Lynn Redgrave

Lynn Redgrave, OBE (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an English actress.

A member of the Redgrave family, Lynn trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962. By the mid-1960s she had appeared in several films, including Tom Jones (1963), and Georgy Girl (1966) which won her a New York Film Critics Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

In 1967, she made her Broadway debut, and performed in several stage productions in New York while making frequent returns to London's West End. She performed with her sister Vanessa in Three Sisters in London, and in the title role of Baby Jane Hudson in a television production of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? in 1991. She made a return to films in the late 1990s in films such as Shine (1996) and Gods and Monsters (1998), for which she received another Academy Award nomination. Redgrave is the only person to have been nominated for all of the 'Big Four' American entertainment awards (Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, and Tony) without winning any of them.

Contents 1 Early life and theatrical family 2 Career 2.1 Voice work 3 Personal life 4 Death 5 Legacy 6 Filmography 6.1 Film 6.2 Television 7 Theatre 8 Awards and nominations 9 References 10 External links

Early life and theatrical family
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Main article: Redgrave family

Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, to actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Her sister is actress Vanessa Redgrave; her brother was actor and political activist Corin Redgrave. She was the aunt of writer/director Carlo Gabriel Nero and actresses Joely Richardson, Jemma Redgrave and Natasha Richardson and the sister in law of the director Tony Richardson, the Italian actor Franco Nero and the actress Kika Markham. Her grandfather was silent screen leading man Roy Redgrave.

Career
Redgrave at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival After training in London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Redgrave made her professional debut in a 1962 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Court Theatre.[1] Following a tour of Billy Liar and repertory work in Dundee, she made her West End debut at the Haymarket, in N. C. Hunter's The Tulip Tree with Celia Johnson and John Clements.

She was invited to join The National Theatre for its inaugural season at the Old Vic, working with such directors as Laurence Olivier, Franco Zeffirelli, and Noël Coward in roles such as Rose in The Recruiting Officer, Barblin in Andorra, Jackie in Hay Fever, Kattrin in Mother Courage, Miss Prue in Love for Love, and Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing which kept her busy for the next three years.

During that time she appeared in films such as Tom Jones (1963), Girl with Green Eyes (1964), The Deadly Affair (1966) and the title role in Georgy Girl (also 1966, and which featured her mother, Rachel Kempson). For the last of these roles she gained the New York Film Critics Award, the Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

In 1967 she made her Broadway debut in Black Comedy with Michael Crawford and Geraldine Page. London appearances included Michael Frayn's The Two of Us with Richard Briers at the Garrick, David Hare's Slag at the Royal Court, and Born Yesterday, directed by Tom Stoppard at Greenwich in 1973.

In 1974, she returned to Broadway in My Fat Friend. There soon followed Knock Knock with Charles Durning, Mrs Warren's Profession (for a Tony nomination) with Ruth Gordon, and Saint Joan. In the 1985-86 season she appeared with Rex Harrison, Claudette Colbert and Jeremy Brett in Aren't We All? and with Mary Tyler Moore in A. R. Gurney's Sweet Sue.

In 1983, she played Cleopatra in an American television version of Antony and Cleopatra opposite Timothy Dalton. She was in Misalliance in Chicago with Irene Worth, (earning the Sarah Siddons and Joseph Jefferson awards), Twelfth Night at the American Shakespeare Festival, California Suite, The King and I, Hellzapoppin', Les Dames du Jeudi, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and The Cherry Orchard. In 1988 she narrated a dramatised television documentary, Silent Mouse, which told the story of the creation of the Christmas carol Silent Night. In the early winter of 1991 she starred with Stewart Granger and Ricardo Montalban in a Hollywood production of Don Juan in Hell.

With her sister Vanessa as Olga, she returned to the London stage playing Masha in Three Sisters in 1991 at the Queen's Theatre, London, and later played the title role in a television production of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, again with her sister. Highlights of her early film career also include The National Health, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), The Happy Hooker and Getting It Right. In the United States she was seen on such television series as Teachers Only, House Calls, Centennial and Chicken Soup.

She also starred in BBC productions such as The Faint-Hearted Feminist, A Woman Alone, Death of a Son, Calling the Shots and Fighting Back. She played Broadway again in Moon Over Buffalo (1996) with co-star Robert Goulet, and starred in the world premier of Tennessee Williams' The Notebook of Trigorin, based on Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. She won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Talking Heads.

Redgrave became well known in the United States after appearing in the television series House Calls, for which she received an Emmy nomination. She was sacked from the show after she insisted on bringing her child to rehearsals so as to continue a breast-feeding schedule. A lawsuit ensued but was dismissed a few years after. Following that, she appeared in a long-running series of television commercials for H. J. Heinz Company, then the manufacturer of the weight loss foods for Weight Watchers, a Heinz subsidiary. Her signature line for the ads was "This Is Living, Not Dieting!". She wrote a book of her life experiences with the same title,[2] which included a selection of Weight Watcher recipes. The autobiographical section later became the basis of her one-woman play Shakespeare for My Father.

In 1993 she was elected President of the Players' Club. In 1989 she appeared on Broadway in Love Letters with her husband John Clark, and thereafter they performed the play around the country, and on one occasion for the jury in the O. J. Simpson case. In 1993 she appeared on Broadway in the one-woman play Shakespeare for My Father, which Clark produced and directed. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. In 1993, she voiced The Narrator and one of the characters on the cartoon christmas movie Precious Moments Timmy's Special Delivery.

In 2005, Redgrave appeared at Quinnipiac University and Connecticut College in the play Sisters of the Garden, about the sisters Fanny and Rebekka Mendelssohn and Nadia and Lili Boulanger.[3] She was also reported to be writing a one-woman play about her battle with breast cancer and her 2003 mastectomy, based on her book Journal: A Mother and Daughter's Recovery from Breast Cancer with photos by her daughter Annabel and text by Redgrave herself.[4]

In September 2006, she appeared in Nightingale, the U.S. premiere of her new one-woman play based upon her maternal grandmother Beatrice, at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. She also performed the play in May 2007 at Hartford Stage in Hartford, Connecticut. In 2007, she appeared in an episode of Desperate Housewives as Dahlia Hainsworth.

She also appeared on an episode of ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives as Dahlia, the mother of Susan Delfino's boyfriend Ian Hainsworth, and an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

In 2009, she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.[5]

Voice work

Redgrave narrated approximately 20 audiobooks, including Prince Caspian: The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis for Harper Audio[6] and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke for Listening Library.[7]

Personal life
On 2 April 1967, Redgrave married English actor John Clark[8][9] Together they had three children, airline pilot Benjamin Clark (born 1968), singer-songwriter Pema (originally Kelly) Clark (born 1970), and author and photographer Annabel Lucy Clark (born 1981).[10] The marriage ended in 2000 after Clark revealed to Redgrave that he had fathered a child with her personal assistant, who later married (and subsequently divorced) their son Benjamin.[11][12] The divorce proceedings were acrimonious and became front page news, with Clark alleging that Redgrave had also been unfaithful.[13][14]

Redgrave was appointed OBE in 2001. She was a naturalised citizen of the United States.[15]

Death
She discussed her health problems associated with bulimia and breast cancer. She was diagnosed with the latter in December 2002, had a mastectomy in January 2003, and chemotherapy.[16] She died from breast cancer[17] in her Kent, Connecticut, home[18] on 2 May 2010, aged 67.[19] Her brother, actor Corin Redgrave, who had also been a cancer patient in his last years, had died less than one month previously, on 6 April, aged 70. She is survived by her three children, her six grandchildren and her elder sister Vanessa.[20]

Redgrave's funeral was held on 8 May at the First Congregational Church in Kent, Connecticut. She was interred in St. Peter's Episcopal Cemetery in the hamlet of Lithgow, New York, where her mother, Rachel Kempson, and her niece, Natasha Richardson, are also interred.[21]

In 2012, the Folger Shakespeare Library acquired Redgrave's collection of personal papers and photographs.[22]

Legacy
In 2013, the Lynn Redgrave Theater was opened Off-Broadway in New York City, it was previously known as the Bleecker Street Theater.[23][24]

Filmography
Film

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1963 Tom Jones Susan 1964 Girl with Green Eyes Baba Brennan 1966 Georgy Girl Georgy 1966 The Deadly Affair Virgin 1967 Smashing Time Yvonne 1969 The Virgin Soldiers Phillipa Raskin 1970 Last of the Mobile Hot Shots Myrtle Kane 1971 Long Live Your Death Mary O'Donnell AKA, Don't Turn the Other Cheek! 1972 Every Little Crook and Nanny Miss Poole 1972 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) The Queen 1973 The National Health Nurse Betty Martin 1975 The Happy Hooker Xaviera Hollander 1976 The Big Bus Camille Levy 1980 Sunday Lovers Lady Davina Segment: "An Englishman's Home" 1987 Morgan Stewart's Coming Home Nancy Stewart 1989 Getting It Right Joan 1989 Midnight Midnight 1996 Shine Gillian 1998 Gods and Monsters Hanna 1998 The Hairy Bird Miss McVane AKA, All I Wanna Do 1999 Touched Carrie 1999 The Annihilation of Fish Poinsettia 2000 The Simian Line Katharine 2000 The Next Best Thing Helen Whittaker 2000 Deeply Celia 2000 How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog Edna 2000 Lion of Oz Wicked Witch of the East (voice) 2001 Venus and Mars Emily Vogel 2001 My Kingdom Mandy 2002 Spider Mrs. Wilkinson 2002 Unconditional Love Nola Fox 2002 The Wild Thornberrys Movie Cordelia Thornberry (voice) 2002 Hansel and Gretel Woman / Witch 2002 Anita and Me Mrs. Ormerod 2003 Charlie's War Grandma Lewis 2003 Peter Pan Aunt Millicent 2004 Kinsey Final Interview Subject 2005 The White Countess Olga Belinskya 2007 The Jane Austen Book Club Mama Sky 2009 My Dog Tulip Nancy / Greengrocer's Wife (voice)

Television

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1965 Sunday Out of Season Elaine TV film 1966 Comedy Playhouse Sheila Episode: "The End of the Tunnel" 1966 Love Story Rosemarie Episode: "Ain't Afraid to Dance" 1966 Armchair Theatre Polly Barlow Episode: "Pretty Polly" 1967 Armchair Theatre Ivy Toft Caroline Episode: "I Am Osango" Episode: "What's Wrong with Humpty Dumpty?" 1968 Love Story Mary Downey Episode: "The Egg on the Face of the Tiger" 1971 Play of the Month Helena Episode: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" 1973 Play of the Month Eliza Doolittle Episode: "Pygmalion" 1974 Vienna 1900 Berta Garlan Episode: "The Spring Sonata" 1974 The Turn of the Screw Miss Jane Cubberly TV film 1976 Kojak Claire Episode: "A Hair-Trigger Away" 1978 Disco Beaver from Outer Space Dr. Van Helsing TV film 1978–1979 Centennial Charlotte Buckland Seccombe TV miniseries 1979 Sooner or Later The teacher TV film 1979 Beggarman, Thief Kate Jordache TV miniseries 1979–1981 House Calls Ann Anderson Main role (41 episodes) 1980 Gauguin the Savage Mette Gad TV film 1980 The Seduction of Miss Leona Miss Leona de Vose TV film 1982 Rehearsal for Murder Monica Welles TV film 1982 CBS Schoolbreak Special Sarah Cotter Episode: "The Shooting" 1982 The Love Boat Patti White 1 episode 1982–1983 Teachers Only Diana Swanson Main role (21 episodes) 1983 Hotel Cathy Knight Episode: "Relative Loss" 1983 Antony and Cleopatra Cleopatra TV film 1984 Fantasy Island Kristen Robbins 1 episode 1984 The Fainthearted Feminist Martha TV series 1984 Murder, She Wrote Abby Benton Freestone Episode: "It's a Dog's Life" 1985 The Bad Seed Monica Breedlove TV film 1986 My Two Loves Marjorie Lloyd TV film 1986 Hotel Audrey Beck Episode: "Restless Nights" 1988 A Woman Alone The Woman TV film 1989 Screen Two Pauline Williams Episode: "Death of a Son" 1989 Chicken Soup Maddie Peerce Main role (12 episodes) 1990 Silent Mouse Narrator TV film 1990 The Great American Sex Scandal Abby Greyhouwsky TV film 1991 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Jane Hudson TV film 1993 Calling the Shots Maggie Donnelly 1997 Toothless Rogers TV film 1997 Indefensible: The Truth About Edward Brannigan Monica Brannigan TV film 1998 White Lies Inga Kolneder TV film 1998–2001 Rude Awakening Trudy Frank Main role (55 episodes) 1999 Different Amanda Talmadge TV film 1999 A Season for Miracles Hon. Judge Nancy Jakes TV film 2001 Varian's War Alma Werfel-Mahler TV film 2002 My Sister's Keeper Helen Margaret Chapman TV film 2003 The Wild Thornberrys Cordelia (voice) Episodes: "Sir Nigel: Parts 1 & 2" 2006–2007 Eloise: The Animated Series Nanny (voice) Regular role (6 episodes) 2007 Desperate Housewives Dahlia Hainsworth Episode: "Dress Big" 2007 Nurses Peggy Rice TV film 2009 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Emily Huntford Episode: "Folie a Deux" 2009 Ugly Betty Olivia Guillemette Episode: "The Butterfly Effect: Part 1"

Theatre
Year

Title

Role

House

Notes

1962 A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena Royal Court 1962 Billy Liar Dundee 1962 The Tulip Tree Haymarket 1963 The Recruiting Officer Rose National 1963 Andorra Barblin National 1963 Hamlet 1964 Hay Fever Jackie National 1965 Much Ado About Nothing Margaret National 1965–1966 Love for Love 1967 Black Comedy / The White Liars Carol Melkett National 1970 The Two of Us   1971 Slag 1974 My Fat Friend Vicky 1976 Mrs. Warren's Profession Vivie Warren 1976 Knock Knock Joan Replacement 1976 Misalliance 1977–1978 Saint Joan Joan 1985 Aren't We All? Hon. Mrs. W. Tatham 1987 Sweet Sue Susan Too 1989–1990 Love Letters Melissa Gardner Replacement 1992 A Little Hotel on the Side Angelique Pinglet 1992 The Master Builder Mrs. Aline Solness 1993–1994 Shakespeare for My Father Performer 1995–1996 Moon Over Buffalo Charlotte Hay Replacement 2001 Noises Off 2002 Company Joanne 2005 The Constant Wife Mrs. Culver 2009 The Importance of Being Earnest Lady Bracknell Touring

Awards and nominations
Awards

Year

Award

Category

Production

Result

1965 BAFTA Film Award Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles Girl with Green Eyes Nominated 1966 NYFCC Award Best Actress Georgy Girl Won 1967 BAFTA Film Award Best British Actress Nominated 1967 Golden Globe Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female Nominated 1967 Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy Won 1967 Academy Award Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated 1967 Laurel Awards Female New Face Nominated 1968 KCFCC Award Best Actress Georgy Girl Won 1976 Tony Award Best Actress in a Play Mrs. Warren's Profession Nominated 1981 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Musical/Comedy House Calls Nominated 1981 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated 1983 Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming CBS Afternoon Playhouse Nominated 1993 Tony Award Best Actress in a Play Shakespeare for My Father Nominated 1997 BAFTA Film Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Shine Nominated 1997 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Cast Nominated 1998 Gemini Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries White Lies Nominated 1999 Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Drama Gods and Monsters Nominated 1999 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated 1999 BAFTA Film Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated 1999 Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Female Won 1999 Academy Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated 1999 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Won 2000 ALFS Award British Supporting Actress of the Year Won 2003 Palm Springs International Film Festival Career Achievement Award Won 2006 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award Best Solo Performance Nightingale Won 2006 Tony Award Best Actress in a Play The Constant Wife Nominated 2007 Grammy Award Best Spoken Word Album for Children The Witches Nominated

In 2001, Lynn Redgrave received a LIVING LEGEND honor at The WINFemme Film Festival and The Women's Network Image Awards but had to tape her acceptance speech because she won a film role and missed attending her ceremony.[25]