30, 1937, Redgrave was born into an acting empire as the daughter of legendary stage and screen performer Michael Redgrave, best known for Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes' (1938), and actress Rachel Kempson. As the center of a family acting dynasty that went back several generations and would produce further generations of performers, Redgrave held an esteemed position in entertainment history for her own high level of work and that which she generated in her collaborators.īorn in London, England on Jan. She also made a few successful forays into Hollywood blockbuster territory with supporting roles in 'Mission: Impossible' (1996) and 'Deep Impact' (1998) while her stage career continued unabated. Despite her ability to carry a film with a bold lead character, Redgrave spent a considerable amount of her screen career as a versatile supporting player in art house fare like the controversial 'Julia' (1977), biopics like 'Wilde' (1997) and 'The Gathering Storm' (HBO, 2002), period dramas such as 'Howard's End' (1992) and 'Atonement' (2007), and American independent films like 'Little Odessa' (1994) and 'The Pledge' (2001).

Redgrave brought the same passion for her convictions to her acting work. 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' (1984), while earning her share of controversy for her outspoken activism through decades of international politics and human rights issues.

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.

Isadora 1968