Lynn Redgrave Biography

Lynn Redgrave represented the American wing of Rachel Kempson and Sir Michael Redgrave’s five generations of thespians. She was the youngest of three, her eldest sister being, of course, the indomitable Vanessa Redgrave.

London-born Lynn studied at the Central School of Music and Drama and made her professional debut in the Royal Court Theatre's 1962 production of ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’. The following year, she helped found Britain's National Theatre (now the Royal National Theatre) under the tutelage of Sir Laurence Olivier.

Redgrave's distinguished and varied career included everything from stage and screen to Weight Watchers television commercials and books on tape. Redgrave's first feature film was in bawdy ‘Tom Jones’ (1963), but it was in the year she made her Broadway debut in ‘Black Comedy’ (1967) with Michael Crawford, Geraldine Page, and soon-to-be husband John Clark, that she also received her first Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe win for ‘Georgy Girl’, the film that would make her an international star. After this, Redgrave didn't stop performing, or winning. Among her many notable roles: The Queen in Woody Allen's ‘Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex’ (1972), the title role in ‘The Happy Hooker’ (1975), ‘Mrs. Warren's Profession’ for which she won a 1976 Tony, Ann Anderson in ‘House Calls’ (1981) for which she received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, ‘Death of a Son’ for which she won the 1989 BBC Best Television Actress award, her multiple award-winning one-woman show ‘Shakespeare for My Father’, Gillian Helfgott in ‘Shine’ (1996) for which she was nominated for a SAG and a BAFTA, and Hanna in ‘Gods and Monsters’ (1998) for which she won a 1999 Golden Globe and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

As actress, director, author, teacher, and role model for almost four decades, Redgrave made significant contributions to the arts. Her lifelong dedication was rewarded with various honorary doctorates and the 1997 American Express Tribute for Achievement in the Arts, but her career showed no signs of slowing down. She co-starred in two American television shows, the late-night comedy series ‘Rude Awakening’ and the miniseries, ‘Different’.

In late 2009, she performed solo in the play that she had written, ‘Nightingale’. Ostensibly about the death of her grandmother, it is a soliloquy on the impression left by those who have died and are almost all but forgotten.

Lynn was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 and documented her experiences in the book ‘Journal: A Mother and Daughter's Recovery from Breast Cancer’. She finally lost her battle with cancer in May 2010 and was laid to rest in Lithgow, New York, where her mother Rachel Kempson and niece Natasha Richardson are also buried.