Biography
From her start on the London stage in the 1960s, Vanessa Redgrave went on to become one of the most internationally respected actresses of stage and screen, with the Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Tony awards to prove it. Redgrave was trained in the classical tradition but made her mark essaying non-conforming free-thinkers like modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan in "Isadora" (1968) and a 19th century American feminist in "The Bostonians" …
Vanessa Redgrave SlideShow
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Career Milestones
2012 | Cast as Volumnia in the feature adaptation of Shakespeare's "Coriolanus," directed by Ralph Fiennes | |
2011 | Played Queen Elizabeth I opposite Rhys Ifans and David Thewlis in the drama "Anonymous" | |
2011 | Voiced The Queen and Mama Topolino in the animated feature "Cars 2" | |
2011 | Had a supporting role in the Bosnia-set political drama "The Whistleblower" | |
2010 | Played the title role in the Broadway premiere of "Driving Miss Daisy" opposite James Earl Jones; earned a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | |
2010 | Starred in "Letters to Juliet" opposite her husband Franco Nero | |
2009 | Starred in the BBC remake of "The Day of the Triffids" with her daughter Joely | |
2007 | Cast in the HBO Films adaptation of writer/actor Wallace Shawn's stage play "The Fever"; earned a SAG nomination for Outstanding Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries | |
2007 | Portrayed a dying woman reflecting on her youth in the ensemble film "Evening" | |
2007 | Starred in a one-woman stage adaptation of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking"; earned a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play | |
2006 | Starred opposite Peter O'Toole in "Venus," a film directed by Roger Michell and written by Hanif Kureishi | |
2005 | Appeared alongside her daughter Natasha Richardson and sister Lynn Redgrave in James Ivory's "White Countess" | |
2004 | Guest starred opposite daughter Joely Richardson on several episodes of "Nip/Tuck" (FX); played the mother of Richardson's character | |
2003 | Appeared on Broadway in her award winning performance in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" | |
2002 | Co-starred with Albert Finney in the award winning BBC/HBO co-produced "The Gathering Storm"; earned Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Actress | |
2002 | Made first stage appearance with daughter Joely Richardson in a British staging of "Lady Windermere's Fan"; portrayed mother and daughter | |
2001 | Appeared with brother Corin in a London stage prodction of "The Cherry Orchard" | |
2001 | Had featured role in Sean Penn's "The Pledge," co-starring Jack Nicholson and Robin Wright Penn | |
2000 | Portrayed Prospero in staging of "The Tempest" at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London | |
2000 | Delivered a dignified, heartbreaking turn as an elderly lesbian coping with her deceased lover's clueless family in the moving "1961" segment of "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (HBO); received Emmy Award | |
1999 | Acted opposite her brother Corin and his wife Kika Markham in a London stage revival of Noel Coward's "Song at Twilight" | |
1999 | Directed by son Carlo Nero in "Uninvited" | |
1999 | Had pivotal role as a psychiatrist in "Girl, Interrupted" | |
1999 | Starred in the Italian opera "Eleanora" as the heroine and martyr of a 1799 Neapolitan uprising | |
1998 | Reteamed with Maximillian Schell as his wife in "Deep Impact" | |
1998 | Adapted, designed, directed and co-starred with Rachel Kempson in "Sarah Bernhardt Comes to Town" | |
1997 | Teamed onscreen with her real-life mother Rachel Kempson in Henry Jaglom's "Deja Vu" | |
1997 | Offered a luminous turn as the title character in "Mrs. Dalloway," the screen adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel adapted by Eileen Atkins | |
1997 | Offered a marvelous turn as the title character's mother in the biopic "Wilde" | |
1996 | Starred alongside Paul Scofield and Eileen Atkins in a revival of Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman" in London | |
1996 | Conceived the costume design, directed and starred in a staging of "Antony and Cleopatra"; first performed at the Alley Theater in Houston and in 1997 off-Broadway at the Public Theatre | |
1996 | Delivered an astringent cameo in "Mission: Impossible" | |
1994 | Played Vita Sackville-West opposite Eileen Atkins' Virginia Woolf in the off-Broadway play "Vita and Virginia" | |
1994 | Was moving as the dying mother of a hit man in "Little Odessa"; Schell was cast as her husband | |
1993 | Tracked down a previously unproduced play by Tennessee Williams, "Not About Nightingales"; presented by the Moving Theater Company starring Corin Redgrave in London and NYC in 1998 and 1999 respectively | |
1993 | Co-founded Moving Theater with brother Corin | |
1992 | Had pivotal role as Ruth Wilcox in the Merchant Ivory version of E M Forster's "Howards End"; earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination | |
1991 | Offered a fine performance as the mannish Amelia in "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" | |
1991 | Portrayed the Empress Elizabeth in the TNT biopic "Young Catherine," about the Russian ruler Catherine the Great; Maximillian Schell played Frederick the Great | |
1991 | Co-starred as the victimized Blanche opposite sister Lynn Redgrave in the TV-movie remake of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" (ABC) | |
1991 | Again played Isadora Duncan in Martin Sherman's stage play "When She Danced" | |
1990 | With sister Lynn and niece Jemma, acted in London production of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" | |
1989 | Starred in Martin Sherman's play "A Madhouse in Goa" | |
1988 | Acted opposite Charlton Heston in the TV remake of "A Man for All Seasons" (TNT) | |
1988 | Cast as Lady Torrance, the heroine of Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending" in a London production helmed by Sir Peter Hall; recreated part on Broadway in 1989; filmed for TNT in 1990 | |
1987 | Offered a scene-stealing performance as literary agent Peggy Ramsay in the Joe Orton biopic "Prick Up Your Ears" | |
1986 | Portrayed transsexual Renee Richards, a former U.S. Naval surgeon who competed as a woman in the U.S. Tennis Association in "Second Serve" (CBS); received Emmy nomination | |
1986 | Co-starred as the Czar's scheming half-sister Sophia in the NBC miniseries "Peter the Great"; acted opposite Maximillian Schell; received Emmy nomination in the supporting category | |
1985 | Starred with Jonathan Pryce in "The Seagull"; this time out played Arkadina | |
1985 | Starred in David Hare's intriguing "Wetherby"; daughter Joely Richardson played her character in flashback sequences | |
1985 | Cast as one of the women accused of witchcraft in the Salem trials in the three-part PBS miniseries "Three Sovereigns for Sarah" | |
1984 | Appeared opposite Christopher Reeve in the London stage production of "The Aspern Papers," a play by Michael Redgrave | |
1984 | Played Henry James' feminist heroine in the Merchant Ivory film version of "The Bostonians"; received fourth Best Actress Academy Award nomination | |
1983 | First film after four year absence from the big screen, "Wagner" | |
1982 | Engaged to narrate a performance of Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" at the Boston Symphony Orchestra; performance canceled after BSO received bomb threats; Redgrave later sued | |
1982 | Starred as a middle-aged woman who finds herself pregnant in "My Body, My Child" (ABC) | |
1980 | American TV-movie debut, "Playing for Time" (CBS); portrayed concentration camp survivor Fania Fenelon who during her internment participated in an all-female orchestra; received Emmy Award | |
1979 | Portrayed the mystery novelist Agatha Christie in "Agatha," which speculated about a period in the writer's life when she went missing | |
1977 | Financed the documentary "The Palestinians" | |
1977 | Delivered luminous, richly detailed performance as "Julia" in the film based on Lillian Hellman's questionable memoir; received the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award; first film with Maximillian Schell | |
1976 | Offered a delightful turn as a cocaine addicted entertainer who meets Nicol Williamson's Sherlock Holmes in "The Seven Per-Cent Solution" | |
1976 | Made Broadway debut in Ibsen's "The Lady from the Sea" | |
1974 | Acted opposite Charlton Heston in "Macbeth" in Los Angeles | |
1974 | Was among the all-star cast of "Murder on the Orient Express" | |
1973 | First played the Egyptian queen in Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" in London | |
1971 | Earned third Best Actress Oscar nomination in the title role of "Mary, Queen of Scots"; starred opposite Glenda Jackson who was cast as Elizabeth I | |
1971 | Cast as a hunchback nun in Ken Russell's outlandish "The Devils" | |
1971 | Co-starred in Michael Cacoyannis' "The Trojan Women"; played Andromacha | |
1968 | Garnered second Best Actress Academy Award nomination for playing famed free-spirited dancer Isadora Duncan in "Isadora" | |
1968 | Acted in "The Charge of the Light Brigade," directed by Tony Richardson | |
1967 | Made American film debut in "Camelot," an adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical | |
1967 | Initial film with husband Tony Richardson, "The Sailor from Gibraltar" | |
1966 | Cast as Anne Boleyn in the award-winning film "A Man for All Seasons" | |
1966 | First film lead, "Morgan!/Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment"; earned first Best Actress Oscar nomination; sister Lynn was among her competitors for the prize for her work in "Georgy Girl" | |
1966 | Had title role in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in London | |
1964 | Won plaudits for her stage role of Nina in "The Seagull"; recreated on film in 1968 | |
1961 | Delivered an acclaimed performance as Rosalind in "As You Like It" at the RSC; recreated for British television in 1962 | |
| Was a member of Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) during early 1960s | ||
1958 | Film acting debut in "Behind the Mask" (played onscreen daughter of Michael Redgrave) | |
1958 | London stage debut in "A Touch of the Sun" opposite her father Michael Redgrave | |
1957 | Stage debut in "The Reluctant Debutante" at the Frinton Summer Theatre, Essex | |
Awards
2011 | San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress in Coriolanus |
2008 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries in The Fever |
2007 | Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in Atonement |
2007 | Hamptons International Film Festival for GOLDEN STARFISH CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN ACTING AWARD in The Shell Seekers |
2003 | Tony Award for Actress (Play) |
2003 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries in The Gathering Storm |
2002 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in The Gathering Storm |
2002 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie in The Gathering Storm |
2001 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries in If These Walls Could Talk 2 |
2000 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in If These Walls Could Talk 2 |
2000 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress In a Miniseries or Movie in If These Walls Could Talk 2 |
1999 | San Sebastian International Film Festival for Donostia Award |
1997 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in Bella Mafia |
1996 | Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female in Little Odessa |
1995 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical in A Month By the Lake |
1994 | Venice International Film Festival for Volpi Cup for Best Supporting Actress in Little Odessa |
1992 | Academy Award for Actress In a Supporting Role in Howards End |
1991 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress In a Miniseries or Special in Young Catherine |
1988 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in A Man For All Seasons |
1987 | BAFTA Award for Actress In a Supporting Role in Prick Up Your Ears |
1987 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture in Prick Up Your Ears |
1987 | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress in Prick Up Your Ears |
1986 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress In a Miniseries in Peter the Great |
1986 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in Second Serve |
1986 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress In a Miniseries or Special in Second Serve |
1985 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in Wetherby |
1984 | Academy Award for Actress In a Leading Role in The Bostonians |
1984 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in The Bostonians |
1984 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama in The Bostonians |
1981 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress In a Limited Series or a Special in Playing For Time |
1977 | Academy Award for Actress In a Supporting Role in Julia |
1977 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture in Julia |
1977 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress in Julia |
1971 | Academy Award for Actress in Mary, Queen of Scots |
1971 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama in Mary, Queen of Scots |
1969 | Cannes Film Festival for Best Actress in Isadora |
1969 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in Isadora |
1968 | Academy Award for Actress in Isadora |
1968 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama in Isadora |
1967 | Golden Globe Award for Actress in a Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy in Camelot |
1966 | Academy Award for Actress in Morgan |
1966 | Golden Globe Award for Actress in a Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy in Morgan |
1966 | Cannes Film Festival for Best Actress in Morgan |
1966 | BAFTA Award for British Actress in Morgan |