SIR MICHAEL REDGRAVE
Name: Michael Scudamore Redgrave
Born: 20 March 1908 Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
Died: 21 March 1985 Buckinghamshire, England
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave (March 20, 1908 - March 21, 1985) was an
English actor.
Redgrave was born in Bristol, 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 remarried Captain James Anderson, a wealthy tea planter, but he hated his
stepfather.
He studied at Clifton College and graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge.
He was briefly a schoolmaster at Cranleigh School in Surrey before becoming an
actor in 1934. The Redgrave Room at the school was later named after him.
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 (1943), and in the ventriloquist's
dummy episode of the Ealing compendium film Dead of Night (1945).
Redgrave's first American film role was opposite Rosalind Russell in Mourning
Becomes Electra (1947), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for
Best Actor. In the 1950s, he starred in the films The Browning Version (1951),
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), The Dambusters (1954), and 1984 (1956).
Throughout his career, he acted on the stage in Britain, often with his wife
Rachel Kempson. One of his most notable roles was as the title character in
Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in 1962. Harold Pinter has said of this: "I now know that
it was one of the great performances of all time that anyone has ever given on
the stage". He also excelled in Shakespearean roles like Hamlet, Macbeth, Mark
Antony and Prospero. He played Claudius opposite the Hamlet of Peter O'Toole in
1962 in the inaugural production of the Royal National Theatre.
His play The Aspern Papers, based on the novella by Henry James, was
successfully staged on Broadway in 1962, with Wendy Hiller and Maurice Evans.
The 1984 revival in London's West End featured his daughter, Vanessa Redgrave,
along with Christopher Reeve and Dame Wendy Hiller, this time in the role of
Miss Bordereau.
Redgrave was married to the actress Rachel Kempson for fifty years from 1935
until his death. Their children Vanessa, Corin and Lynn Redgrave, and their
grandchildren - Natasha and Joely Richardson; Jemma and Luke Redgrave; and Carlo
Nero - are all involved in film making (all as actors except Luke Redgrave).
Redgrave and his family lived in "Bedford House" on Chiswick Mall from 1945 to
1954.
Redgrave was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in
1952. He was knighted in 1959. He died in a Denham nursing home from Parkinson's
disease in 1985, the day following his 77th birthday.
He wrote four books:
The Actor's Ways and Means
Mask or Face
The Mountebank Tale
In My Mind's I
The Redgrave Theatre in Farnham is named in honour of Sir Michael Redgrave.
Name: Michael Scudamore Redgrave
Born: 20 March 1908 Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
Died: 21 March 1985 Buckinghamshire, England
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave (March 20, 1908 - March 21, 1985) was an
English actor.
Redgrave was born in Bristol, 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 remarried Captain James Anderson, a wealthy tea planter, but he hated his
stepfather.
He studied at Clifton College and graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge.
He was briefly a schoolmaster at Cranleigh School in Surrey before becoming an
actor in 1934. The Redgrave Room at the school was later named after him.
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 (1943), and in the ventriloquist's
dummy episode of the Ealing compendium film Dead of Night (1945).
Redgrave's first American film role was opposite Rosalind Russell in Mourning
Becomes Electra (1947), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for
Best Actor. In the 1950s, he starred in the films The Browning Version (1951),
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), The Dambusters (1954), and 1984 (1956).
Throughout his career, he acted on the stage in Britain, often with his wife
Rachel Kempson. One of his most notable roles was as the title character in
Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in 1962. Harold Pinter has said of this: "I now know that
it was one of the great performances of all time that anyone has ever given on
the stage". He also excelled in Shakespearean roles like Hamlet, Macbeth, Mark
Antony and Prospero. He played Claudius opposite the Hamlet of Peter O'Toole in
1962 in the inaugural production of the Royal National Theatre.
His play The Aspern Papers, based on the novella by Henry James, was
successfully staged on Broadway in 1962, with Wendy Hiller and Maurice Evans.
The 1984 revival in London's West End featured his daughter, Vanessa Redgrave,
along with Christopher Reeve and Dame Wendy Hiller, this time in the role of
Miss Bordereau.
Redgrave was married to the actress Rachel Kempson for fifty years from 1935
until his death. Their children Vanessa, Corin and Lynn Redgrave, and their
grandchildren - Natasha and Joely Richardson; Jemma and Luke Redgrave; and Carlo
Nero - are all involved in film making (all as actors except Luke Redgrave).
Redgrave and his family lived in "Bedford House" on Chiswick Mall from 1945 to
1954.
Redgrave was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in
1952. He was knighted in 1959. He died in a Denham nursing home from Parkinson's
disease in 1985, the day following his 77th birthday.
He wrote four books:
The Actor's Ways and Means
Mask or Face
The Mountebank Tale
In My Mind's I
The Redgrave Theatre in Farnham is named in honour of Sir Michael Redgrave.