Vanessa Redgrave is an English actress whose career has spanned over six decades. She began her career in theater before making her feature film debut in Behind the Mask (1958), before starring in the Italian thriller Blowup (1966), and the comedy Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment (also 1966), the latter of which earned her her first Academy Award nomination (in the category of Best Actress), as well as a BAFTA nomination. Redgrave subsequently starred in the musical Camelot (1967), before portraying American dancer Isadora Duncan in the biopic Isadora (1968), which earned her a second Academy Award nomination. Her portrayal of the title character in 1971's Mary, Queen of Scots earned Redgrave a third Academy Award nomination. The same year, she appeared in Ken Russell's controversial historical drama-horror film The Devils.
Redgrave garnered widespread praise for her leading role in the drama Julia (1977), opposite Jane Fonda, for which she won her first Academy Award, in the category of Best Supporting Actress, as well as a Golden Globe award. She followed this with the title character of Agatha (1979), a biopic of writer Agatha Christie, before starring in The Bostonians (1984), a James Ivory-directed adaptation of the 1886 novel of the same name by American writer Henry James; this role earned Redgrave her fifth Academy Award nomination. She subsequently starred as the transgender tennis player Renée Richards in the television film Second Serve (1986), which earned her her seventh Golden Globe nomination.
In 1990, Redgrave starred in a film version of Tennessee Williams's Orpheus Descending, reprising the role she had played on Broadway, both under the direction of Peter Hall. She followed this with a lead role opposite her sister, Lynn, in a television film version of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane...?, and also appeared in a leading role in the independent drama The Ballad of the Sad Café (both 1991). She received a sixth Academy Award nomination for her role in Howards End (1992), an adaptation of the 1910 E. M. Forster novel of the same name. Through the 1990s, Redgrave appeared in a number of mainstream American films, including the thriller Mother's Boys (1993), Brian De Palma's action spy film Mission: Impossible (1996), Deep Impact (1998), and the period drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). She subsequently earned further acclaim for her role in the lesbian-themed anthology film If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Film.
Redgrave continued to appear in supporting parts, including the Sean Penn-directed thriller The Pledge (2001), the television Lord Byron biopic Byron (2003), and the dramas Evening (2007) and Atonement (2007). From 2004 to 2009, Redgrave had a recurring guest role on the television series Nip/Tuck, portraying Dr. Erica Noughton. In the 2010s, she appeared in supporting roles in several critically acclaimed studio films, such as Lee Daniels's The Butler (2013), Foxcatcher (2014), and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017).
| Year | Title | Role | Director(s) | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Behind the Mask | |||||
| 1966 | Blow-Up | Jane | ||||
| data-sort-value="Man All Seasons" | A Man For All Seasons | |||||
| Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment | Leonie Delt | Academy Award for Best Actress nomination | ||||
| 1967 | Camelot | Guinevere | ||||
| data-sort-value="Sailor Gibraltar" | Red, White and Zero | Jacky | Segment: Red and Blue (unreleased) | |||
| data-sort-value="Sailor Gibraltar" | The Sailor from Gibraltar | Sheila | ||||
| 1968 | ||||||
| Isadora | Academy Award for Best Actress nomination | |||||
| Flavia | Italian Un tranquillo posto di campagna | |||||
| Nina | ||||||
| 1969 | Oh! What a Lovely War | |||||
| 1970 | Dropout | Mary | ||||
| 1971 | ||||||
| Mary, Queen of Scots | Mary, Queen of Scots | Academy Award for Best Actress nomination | ||||
| Andromache | ||||||
| Vacation | Italian: La vacanza | |||||
| 1974 | Murder on the Orient Express | |||||
| 1975 | Out of Season | Ann | ||||
| 1976 | ||||||
| 1977 | Julia | Julia | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress winner | |||
| 1979 | Agatha | |||||
| Bear Island | ||||||
| Yanks | Helen | |||||
| 1983 | Sing Sing | Queen | ||||
| 1984 | Academy Award for Best Actress nomination | |||||
| 1985 | Steaming | Nancy | ||||
| Wetherby | ||||||
| 1986 | Comrades | |||||
| 1987 | Prick Up Your Ears | |||||
| 1988 | Consuming Passions | |||||
| 1990 | Romeo.Juliet | |||||
| Breath of Life | Italian: Diceria dell'untore | |||||
| Stalin's Funeral | English journalist | [1] | ||||
| 1991 | ||||||
| 1992 | Howards End | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination | ||||
| 1993 | Spanish; Castilian: Un Muro de Silencio | |||||
| Sparrow | Italian: Storia di una capinera | |||||
| Great Moments in Aviation | ||||||
| They | ||||||
| 1994 | Mother's Boys | |||||
| Little Odessa | ||||||
| 1995 | ||||||
| 1996 | Mission: Impossible | Max | ||||
| 1997 | Smilla's Sense of Snow | |||||
| Wilde | ||||||
| Mrs. Dalloway | ||||||
| Déjà Vu | Skelly | |||||
| 1998 | Deep Impact | |||||
| Lulu on the Bridge | ||||||
| 1999 | Cradle Will Rock | |||||
| Uninvited | ||||||
| Girl, Interrupted | ||||||
| 2000 | Mirka | Kalsan | ||||
| 2001 | ||||||
| 2002 | Crime and Punishment | Rodian's Mother | ||||
| Searching for Debra Winger | Herself | Documentary film | ||||
| 2003 | Good Boy! | Voice role | ||||
| 2004 | Woman | Also executive producer | ||||
| 2005 | ||||||
| Short Order | Marianne | |||||
| 2006 | ||||||
| Venus | Valerie | |||||
| 2007 | ||||||
| How About You | ||||||
| Evening | ||||||
| Atonement | ||||||
| 2008 | Restraint | Sky News Reader | ||||
| God, Smell and Her | ||||||
| 2010 | Eva | Eva | ||||
| Letters to Juliet | ||||||
| Miral | ||||||
| Animals United | Winnie | Voice only (English dub) | ||||
| 2011 | Anonymous | |||||
| Cars 2 | / Queen | Voice role | ||||
| Coriolanus | Volumnia | |||||
| 2012 | Song for Marion | Marion | ||||
| data-sort-value="Last Will and Testament" | The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh | |||||
| 2013 | ||||||
| 2014 | Foxcatcher | |||||
| 2016 | data-sort-value="Secret Scripture" | The Secret Scripture | ||||
| 2017 | Sea Sorrow | Director | ||||
| Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool | ||||||
| Herself | Documentary film | |||||
| 2018 | data-sort-value="Aspern Papers" | The Aspern Papers | ||||
| 2019 | Georgetown | [2] | ||||
| Mrs Lowry & Son | ||||||
| 2021 | Finding You | |||||
| 2022 | The Lost Girls | |||||
| TBC | Alice, Through the Looking | The Narrator | Adam Donen | Voice role | [3] | |
| TBC | Cold Storage | [4] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | data-sort-value="Farewell" | A Farewell to Arms | Miniseries | ||
| 1973 | data-sort-value="Picture Katherine" | A Picture of Katherine Mansfield | Television film | ||
| 1980 | Playing for Time | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special winner Television film | |||
| 1982 | My Body, My Child | Television film | |||
| 1983 | Wagner | Miniseries | |||
| 1984 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Episode Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | |||
| 1985 | American Playhouse | Three-part series Three Sovereigns for Sarah | |||
| 1986 | Peter the Great | Miniseries | |||
| Second Serve | Television film | ||||
| 1988 | |||||
| 1990 | Orpheus Descending | ||||
| 1991 | What Ever Happened to... | ||||
| Young Catherine | |||||
| 1992 | Episode: "London, May 1916" | ||||
| 1995 | Down Came a Blackbird | Television film | |||
| Grandmother (live-action) / Narrator (animated) | |||||
| 1996 | Two Mothers for Zachary | ||||
| 1997 | Bella Mafia | ||||
| 2000 | If These Walls Could Talk 2 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie winner Television film; Segment: 1961 | |||
| 2001 | Miniseries; also narrator | ||||
| 2002 | Television film | ||||
| 2003 | Byron | ||||
| 2004–2009 | Nip/Tuck | 10 episodes | |||
| 2006 | Miniseries | ||||
| 2008 | Ein Job | Television film | |||
| 2009 | Durrant | Miniseries; part two | |||
| 2012 | Political Animals | Miniseries; 1 episode: "The Woman Problem" | |||
| 2012–present | Call the Midwife | Mature (narrator) | Drama series | ||
| 2013 | Television film | ||||
| 2014 | Black Box | Drama series; 1 season | |||
| 2015 | Television film | ||||
| 2017 | Man in an Orange Shirt | Flora | Miniseries | ||
| 2020 | Worzel Gummidge | Peg | Episode: "Saucy Nancy" | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Caroline Lester | Saville Theatre | |||
| 1958 | Sarah Undershaft | Royal Court Theatre | |||
| 1959 | Helena | Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon | |||
| 1959 | Coriolanus | Valeria | Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon | [5] | |
| 1960 | Rose Sinclair | Comedy Theatre | |||
| 1960 | Stella | Queen's Theatre | |||
| 1961 | Boletta | Queen's Theatre | |||
| 1961-62 | As You Like It | Rosalind | Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Aldwych Theatre | ||
| 1961-62 | The Taming of the Shrew | Katharina | Royal Shakespeare Company Aldwych Theatre Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon | ||
| 1962 | Cymbeline | Imogen | Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon | ||
| 1964 | Nina | Queen's Theatre | |||
| 1966 | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | Jean Brodie | Wyndham's Theatre | ||
| 1969 | Gwendolen Harleth | University Theatre, Manchester | |||
| 1971 | Susan Thistlewood | The Young Vic | |||
| 1972 | Polly Peachum | Prince of Wales Theatre | |||
| 1972 | Viola | Shaw Theatre | |||
| 1973 | Cleopatra | Bankside Globe Theatre | |||
| 1973 | Gilda | Phoenix Theatre | |||
| 1974-75 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles | ||
| 1976-79 | Ellida | Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester Roundhouse | [6] | ||
| 1984 | Miss Tina | Theatre Royal Haymarket | |||
| 1985 | Arkadina | Queen's Theatre | |||
| 1986 | Ghosts | Mrs. Alving | The Young Vic Wyndham's Theatre | ||
| 1986 | Cleopatra | Theatre Royal Haymarket | |||
| 1986 | Katharina | Theatre Royal Haymarket | |||
| 1988 | Nora | The Young Vic Comedy Theatre | |||
| 1988-89 | Orpheus Descending | Lady Torrance | Theatre Royal Haymarket Neil Simon Theatre, New York City | ||
| 1989 | Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith Apollo Theatre | ||||
| 1990 | Olga | Queen's Theatre | |||
| 1991 | Isadora Duncan | Globe Theatre | |||
| 1992 | Hesione Hushabye | Theatre Royal Haymarket | |||
| 1994 | Vita & Virginia | Vita Sackville-West | Union Square Theatre, New York City | ||
| 1994 | Brecht in Exile | Bridge Lane Theatre, Battersea | |||
| 1996 | Ella Rentheim | Royal National Theatre Lyttelton Theatre | |||
| 1997 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | The Public Theater, New York City | [7] | |
| 1999 | Carlotta | Gielgud Theatre | |||
| 2000 | Prospero | Shakespeare’s Globe | |||
| 2000-01 | Madame Ranevskaya | Royal National Theatre Cottesloe Theatre | |||
| 2002 | Mrs. Erlynne | Theatre Royal Haymarket | |||
| 2003 | Long Day's Journey Into Night | Mary Cavan Tyrone | Plymouth Theatre, New York City | ||
| 2005 | Hecuba | Hecuba | Royal Shakespeare Company Albery Theatre | ||
| 2007-08 | Joan Didion | Booth Theatre, New York City Royal National Theatre Lyttelton Theatre | |||
| 2010–11 | Driving Miss Daisy | Daisy Werthan | John Golden Theatre, New York City Wyndham's Theatre | ||
| 2013 | Maria | Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City | |||
| 2013 | Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | The Old Vic | [8] | |
| 2016 | Richard III | Queen Margaret | Almeida Theatre | [9] | |
| 2018–19 | Margaret | The Young Vic Noël Coward Theatre | [10] | ||
| 2022 | My Fair Lady | Mrs. Higgins | London Coliseum | [11] |