Secret Dreams: A Biography of Michael Redgrave

Strachan, Alan

ISBN 10: 0297607642 / ISBN 13: 9780297607649

Published by WandN, 2004

Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Ex-library book with stamps on the first page, it is also likely to have a small shelf number sticker on the spine. Seller Inventory # CHL10777412

Synopsis:

Michael Redgrave ranks with Olivier, Gielgud and Richardson as one of the great British actors of the 20th century. Married to the actress Rachel Kempton, he also fathered a dynasty of actors, Vanessa, Corin and Lynn Redgrave and their children including actors Joely and Natasha Richardson. He played all the great Shakespearean roles (his Prospero reckoned better even than Gielgud's), he was considered the greatest English actor in Chekhov, had an impressive film career (that included his debut in Hitchcock's celebrated "The Lady Vanishes", the schizophrenic ventriloquist in "Dead of Night" (the book's jacket illustration), Crocker Harris in "The Browning Version" and Barnes Wallis in "The Dam Busters", and then in his prime contracted Parkinson's disease and was no longer able to learn new roles. He wrote his memoirs, but these were noted as much for what he left out, including his complex private life. In his thirties he had an affair with Edith Evans, then England's leading actress and 20 years his senior. But he had realised his bisexuality while at university and soon began a series of homosexual affairs, which are revealed here - names are named - for the first time. This biography has exclusive access to the papers recently sold to the Theatre Museum and allow Strachan to tell stories that involve not only fellow actors, but Anthony Blunt, Alistair Cooke and the political left of the 30s, 40s and 50s. Strachan shows how the children - and now their children - have been influenced by Michael Redgrave. Strachan directed Redgrave in his last years and knows the family well.

About the Author: Alan Strachan is a noted theatre director (Noel Coward, Simon Gray as well as work at the National Theatre). One of his greatest successes was directing Maureen Lipman's re-creation of Joyce Grenfell, in RE: JOYCE. He is also a writer on acting and contributes most of the theatrical obits to THE INDEPENDENT. He is married to the actress Jennifer Piercey.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Secret Dreams: A Biography of Michael ...
Publisher: WandN
Publication Date: 2004
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Used; Good