Editing Michael Redgrave (section)

==Personal life==

===Family===
{{main|Redgrave family}}
Redgrave was married to the actress [[Rachel Kempson]] for 50 years from 1935 until his death. Their children [[Vanessa Redgrave|Vanessa]] (b. 1937), [[Corin Redgrave|Corin]] (1939–2010) and [[Lynn Redgrave]] (1943–2010), and their grandchildren: [[Natasha Richardson]] (1963–2009), [[Joely Richardson]] (b. 1965) and [[Jemma Redgrave]] (b. 1965) are also involved in theatre or film as actors. Their grandson [[Carlo Gabriel Nero]] is a screenwriter and film director; only Luke Redgrave has taken a path outside the theatre.

His daughter Lynn wrote a one-woman play for herself called ''[[Shakespeare for My Father]]''. She was nominated for Broadway's [[Tony Award]] for this role. She traced her love for Shakespeare as a way of following and finding her often absent father.<ref>{{cite news|last=Vellela|first=Tony|title=From our files: An interview with Lynn Redgrave|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2010/0503/From-our-files-An-interview-with-Lynn-Redgrave|access-date=6 November 2013|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|date=28 May 1993}}</ref>

Redgrave owned [[White Roding Windmill]] from 1937 to 1946.<ref name=Book4>{{cite book | first = Kenneth| last = Farries|year = 1985| title = Essex Windmills, Millers and Millwrights – Volume Four – A Review by Parishes, F-R| pages= 121–123|location = Edinburgh| isbn = 978-0-284-98647-4 |publisher = Charles Skilton}}</ref> He and his family lived in Bedford House on [[Chiswick Mall]] from 1945 to 1954.<ref>Roe, William P., ''Glimpses of Chiswick's Development'', 1999, {{ISBN|0-9516512-2-6}}, page 94</ref> His entry for ''[[Who's Who in the Theatre]]'' (1981) gives his address as Wilks Water, [[Odiham]], Hampshire.

===Bisexuality===
Corin helped his father in the writing of his last autobiography. During one of Corin's visits to his father, the latter said, "There is something I ought to tell you". Then, after a long pause, "I am, to say the least of it, bisexual". Corin encouraged him to acknowledge his bisexuality in the book. Redgrave agreed to do so, but in the end he chose to remain silent about it.<ref name=spoto />{{rp|p.274}} Alan Strachan's 2004 biography of Redgrave discusses his affairs with both men and women.<ref>http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/20937/part_2/one-rung-below-greatness.thtml {{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Although Redgrave had some long-term relationships with men, he also was prone to cruising [[Victoria, London|Victoria]] or [[Knightsbridge]] for what he called "a necessary degradation", a habit of quick pick-ups that left him with a lasting sense of self-disgust.<ref>{{cite news|last=Barber|first=Lynn|title=His necessary degradations|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3616047/His-necessary-degradations.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3616047/His-necessary-degradations.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=6 November 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=28 April 2004}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The 1996 BBC documentary film ''Michael Redgrave: My Father'', narrated by Corin Redgrave, and based on his book of the same name, discusses his father's [[bisexuality]] in some depth.<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite news|access-date=3 January 2013|title=Corin Redgrave, Actor and Activist, Dies at 70 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/theater/07redgrave.html|date=6 April 2010}}</ref> Rachel Kempson recounted that when she proposed to him, Redgrave said that there were "difficulties to do with his nature, and that he felt he ought not to marry". She said that she understood, it did not matter and that she loved him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/vanessa-redgrave-greiving-glorying-sisters-death/story?id=10639716&page=2|title= Vanessa Redgrave 'Grieving and Glorying' After Sister Lynn Redgrave's Death
|publisher=ABC News|year=2010}}</ref> To this, Redgrave replied, "Very well. If you're sure, we will".<ref>{{cite news|access-date=3 January 2013|title=Rachel Kempson, 92, Matriarch of Acting Family|work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/26/theater/rachel-kempson-92-matriarch-of-acting-family.html|date=26 May 2003}}</ref>

During the filming of [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[Secret Beyond the Door]]'' (1947), Redgrave met Bob Mitchell, and they soon became lovers. Mitchell set up house close to the Redgraves, and he became a surrogate "uncle" to Redgrave's children (then aged 11, 9 and 5), who adored him. Mitchell later had children of his own, including a son he named Michael.<ref name=spoto>{{cite book|last=Spoto|first=Donald|title=The Redgraves: A Family Epic|year=2012|publisher=Random House|location=New York|isbn=978-0307720146|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUWFhrgu-HgC}}</ref>{{rp|p.193}} [[Fred Sadoff]] was an actor/director who became Redgrave's assistant and lover; they shared lodgings in New York and London.<ref name=spoto />{{rp|p.178–183}}

A card was found among Redgrave's effects after his death. The card was signed "Tommy, Liverpool, January 1940", and on it were the words (quoted from [[W.H. Auden]]): "The word is love. Surely one fearless kiss would cure the million fevers".<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir Michael Redgrave (1908–1985)|url=http://outstoriesbristol.org.uk/people/biographies/redgrave-michael/|publisher=OutStories Bristol|access-date=6 November 2013|date=30 September 2011}}</ref>

===Illness and death===
In 1976, after suffering symptoms for many years, Redgrave was diagnosed with rapidly advancing [[Parkinson's disease]]. He began a regimen of therapies and medications that caused disorientation and other [[side effect]]s. Costs for his healthcare expenses and his diminished earning power caused the family to apply for public assistance from the King George's Pension Fund. In an interview on his 70th birthday, he said: "For a long time, nobody understood the Parkinson's condition, and directors thought I was just forgetful or drunk – and even now the work isn't easy. The difficulty is not just remembering lines but getting from place to place."<ref name=spoto />{{rp|p.258}}

Redgrave died in a nursing home in [[Denham, Buckinghamshire|Denham]], Buckinghamshire, on 21 March 1985, from Parkinson's disease, the day after his 77th birthday. He was cremated at [[Mortlake Crematorium]] and his ashes were scattered in the garden of [[St Paul's, Covent Garden]] (The Actors' Church), London.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 38997). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>