Barnes Wallis, 1984 (1956), Time Without Pity (1957), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award, and The Quiet American (1958). During the 1960s he was featured in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner , and in the 1970s he starred opposite Bette Davis in Connecting Rooms (1970) and played Sergey Sazonov in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) .

Notable television performances include narration for The Great War (1964), a history of World War I 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." In 1970 he played Polonius in an ITV production of Hamlet that was broadcast in the United States as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special , and in 1973 he played a supporting role in David Winters' musical television film adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring Kirk Douglas.

In 1975, Redgrave narrated the epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (a poem that Redgrave taught as a young schoolmaster). The film received six international film festival prizes, of which five were first place in category.

Sound recordings Redgrave can be heard on Caedmon Records' The Merchant of Venice (as Shylock), The Tempest (as Prospero), Pygmalion (as Henry Higgins), The Poetry of Alexander Pope, Samson Agonistes, Gulliver's Travels, and Tales of Hans Christian Andersen . He also played the title roles in abridged versions of Hamlet , Macbeth , and Richard II for the Living Shakespeare series.

Personal life

Family

Redgrave married actress Rachel Kempson in 1935. They remained married 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 Richardson (1963–2009), Joely Richardson (b. 1965) and Jemma Redgrave (b. 1965) have also been involved in theatre and film as actors. Their grandson Carlo Gabriel Nero is a screenwriter and film director; only Luke Redgrave has taken a path outside the theatre.

His daughter Lynn wrote a one-woman play for herself called Shakespeare for My Father. She was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award for this role. 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.

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 long pause, "I am, to say the least of it, bisexual". Corin encouraged him to acknowledge his bisexuality in the book. Redgrave agreed to do so, but in the end he chose to remain silent about it. Although Redgrave had some long-term relationships with men, he also was prone to cruising Victoria or Knightsbridge for what he called "a necessary degradation", a habit of quick pick-ups that left him with a lasting sense of self-disgust.

The 1996 BBC documentary film Michael Redgrave: My Father, narrated by Corin Redgrave, and based on his book of the same name, discusses his father'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 did not 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 (1947), Redgrave met Bob Mitchell, and they soon became lovers. Mitchell 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. Mitchell later had children of his own, including a son he named Michael. Fred Sadoff was an actor/director who became Redgrave's assistant and lover; they shared lodgings in New York and London.

Illness and death In 1976, after suffering symptoms for many years, Redgrave was diagnosed with rapidly advancing Parkinson's disease. He began a regimen of therapies and medications that caused disorientation and other side effects. Costs for his healthcare expenses and his diminished earning power caused the family to apply for public assistance from the King George's Pension Fund for Actors and Actresses. In an interview on his 70th birthday, he said: "For a long time, nobody understood the Parkinson's condition, and directors thought I was just forgetful or drunk – and even now the work isn't easy. The difficulty is not just remembering lines but getting from place to place."

Awards and honors In 1951, Redgrave received the Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival) for The Browning Version. He won Best Actor trophies at the 1958 and 1963 Evening Standard Awards and received the Variety Club of Great Britain 'Actor of the Year' award in the same years.

Redgrave was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen in 1952 and knighted in 1959. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog by Denmark in 1955.

The Redgrave Theatre in Farnham, Surrey, 1974–1998, was named in his honour.

In 1986, he was inducted posthumously into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Writings Redgrave wrote five books: Water Music for a Botanist W. Heffer, Cambridge (1929) Poem 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)

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.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1938 The Lady Vanishes Gilbert First major role Climbing High Nicky Brooke 1939 Stolen Life Alan MacKenzie 1940 The Stars Look Down Davey Fenwick A Window in London Peter Released as Lady in Distress in USA 1941 Kipps Kipps Released as The Remarkable Mr. Kipps in USA Atlantic Ferry Charles MacIver Jeannie Stanley Smith 1942 The Big Blockade Russian Thunder Rock David Charleston 1945 The Way to the Stars David Archdale Released as Johnny in the Clouds in USA Dead of Night Maxwell Frere 1946 The Captive Heart Captain Karel Hasek The Years Between Michael Wentworth 1947 The Man Within Richard Carlyon Released as The Smugglers in the USA Fame Is the Spur Hamer Radshaw Mourning Becomes Electra Orin Mannon Secret Beyond the Door... Mark Lamphere 1951 The Browning Version Andrew Crocker-Harris The Magic Box Mr Lege 1952 The Importance of Being Earnest Jack/Ernest Worthing 1954 The Green Scarf Maitre Deliot The Sea Shall Not Have Them Air Commodore Waltby 1955 The Night My Number Came Up Air Marshal Hardie The Dam Busters Barnes Wallis Mr. Arkadin Burgomil Trebitsch Oh... Rosalinda!! Colonel Eisenstein 1956 1984 O'Connor (O'Brien) 1957 Time Without Pity David Graham The Happy Road General Medworth 1958 The Quiet American Thomas Fowler Law and Disorder Percy Brand Behind the Mask Sir Arthur Benson Gray 1959 Shake Hands with the Devil The General The Wreck of the Mary Deare Mr Nyland 1961 No My Darling Daughter Sir Matthew Carr The Innocents The Uncle 1962 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Ruxton Towers Reformatory Governor 1963 Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya 1965Young Cassidy W. B. Yeats The Hill The Medical Officer (credited as Sir Michael Redgrave) The Heroes of Telemark Uncle 1966 Alice in Wonderland Caterpillar (credited as Sir Michael Redgrave) 1967 The 25th Hour Defence lawyer 1968 Assignment K Harris Heidi Grandfather TV movie 1969 Oh! What a Lovely War General Sir Henry Wilson Battle of Britain Air Vice Marshal Evill Goodbye, Mr. Chips The Headmaster 1970 David Copperfield Dan Peggotty TV movie Connecting Rooms James Wallraven Goodbye Gemini James Harrington-Smith 1971 The Go-Between Leo Colston A Christmas Carol Narrator Voice Nicholas and Alexandra Sazonov 1972 The Last Target Erik Fritsch 1975 Rime of the Ancient Mariner The Ancient Mariner narration, (final film role)

Radio appearances Year Programme Episode/source 1948 CBS's Studio One The Return of the Native 1952/3 Horatio Hornblower 48 Episodes in the title role on CBS 1952 Theatre Guild on the Air The Unguarded Hour 1953 Theatre Guild on the Air Jane

Theatre

Year Title Role Director Playwright(s) Theatre 1936 Love's Labours Lost Ferdinand William Shakespeare Old Vic Theatre, London 1936-37 The Witch of Edmonton Warbeck Saint Denis Thomas Dekker Old Vic Theatre, London 1936-37 As You Like It Orlando Ejme Church William Shakespeare Old Vic Theatre, London 1936-37 The Country Wife Mr Horner Tyrone Gathrie William Wycherley Old Vic Theatre, London 1937 The Bat Anderson Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood Embassy Theatre A Ship Comes Home Christopher Drew Daisy Fisher St Martins Theatre 1938 The White Guard Alexi Turbin Mikhail Bulgakov Phoenix Theatre Twelfth Night Sir Andrew Agnechek William Shakespeare Phoenix Theatre 1939 The Family Reunion Harry, Lord Monchesney T. S. Eliot Westminster Theatre 1940 The Beggar's Opera Captain Macheath John Gay Theatre Royal, Haymarket 1943 A Month in the Country Rakitin Ivan Turgenev St James' Theatre 1947 Macbeth Macbeth William Shakespeare Aldwych Theatre 1958 A Touch of the Sun Philip Lester N. C. Hunter Saville Theatre 1959 The Aspern Papers H.J Henry James Queen's Theatre, London 1960 The Tiger and the Horse Jack Dean Frith Banbury Robert Bolt Queen's Theatre, London 1961 The Complaisant Lover Victor Rhodes Graham Greene Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York 1962 Out of Bounds Launcelot Dodd MA Arthur Watkyn Wyndham's Theatre 1962-63 Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya Laurence Olivier Anton Chekhov Chichester Festival Theatre 1963 Hamlet King Claudius Laurence Olivier William Shakespeare National Theatre 1964 Hobson's Choice Henry Horatio Hobson Harold Brighouse National Theatre 1971 The Old Boys Mr Jaraby William Trevor Mermaid Theatre A Voyage Round My Father Father John Mortimer Theatre Royal, Haymarket 1979 Close of Play JasperHarold Pinter Simon Gray National Theatre