Patriarch of Stage, Film Dynasty : Actor Sir Michael Redgrave Dies

Sir Michael Redgrave, the British film and stage actor and patriarch of the Redgrave acting dynasty, died today. He was 77 and had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for 12 years.

Redgrave died at a nursing home in the county of Buckinghamshire west of London. His agent said his son, Corin, was at his bedside when he died.

Redgrave, one of the most accomplished actors of a generation that includes Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud, starred in dozens of plays and in movies ranging from Alfred Hitchcock’s widely acclaimed “The Lady Vanishes” to the classic thriller “Dead of Night,” in which he played a ventriloquist haunted by his own dummy.

Published Autobiography

Illness had kept him off the stage since the 1970s, but in 1983 he published his autobiography, “In My Mind’s Eye.”

The child of actors George Ellworthy Redgrave and Margaret Scudamore, he was the father of actresses Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave, as well as son Corin, who was an actor before going into radical politics.

“The Go-Between” and “Nicholas and Alexandra” marked the end of his film career with the onset of Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder characterized by tremors and muscular rigidity.

His death came four days before the annual Academy Awards, for which his daughter Vanessa is nominated for best actress in “The Bostonians.” His wife, actress Rachel Kempson, was recently seen in the United States starring in the British television drama series “The Jewel in the Crown.”

‘Not an Easy Time’

In an interview on his 70th birthday, Redgrave said: “I’m not going to pretend that this is an easy or especially happy time for me. For a long time nobody understood the Parkinson’s condition and doctors thought I was just forgetful or drunk, and even now the work isn’t easy.

“But when I do look back, it’s almost always in amazement and gratitude at the way my career has gone and the people I’ve been allowed to know.”

Born Michael Scudamore Redgrave in Bristol on March 20, 1908, he made his first stage appearance as a babe in arms in Melbourne when his parents were touring Australia.

Discouraged from acting by his mother who, Redgrave said, thought him “too tall to make a success,” Redgrave graduated from Cambridge University and began teaching modern languages.

Brush With Politics

In 1934, an amateur interest in the theater turned professional and he joined the Liverpool Playhouse Company, where he played opposite--and later married--Kempson.

Redgrave served in the Royal Navy during World War II but not before he faced, as he put it, “my 20 minutes in politics.”

The actor became known, briefly, as “Red Redgrave” in 1941 for endorsing an anti-war, Communist-front organization. He was banned by the British Broadcasting Corp. until Prime Minister Winston Churchill opposed the ban.

The actor was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1959.