Editing Michael Redgrave (section)

==Theatre career==
Redgrave made his first professional appearance at the [[Liverpool Playhouse|Playhouse]] in [[Liverpool]] on 30 August 1934 as Roy Darwin in ''Counsellor-at-Law'' (by [[Elmer Rice]]), then spent two years with its Liverpool Repertory Company where he met his future wife [[Rachel Kempson]]. They married on 18 July 1935.

===1930s===
Offered a job by [[Tyrone Guthrie]], Redgrave made his professional debut in London at the [[Old Vic]] on 14 September 1936, playing Ferdinand in ''[[Love's Labours Lost]]''. During 1936–37 he also played Mr Horner in ''[[The Country Wife]]'', Orlando in ''[[As You Like It]]'', Warbeck in ''[[The Witch of Edmonton]]'' and Laertes to [[Laurence Olivier]]'s Hamlet. His hit of the season was Orlando. [[Edith Evans]] was his Rosalind and the two fell very much in love. As he later explained: "Edith always had a habit of falling in love with her leading men; with us it just went rather further."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> ''As You Like It'' transferred to the [[West End theatre|West End]]'s [[Noël Coward Theatre|New Theatre]] in February 1937 and Redgrave again played Orlando.

At the [[Embassy Theatre (London)|Embassy Theatre]] in March 1937, he played Anderson in a mystery play, ''The Bat'', before returning to the Old Vic in April, succeeding [[Marius Goring]] as Chorus in ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''. Other roles that year included Christopher Drew in [[Daisy Fisher]]'s comedy ''A Ship Comes Home'' at the [[St Martin's Theatre]] in May and Larry Starr in Philip Leaver's comedy ''Three Set Out'' at the Embassy in June, before joining [[John Gielgud]]'s Company at the [[Sondheim Theatre|Queen's Theatre]], September 1937 to April 1938, where he played Bolingbroke in ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', Charles Surface in ''[[The School for Scandal]]'' and Baron Tusenbach in ''[[Three Sisters (play)|Three Sisters]]''.

Other roles included:
* Alexei Turbin in ''The White Guard'' (''The Days of the Turbins'' by [[Mikhail Bulgakov]]), [[Phoenix Theatre (London)|Phoenix Theatre]] October 1938
* Sir Andrew Aguecheek in ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', Phoenix December 1938
* Harry, Lord Monchesney in ''[[The Family Reunion]]'' (T.S. Eliot), [[Westminster Theatre]] March 1939
* Henry in ''Springtime for Henry'', touring 1939

===World War II===
Once the London theatres were re-opened, after the outbreak of war, he played:
* Captain Macheath in ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]'', [[Theatre Royal, Haymarket]], March 1940
* Charleston in ''[[Thunder Rock (play)|Thunder Rock]]'', by [[Robert Ardrey]], Neighbourhood Theatre June 1940; [[Gielgud Theatre|Globe Theatre]] July 1940. (He would reprise this role in the 1942 [[Boulting Brothers]] [[Thunder Rock (film)|film version]].)

Redgrave joined the [[Royal Navy]] as an [[ordinary seaman]] in July 1941, ({{HMS|Illustrious|87|6}}) but was discharged on medical grounds in November 1942.<ref>Redgrave provided his friend the actor and writer [[Godfrey Winn]] (also in the Navy at the time), with a memorable signal his ship made. The aircraft carrier HMS ''Illustrious'' was in collision with another carrier, HMS ''Formidable'' in poor weather visibility in the Atlantic, after the collision ''Illustrious'' signalled: "If you touch me in that place again, I shall scream". {{cite book |title=Home from Sea |first=Godfrey |last=Winn |publisher=Hutchinson & Co |location=London |year=1944 |page=115}}</ref> Having spent most of 1942 in the Reserve he managed to direct ''Lifeline'' (Norman Armstrong) starring [[Frank Pettingell]] at the [[Duchess Theatre]] in July; and ''[[The Duke in Darkness]]'' ([[Patrick Hamilton (writer)|Patrick Hamilton]]) starring [[Leslie Banks]] at the [[St James's Theatre]] in October, also taking the role of Gribaud.<ref>''The Great Stage Stars'', Sheridan Morley, and ''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 1981</ref>

Resuming his stage career he played/directed:
* Rakitin in ''[[A Month in the Country (play)|A Month in the Country]]'' ([[Turgenev]]), St James's Theatre March 1943
* Lafont in six matinees of ''Parisienne'', a comedy by Henry Becque, translated by [[Ashley Dukes]], (Redgrave also directed and managed) co-starring [[Sonia Dresdel]], St James's Theatre June 1943
* ''Blow Your Own Trumpet'', a comedy by [[Peter Ustinov]], (directed), [[Playhouse Theatre]] August 1943
* ''The Wingless Victory'', a period romance by [[Maxwell Anderson]], (directed) starring [[Rachel Kempson]] as Faith Ingalls, [[Phoenix Theatre (London)|Phoenix Theatre]] September 1943
* Harry Quincey in ''Uncle Harry'', a thriller by Thomas Job, (also co-directed with William Armstrong) with [[Beatrix Lehmann]] as Leslie Quincey and Rachel Kempson as Lucy Forrest, [[Garrick Theatre]] March 1944
* Colonel Stjerbinsky in ''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'', a comedy by [[Franz Werfel]], adapted by [[S.N. Behrman]], (Redgrave also directed) with Rachel Kempson as Marianne, [[Piccadilly Theatre]], June 1945

===Post-war years===
* Title role in ''Macbeth'', [[Aldwych Theatre]] December 1947; [[Nederlander Theatre|National Theatre]], New York City (NYC debut, with [[Flora Robson]] as Lady Macbeth) 31 March 1948
* Captain in ''The Father'' ([[August Strindberg]]) directed by Dennis Arundell with [[Freda Jackson]] as Laura, Embassy Theatre November 1948; and Duchess Theatre January 1949
* Etienne in ''A Woman in Love'' (also co-adapted with Diana Gould and directed) with [[Margaret Rawlings]] as Germaine, Embassy April 1949

Joining the [[Old Vic]] Company at the [[Noël Coward Theatre|New Theatre]] for its 1949–50 season, he played:
* Berowne in ''[[Love's Labours Lost]]''
* Marlow in ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]''
* Rakitin in ''[[A Month in the Country (play)|A Month in the Country]]''
* His first Hamlet, which he also played at the [[Zürich]] Festival, the [[Holland Festival]] and at [[Kronborg Castle]] in [[Elsinore]], June 1950

===1950s===
Redgrave joined the [[Shakespeare Memorial Theatre]] company at [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] and for the 1951 season appeared as Prospero in ''The Tempest'' as well as playing Richard II, Hotspur and Chorus in the Cycle of ''Histories'', for which he also directed ''Henry IV Part Two''. After appearing as Frank Elgin in ''Winter Journey'' at the St James's April 1952, he rejoined the Stratford company in 1953 (together with his actress wife Rachel Kempson) appearing as Shylock, King Lear and Antony in ''Antony and Cleopatra'', also playing Antony when the company transferred to the [[Prince's Theatre]] in November 1953 before touring in the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]] and [[Paris]],<ref name=spoto />{{rp|p.&nbsp;163}} in 1958 he played Hamlet with Googie Withers appearing as his mother at Stratford on Avon.

At the Apollo in June 1955 he played Hector in ''[[Tiger at the Gates]]'', appearing in the same role at the [[Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre|Plymouth Theatre]], New York City in October 1955 for which he received the New York Critics' Award. While in New York he directed ''A Month in the Country'' at the Phoenix Theatre in April 1956, and directed and played the Prince Regent in ''[[The Sleeping Prince (play)|The Sleeping Prince]]'' with [[Barbara Bel Geddes]] at the [[Coronet Theatre (Los Angeles)|Coronet Theatre]] in November 1956.

Returning to London in January 1958, Redgrave appeared as Philip Lester in ''[[A Touch of the Sun (play)|A Touch of the Sun]]'' (N. C. Hunter) at the [[Saville Theatre]]. He won Best Actor in the [[Evening Standard Theatre Awards|''Evening Standard'' Awards]] 1958 for this role. He rejoined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in June 1958, to play Hamlet and Benedick, also playing Hamlet with the company in [[Leningrad]] and [[Moscow]] in December 1958. (His wife Rachel Kempson played Ursula in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' and Lady Capulet in ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'').

At the [[Sondheim Theatre|Queen's Theatre]], in London in August 1959, he played H.J. in his own adaptation of the Henry James novella ''The Aspern Papers''. His play was later successfully revived on Broadway in 1962, with [[Dame Wendy Hiller]] and [[Maurice Evans (actor)|Maurice Evans]]. The 1984 London revival featured his daughter, [[Vanessa Redgrave]], along with [[Christopher Reeve]] and Hiller, this time in the role of Miss Bordereau.

===1960s===
Roles included:
* Jack Dean in ''[[The Tiger and the Horse]]'' by [[Robert Bolt]] (which Redgrave also co-presented, directed by [[Frith Banbury]]), [[Sondheim Theatre|Queen's Theatre]], August 1960
* Victor Rhodes in ''[[The Complaisant Lover]]'' by [[Graham Greene]], [[Ethel Barrymore Theatre]], New York, November 1961 – 101 performances

[[File:Michael Redgrave.jpg|thumb|Michael Redgrave in costume for the lead role in ''Uncle Vanya'', backstage at the Chichester Festival Theatre, 1962. ''Photo: Tony French.'']]Returning to the [[UK]], in July 1962 he took part in the [[Chichester Festival Theatre]]'s opening season, playing the title role in [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov's]] ''[[Uncle Vanya]]'' to the Astrov of [[Laurence Olivier]] who also directed.

Alongside [[John Dexter]]'s Chichester staging of ''Saint Joan'', Olivier's ''Uncle Vanya'' was first revived in Chichester in 1963 before transferring to the Old Vic as part of the nascent [[Royal National Theatre]]'s inaugural season, winning rave reviews and Redgrave's second win as Best Actor in the 1963 [[Evening Standard Awards]]. Critic [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] recalled: "In Redgrave's Vanya you saw both a tremulous victim of a lifetime's emotional repression and the wasted potential of a Chekhovian might-have-been: as Redgrave and Olivier took their joint curtain call, linked hands held triumphantly aloft, we were not to know that this was to symbolise the end of their artistic amity."<ref>Michael Billington ''State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945'', London: Faber, 2007, p.142 {{ISBN|978-0-571-21034-3}}</ref>

Redgrave played (and co-presented) Lancelot Dodd MA in [[Arthur Watkyn]]'s ''[[Out of Bounds (play)|Out of Bounds]]'' at [[Wyndham's Theatre]] in November 1962, following it at the Old Vic with his portrayal of Claudius opposite the Hamlet of [[Peter O'Toole]] on 22 October 1963. This ''Hamlet'' was in fact the National Theatre's official opening production, directed by Olivier, but [[Simon Callow]] has dubbed it "slow, solemn, long", while [[Ken Campbell]] vividly described it as "brochure theatre."<ref>''The National: 1963–1997'' by Simon Callow, Nick Hern Books (1997) {{ISBN|1-85459-323-4}}</ref>

In January 1964 at the National he played the title role in ''[[Hobson's Choice (play)|Hobson's Choice]]'', which he admitted was well outside his range: "I couldn't do the [[Lancashire]] accent and that shook my nerve terribly – all the other performances suffered." While still at the National in June 1964 he also played Halvard Solness in ''The Master Builder'', which he said 'went wrong'. At this time he had incipient [[Parkinson's disease]], although he did not know it.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In May and June 1965 Redgrave directed the opening festival of the [[Yvonne Arnaud Theatre]] in [[Guildford]], including directing and playing Rakitin in ''A Month in the Country'' (co-starring with [[Ingrid Bergman]] as Natalya Petrovna), and Samson in ''Samson Agonistes'' (co-starring with Rachel Kempson as Chorus). He again played Rakitin in September 1965, when his production transferred to the [[Cambridge Theatre]] in London. For the [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera]] he directed ''[[Werther]]'' in 1966 and ''[[La bohème]]'' in 1967.<ref>{{cite web|title=Michael Redgrave|url=http://glyndebourne.com/archive/individual/michael-redgrave|work=Performances|publisher=Glyndebourne|access-date=6 November 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131106025912/http://glyndebourne.com/archive/individual/michael-redgrave|archive-date=6 November 2013}}</ref>

===1970s===
At the [[Mermaid Theatre]] in July 1971 he played Mr Jaraby in ''The Old Boys'' (William Trevor) and had an unfortunate experience: "My memory went, and on the first night they made me wear a deaf aid to hear some lines from the prompter and it literally fell to pieces – there were little bits of machinery all over the floor, so I then knew I really couldn't go on, at least not learning new plays."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Nevertheless, he successfully took over the part of Father in [[John Mortimer]]'s ''[[A Voyage Round My Father]]'' at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, also touring Canada and Australia in the role in 1972–73.

In 1973, he played a supporting role in [[David Winters (choreographer)|David Winters]]' musical television film adaptation of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', starring [[Kirk Douglas]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 April 1973|title=Musical Version of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' Stars Kirk Douglas|work=The Mexia Daily New|volume=74}}</ref>

He returned to the international touring of ''A Voyage Round My Father'' in 1974–75 with a Royal Shakespeare Company production of ''The Hollow Crown'', visiting major venues in the US, New Zealand and Australia, while in 1976–77 he toured South America, Canada, the UK and the United States in the anthology, ''Shakespeare's People''.

Redgrave's final theatre appearance came in May 1979 when he portrayed Jasper in [[Simon Gray]]'s ''Close of Play'', directed on the Lyttelton stage at the National Theatre by [[Harold Pinter]]. It was a silent, seated role, based on Gray's own father, who had died a year before he wrote the play. As Gray has said: "Jasper is in fact dead but is forced to endure, as if alive, a traditional English Sunday, helpless in his favourite armchair as his three sons and their wives fall to pieces in the usual English middle class style, sometimes blaming him, sometimes appealing to him for help and sobbing at his feet for forgiveness, but basically ignoring him. In other words I had stuck him in Hell, which turns out to be 'life, old life itself'."<ref>''An Unnatural Pursuit and Other Pieces'' by Simon Gray, Faber (1985)</ref>

His final work, in 1975, a narrative of the epic poem, ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'', by [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], a poem that Redgrave taught as a young schoolmaster and visualised by producer-director Raul da Silva, received six international film festival prizes of which five were first place in category. This work was to be his last before the onslaught of [[Parkinson's disease]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Bowker's Complete Video Directory, Volume 4|year=1998|publisher=R.R. Bowker|location=New York|isbn=978-0835240147|page=1972}}</ref>