Actress Lynn Redgrave, who battled breast cancer for years, died Sunday at her home in Connecticut, surrounded by her children and friends, according to the AP. Her publicist, on behalf of the family, issued a statement that said “she lived, loved and worked harder than ever before” during her seven year struggle with the disease.
Last April, the Tony and Oscar nominated actress brought her solo show to the Folger: Rachel and Juliet: An Evening with Lynn Redgrave, which paid tribute to her mother, the actress Rachel Kempson, and her mother’s lifelong love of and devotion to the role of Juliet.
You can read more coverage on her Web site
“Valiant to the end.” Those were my wife’s words when I told her this
morning’s unwelcome news about Lynn Redgrave. For other reactions
to these sad tidings, see the links provided at http://www.redgrave.com.
Lynn was one of the most generous people that Jan and I ever had the
privilege to meet. She endured far more than her share of adversity. But
rather than burdening others with it, she became proverbial for the courage
with which she persevered, and for the grace with which she remained
focused on her commitments and on the friends and loved ones in her life.
We’ll always be grateful for the opportunity to host two programs (one at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, the other at the National Arts Club in
New York) on the wrenching but inspirational photographic memoir that her
daughter Annabel Clark produced about Lynn’s struggle with breast cancer.
And we’ll long remember the care Lynn manifested, both then and later, in
her efforts to ensure that Annabel and her talented siblings flourished.
It would be difficult to identify another arts professional who could match
Lynn’s depth, range, and versatility. For many of her admirers it was all but
impossible to believe that the same actor could be inhabiting such diverse
personalities as the ones we experienced in films like Georgy Girl, Shine,
and Gods and Monsters. And how touching and penetrating Lynn was as
she delved into her emotional, intellectual, and artistic heritage through
theater scripts such as Shakespeare For My Father (an award-winning
meditation that resulted from producer Janet Griffin’s request for Lynn to
deliver a few remarks at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill),
The Mandrake Root, and Nightingale.
For anyone associated with the Shakespeare Guild, it would be hard to
imagine the Gielgud Award without Lynn. Not only was she one of our
most exemplary recipients of this laurel, in a spring 2003 Gramercy Park
ceremony that became a moving testimony to the entire Redgrave-Kempson
legacy. She was deeply involved in the honor from its inception (taking part
in the inaugural presentation of the Golden Quill at the Folger in 1996, when
she helped us bestow the trophy on Sir Ian McKellen) to its most recent
presentations (bringing eloquent, witty congratulatory messages to such
recipients as Christopher Plummer in 2006, Michael Kahn in 2007, and
Patrick Stewart in 2008).
As we continue to draw sustenance from Lynn’s beautiful journey, we
extend heartfelt sympathy to the surviving members of her remarkable
family, hoping that they will find consolation in all the warm memories
they cherish from a genuinely noble spirit.
John F. Andrews
President, The Shakespeare Guild
5B Calle San Martin
Santa Fe, NM 87506
Phone 505 988 9560 Fax 505 983 0806
http://www.shakesguild.org or http://www.esuwdc.org