Editing Michael Redgrave (section)

===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>