Vanessa Redgrave

Along with Claude Rains ( for Mr. Skeffington (1944)), Kate Winslet (for Iris (2001/I)) and Mare Winningham (for Georgia (1995)), she is the only performer to be nominated for an Supporting Oscar (for Julia (1977)) for playing the title role in a movie. Redgrave is the only one to win.

Trained for the stage at the central school for Speech and Drama in London, and in 1959 became a member of the acclaimed Stratford-Upon-Avon Theatre Company.

In 1962, she became one of the first celebrities to visit communist Cuba.

Both she and sister Lynn Redgrave were nominated for the 1967 Best Actress Academy Award. Vanessa was nominated for Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966) and Lynn for Georgy Girl (1966). They both lost to Elizabeth Taylor, who won for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

She was the first of the only four actresses to win the Best Actress award twice at Cannes Film Festival. She won for Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966) in 1966 and Isadora (1968) in 1968. The others are: Isabelle Huppert for Violette Nozière (1978) in 1978 and La pianiste (2001) in 2001; Helen Mirren for Cal (1984) in 1984 and The Madness of King George (1994) in 1995; Barbara Hershey for Shy People (1987) in 1987 and A World Apart (1988) in 1988.

Refused to accept any money for her role as Anne Boleyn in A Man for All Seasons (1966).

Was offered the role of Margaret More in A Man for All Seasons (1966) but she turned it down due her commitments to the theatre and opted for the cameo role of Anne Boleyn instead. Susannah York was cast as Margaret More instead.

Appeared as an illustration on the cover of Time magazine (March 17, 1967) with sister Lynn Redgrave. Both sisters had just been respectively Oscar-nominated for Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966) and Georgy Girl (1966).

She was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1967 for her services to drama.

Son, Carlo Gabriel Nero, with Franco Nero. The two met while working together in Camelot (1967).

Named Jeanne Moreau as co-respondent in her 1967 divorce from Tony Richardson on grounds of adultery.

She and her brother, the late Corin Redgrave, both appeared in films based on the legend of "King Arthur". Vanessa played "Queen Guinevere" in Camelot (1967) while Corin played "Lord Cornwall" in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981).

After filming Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), The Devils (1971) and The Trojan Women (1971), she suffered a miscarriage in 1971. It was a boy and would have been her and Franco Nero's second child.

After filming The Trojan Women (1971), Katharine Hepburn favored Vanessa Redgrave over all actresses and later remarked that she was, "A thrill to look at and to listen to.".

Both she and her daughter Joely Richardson have played an historical queen who was executed by beheading. Redgrave played the title character in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) while her daughter played Marie Antoinette in The Affair of the Necklace (2001).

First met long time partner Timothy Dalton on the set of Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) in 1970. Their relationship reportedly blossomed after a heated 6 hour argument regarding the true meaning of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech.

In 2003, she became the sixteenth performer to win the Triple Crown of acting. Oscar: Best Supporting Actress, Julia (1977), Tony: Best Actress-Play, "Long Day's Journey into Night" (2003), and Emmys: Best Actress-Limited Series/Special, Playing for Time (1980) (TV) & Best Supporting Actress-Miniseries/Movie, If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) (TV).

Was in a long relationship with former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton [1980-1994]

Didn't attend the Academy Awards ceremony, the year her performance in The Bostonians (1984) was nominated because her father had died a few days prior. She was in Los Angeles at the time of his death attending Academy functions and conferences and flew back to the UK.

She was awarded the 1985 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for her performance in The Seagull.

She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1985 (1984 season) for Best Actress in a Revival for "The Aspern Papers".

She was awarded the 1985 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Actor in The Seagull.

On a June 2005 appearance on "Larry King Live" (1985), she expressed her fondness for the movie Meet the Fockers (2004) and said that the film should have won an Academy Award.

Was set to star in Dario Argento's Opera (1987), but dropped out shortly before production was scheduled to commence.

She was awarded the 1988 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in A Touch of the Poet.

She was awarded the 1991 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in When She Danced.

Claims to be on hit-list of neo-Nazi group Combat 18. [February 1997]

She was nominated for a 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play of 1996 for her performance in "John Gabriel Borkman".

She allegedly refused the British honour of Dame of the order of the British Empire in 1999.

Won Broadway's 2003 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for a revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night."

Plays mother to real-lifer daughter Joely Richardson in a few episodes of "Nip/Tuck" (2003).

Appeared on "BBC News 24" Breakfast and stated that the massacre of Russian school children by Chechen guerrillas was not an act of terrorism. (4 September 2004).

Spoke at the Scottish Parliment in the summer of 2005.

Voted by People magazine (May 8th 2006) as one of the 100 most beautiful people.

Won the Drama Desk award in 2007 for Best Actor in a Solo performance for "The Year of Magical Thinking". She also received her second Tony award nomination for Best Actress for the same play.

Nominated for the 2007 Tony Award (New York City) for Actress in a Drama for "The Year of Magical Thinking".

Lost her daughter, Natasha Richardson, on March 18, 2009 as the result of a skiing accident at Mont Tremblant, Quebec.

Lost her daughter Natasha Richardson, her younger brother and sister, Corin Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave, in the space of just 14 months. Corin and Lynn died within a month of one another. [March 2009 - May 2010]

After the death of her daughter, she subsequently dropped out of Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (2010) in which she had a supporting role. Eileen Atkins replaced her.