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
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'As theatrical subjects go this is quite a scoop, and the author has had access to plenty of private papers that furnish the story with the crucial element of uncomfortable sexual candour. Names are named, in other words... This is very much a contemporary acting family given a fascinating historical dimension by this thorough, thoughtful biography.' (PUBLISHING NEWS )
'... Strachan writes well. His description of Redgrave's fairly miserable childhood is intelligent and readable...' (THE SUNDAY TIMES )
'Redgrave's bisexuality was kept secret during his lifetime, but has since been widely exposed. What startled me, reading this book, was the range of his partners - everyone from Noel Coward and Edith Evans to passing guardsmen.' (Lynn Barber DAILY TELEGRAPH )
'The book puts some juicy source material to good use. Letters between Redgrave's parents... yeild a story of bigamous marriage which might have been staged in repertoire with Black Ey'd Susan. Private diaries describe Redgrave's dormitory crushes and Aesthetic student years. Letters from Edith Evans commemorate an unexpectedly vigorous affair between Jack Worthing and Lady Bracknell: "Darling, please don't alter. I love you shamelessly."' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
'Strachan... convinced me that, at his best, Redgrave was indeed truly great... Strachan proves himself a natural and highly sympathetic biographer. His account of Redgrave's actor father Roy... brilliantly captures the rackety lives of Edwardian theatricals and the rigours of provincial touring. Strachan is equally good at evoking the Cambridge of the 1920s.' (THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
'In this excellent biography... the author convinced me that Redgrave's interpretations of such classic parts as Hamlet, Richard II, Shylock, Antony, Lear and, above all, Uncle Vanya were as great if not greater than any of his rivals. There are also illuminating insights into the many films... in which Redgrave conveyed repressed emotion with extraordinary economy... Strachan, who is a dab hand at the acerbic aside, has infectious fun rubbishing some of Regrave's lesser films...' (MAIL ON SUNDAY )
'Strachan, a Scots-born theatre director and writer, has produced an informed and readable life of a man remembered more for the dynasty he founded... than for his performances. Strachan redresses that imbalance; he also illuminates Redgrave's complex, unorthodox personal life, which is really the key to the book... Judged by Redgrave standards, the rest of the world appears very, very staid by comparison.' (THE HERALD (GLASGOW) )
'The fine and judicious biography [Strachan] has written does an important service in restoring a major figure to its rightful place in the theatrical landscape.' (Simon Callow THE GUARDIAN )
'first-rate biography' (Roger Lewis SUNDAY EXPRESS )
'Strachan's main aim... is 'the reclamation of a great actor': this study certainly represents a solid start.' (SCOTSMAN )
'Alan Strachan's biograpy of Redgrave is a fine work of scholarship and an excellent read. He is as expert at painting the Edwardian theatrical milieu in which Redgrave's parents made their careers as he is at unpicking the actor's tortuous private life... he deserves this exhaustive and entertaining study.' (THE TIMES )
'Strachan eloquently demolishes the view that Redgrave was an over-intellectual actor... Secret Dreams is fluently written and meticulously edited, and avoids theatrical gush, speculative psychobabble, and unreliable anecdotes. Strachan discusses Redgrave's weakneses as an actor intelligently and persuasively...' (NEW STATESMAN )
'... splendid, thorough and insightful... Strachan is a good, close reader of Redgrave's performances, and his comments upon them are accurate and refreshingly unhagiographic... excellent biography... full of arresting quotes and good anecdotes. Consistently absorbing and enjoyable, it is as good as Piers Paul Read's recent biography of Alec Guiness, and that is high praise indeed.' (LITERARY REVIEW )
'... absorbing and informative biography ... Strachan opens a door onto many great performances... His analysis of every film role is superb, the research torrential ... Here is a wealth of stage-lore, cultural history, well-organized biography and critical insight unmatched in recent years ... if Michael Redgrave is now a forgotton actor, SECRET DREAMS will pacify all those who feel this to be one of posterity's unjust verdicts.' (TLS )
'... Strachan writes well. His description of Redgrave's fairly miserable childhood is intelligent and readable...' (THE SUNDAY TIMES )
'Redgrave's bisexuality was kept secret during his lifetime, but has since been widely exposed. What startled me, reading this book, was the range of his partners - everyone from Noel Coward and Edith Evans to passing guardsmen.' (Lynn Barber DAILY TELEGRAPH )
'The book puts some juicy source material to good use. Letters between Redgrave's parents... yeild a story of bigamous marriage which might have been staged in repertoire with Black Ey'd Susan. Private diaries describe Redgrave's dormitory crushes and Aesthetic student years. Letters from Edith Evans commemorate an unexpectedly vigorous affair between Jack Worthing and Lady Bracknell: "Darling, please don't alter. I love you shamelessly."' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
'Strachan... convinced me that, at his best, Redgrave was indeed truly great... Strachan proves himself a natural and highly sympathetic biographer. His account of Redgrave's actor father Roy... brilliantly captures the rackety lives of Edwardian theatricals and the rigours of provincial touring. Strachan is equally good at evoking the Cambridge of the 1920s.' (THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
'In this excellent biography... the author convinced me that Redgrave's interpretations of such classic parts as Hamlet, Richard II, Shylock, Antony, Lear and, above all, Uncle Vanya were as great if not greater than any of his rivals. There are also illuminating insights into the many films... in which Redgrave conveyed repressed emotion with extraordinary economy... Strachan, who is a dab hand at the acerbic aside, has infectious fun rubbishing some of Regrave's lesser films...' (MAIL ON SUNDAY )
'Strachan, a Scots-born theatre director and writer, has produced an informed and readable life of a man remembered more for the dynasty he founded... than for his performances. Strachan redresses that imbalance; he also illuminates Redgrave's complex, unorthodox personal life, which is really the key to the book... Judged by Redgrave standards, the rest of the world appears very, very staid by comparison.' (THE HERALD (GLASGOW) )
'The fine and judicious biography [Strachan] has written does an important service in restoring a major figure to its rightful place in the theatrical landscape.' (Simon Callow THE GUARDIAN )
'first-rate biography' (Roger Lewis SUNDAY EXPRESS )
'Strachan's main aim... is 'the reclamation of a great actor': this study certainly represents a solid start.' (SCOTSMAN )
'Alan Strachan's biograpy of Redgrave is a fine work of scholarship and an excellent read. He is as expert at painting the Edwardian theatrical milieu in which Redgrave's parents made their careers as he is at unpicking the actor's tortuous private life... he deserves this exhaustive and entertaining study.' (THE TIMES )
'Strachan eloquently demolishes the view that Redgrave was an over-intellectual actor... Secret Dreams is fluently written and meticulously edited, and avoids theatrical gush, speculative psychobabble, and unreliable anecdotes. Strachan discusses Redgrave's weakneses as an actor intelligently and persuasively...' (NEW STATESMAN )
'... splendid, thorough and insightful... Strachan is a good, close reader of Redgrave's performances, and his comments upon them are accurate and refreshingly unhagiographic... excellent biography... full of arresting quotes and good anecdotes. Consistently absorbing and enjoyable, it is as good as Piers Paul Read's recent biography of Alec Guiness, and that is high praise indeed.' (LITERARY REVIEW )
'... absorbing and informative biography ... Strachan opens a door onto many great performances... His analysis of every film role is superb, the research torrential ... Here is a wealth of stage-lore, cultural history, well-organized biography and critical insight unmatched in recent years ... if Michael Redgrave is now a forgotton actor, SECRET DREAMS will pacify all those who feel this to be one of posterity's unjust verdicts.' (TLS )
Roger Lewis, SUNDAY EXPRESS
'first-rate biography'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
On Sunday, 24 April 1960, Michael Redgrave must have felt at the pinnacle of both personal and professional success. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
On Sunday, 24 April 1960, Michael Redgrave must have felt at the pinnacle of both personal and professional success. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By M. J. Saxton
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An absorbing read, it explores the life of a, now, half forgotten actor. What it has to say about his work and technique is fascinating.
It is a book any actor should read for ideas on role development.
A much greater part of the book is, of course, a chronicle of his life and loves. This is where the writer's affection for his subject is transparent: Michael Redgrave could obviously be very selfish and self-indulgent in his personal life, perhaps a trait of bisexuality, but Strachan never becomes censorious or vindictive. This gives the book an added quality by its honesty.
Star names abound, which is always good in a biography, providing the chance to wallow in a past world of glamour, but not skimping on the detail of just how financially unrewarding the life of a star can be.
This is a book of wonderful style and content.
It is a book any actor should read for ideas on role development.
A much greater part of the book is, of course, a chronicle of his life and loves. This is where the writer's affection for his subject is transparent: Michael Redgrave could obviously be very selfish and self-indulgent in his personal life, perhaps a trait of bisexuality, but Strachan never becomes censorious or vindictive. This gives the book an added quality by its honesty.
Star names abound, which is always good in a biography, providing the chance to wallow in a past world of glamour, but not skimping on the detail of just how financially unrewarding the life of a star can be.
This is a book of wonderful style and content.
Format:Hardcover
In my opinion, Michael Redgrave's greatest legacy is his two masterly screen performances: the ventriloquist Maxwell Frere in 'Dead of Night' (1945) and the schoolmaster Crocker-Harris in 'The Browning Version' (1951). I was also aware that Redgrave had an interesting complex private life, so I picked up Alan Strachan's biography with eager anticipation.
This is a thorough workmanlike biography which does, however, concentrate on Redgrave's professional rather than his personal life. The author is a theatre director and his knowledge, and experience, is an asset when analysing Redgrave's performances both in the theatre and on screen.
Some readers may feel that Redgrave's personal life is not covered adequately enough, but I don't see this as a drawback. Strachan is playing to his strengths here by drawing on his own theatrical background to inform his viewpoint.
One always assumes that actors of the calibre of Michael Redgrave, who enjoyed a steady success throughout their working life, had no money worries. Not so - Redgrave's film work was often undertaken to satisfy the latest demand from the Inland Revenue.
The unsung heroine of Redgrave's life is his wife Rachel Kempson, whose generosity of spirit regarding her husband's extra-marital affairs with male lovers was admirable, or deluded, depending on your viewpoint.
Redgrave's final years were blighted by Parkinson's disease but Strachan, who, by then, knew his biographee personally, was among a number of people who ensured that Redgrave continued to work in projects tailored to accommodate his illness, such as poetry readings.
This is a thorough workmanlike biography which does, however, concentrate on Redgrave's professional rather than his personal life. The author is a theatre director and his knowledge, and experience, is an asset when analysing Redgrave's performances both in the theatre and on screen.
Some readers may feel that Redgrave's personal life is not covered adequately enough, but I don't see this as a drawback. Strachan is playing to his strengths here by drawing on his own theatrical background to inform his viewpoint.
One always assumes that actors of the calibre of Michael Redgrave, who enjoyed a steady success throughout their working life, had no money worries. Not so - Redgrave's film work was often undertaken to satisfy the latest demand from the Inland Revenue.
The unsung heroine of Redgrave's life is his wife Rachel Kempson, whose generosity of spirit regarding her husband's extra-marital affairs with male lovers was admirable, or deluded, depending on your viewpoint.
Redgrave's final years were blighted by Parkinson's disease but Strachan, who, by then, knew his biographee personally, was among a number of people who ensured that Redgrave continued to work in projects tailored to accommodate his illness, such as poetry readings.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
