Micael Redgrave, My Father

Standing tall at the center of the talented Redgrave family was, for decades, the distinguished British actor Michael Redgrave (1908-1985), best known to American audiences for his work in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes and as the father of Vanessa and Lynn. In this memoir, his son, Corin, a political activist and actor, writes with affection and candor of his father's private life, combining personal memories with family stories and excerpts from Michael's diaries. The author offers revealing glimpses of his mother, actress Rachel Kempson, of his sisters as young girls and of his complicated relationship with his father. The book is not a full-scale biography; nor is it organized chronologically. Instead, Redgrave arranges chapters by topic--Michael as father, as actor, as writer. Most appealing is a compassionate account of Michael's bisexuality, a subject that the family patriarch avoided in his own memoirs. At one point, Corin's radical politics intrude as he dwells on a minor squabble in the pre-WWII British Left. But otherwise this is a charming, witty and, ultimately, very moving account of one of the great actors of the English stage and screen by someone who knew him intimately. Included are a chronology of Michael Redgrave's life and a list of all his performances and productions. Photographs. (July)