History Creator / MichaelRedgrave

* ''Film/AliceInWonderland'' (1966) ... as the Caterpillar

* ''[[Film/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' (1956) ... as General O'Connor

Achieving equal success in stage and film, Redgrave was one of the most popular English stars of the 1940s and 1950s, on a par with fellow British actors Creator/LaurenceOlivier and John Gielgud. Some of his best remembered works from this period are his performance as deranged ventriloquist Maxwell Frere in horror AnthologyFilm ''Film/DeadOfNight'' (1945), bitter schoolmaster Andrew Crocker-Harris in the famous adaptation of Rattigan's ''Theatre/TheBrowningVersion'' (1951), and inventor [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Barnes Wallis]] in popular war movie ''Film/TheDamBusters'' (1955). On stage, Redgrave's interpretation of Theatre/{{Hamlet}} (Stratford, 1958) and Theatre/UncleVanya (Chichester, 1962 and Old Vic, 1963) continue to dominate [[https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/jul/31/theatre.shakespeare critics']] [[https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/may/18/great-performances-michael-redgrave-uncle-vanya-chichester lists]] of the most compelling theatrical performances of all time.

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE (20 March 1908 -- 21 March 1985), is regarded as one of the greatest English theatre and film actors of the 20th century. Born to stage and silent film actor Roy Redgrave and his wife, actress Margaret Scudamore, Redgrave was attracted to acting from an early age but was encouraged to pursue a more conventional career by his mother. He graduated from Cambridge and taught modern languages at the prestigious Cranleigh School in his early twenties before succumbing to the lure of the stage. After a string of acclaimed performances in prominent productions, Redgrave accepted Creator/AlfredHitchcock's offer to play the male lead in the British thriller, ''Film/TheLadyVanishes'', and instantaneously [[StarMakingRole shot to international fame]]. From then, his career never looked back.

* ''Film/AliceInWonderland1966'' (1966) ... as the Caterpillar

* ''Film/NicholasAndAlexandra'' (1971) ... Sazonov
* ''WesternAnimation/{{A Christmas Carol|1971}}'' (1971) ... narrator of animated short

[[caption-width-right:350:Sir Michael Redgrave]]

* ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' (1947) ... as Orin Mannon

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE (March 20th 1908 -- March 21st 1985), is regarded as one of the greatest English theatre and film actors of the 20th century. Born to stage and silent film actor Roy Redgrave and his wife, actress Margaret Scudamore, Redgrave was attracted to acting from an early age but was encouraged to pursue a more conventional career by his mother. He graduated from Cambridge and taught modern languages at the prestigious Cranleigh School in his early twenties before succumbing to the lure of the stage. After a string of acclaimed performances in prominent productions, Redgrave accepted Creator/AlfredHitchcock's offer to play the male lead in the British thriller, ''Film/TheLadyVanishes'', and instantaneously [[StarMakingRole shot to international fame]]. From then, his career never looked back.

Redgrave was married to actress Rachel Kempson, later Lady Redgrave, and is the patriarch of the famous Redgrave dynasty, which includes daughters [[Creator/VanessaRedgrave Vanessa]] and Lynn Redgrave, son Corin Redgrave, and grandchildren Creator/NatashaRichardson, Joely Richardson and Jemma Redgrave. Following his death, rumours of Redgrave's bisexuality were confirmed in his family's memoirs and by friends.

* YourMakeUpIsRunning: Redgrave evoked this trope to take revenge on fellow actor Geoffrey Edwards during a production of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (Liverpool Playhouse, 1935). Redgrave was playing Horatio to Edwards' Hamlet, and was required to grieve while cradling Hamlet's body. Always able to cry on cue, Redgrave turned on the waterworks so that "a large splash of warm mascara fell on Hamlet's chin."

* ShakespeareanActors: One of the finest. Modern critics often contend that the so-called triumvirate of theatre greats - Creator/LaurenceOlivier, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson - should actually be described as a "quartet", with Redgrave [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3616240/The-theatres-fourth-man.html being counted as the fourth member]]. In his lifetime, Redgrave was occasionally relegated to a lower stature than the other three because influential critics James Agate and Kenneth Tynan disliked his "intellectual" approach.

** Redgrave also acted with his daughter, Creator/VanessaRedgrave, in ''Behind the Mask'' (1958), where she played his daughter, and in the musical ''Oh, What a Lovely War'' (1969). The latter also featured his son, Corin, in a major role.

* ''The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner'' (1962) ... as the Ruxton Towers Reformatory Governor