A longtime member of Britain's Workers Revolutionary Party
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.".
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.
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.
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! (1966) and Georgy Girl (1966).
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).
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).
Both she and sister Lynn Redgrave were nominated for the 1967 Best Actress Academy Award. Vanessa was nominated for Morgan! (1966) and Lynn for Georgy Girl (1966). They both lost to Elizabeth Taylor, who won for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).
Claims to be on hit-list of neo-Nazi group Combat 18. [February 1997]
Daughter of Michael Redgrave & Rachel Kempson, older sister of Lynn Redgrave & Corin Redgrave, mother of Natasha Richardson & Joely Richardson.
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.
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.
First performer to win two individual Acting Awards at the Cannes Festival. (Dean Stockwell won twice at the festival before, but he had to share both of his awards with his co-stars)
Former mother-in-law of Working Title films co-producer Tim Bevan.
Granddaughter of Roy Redgrave.
Her three children are actresses Natasha Richardson and Joely Richardson from her marriage to Tony Richardson and Carlo Gabriel Nero with Italian actor Franco Nero.
In 1962, she became one of the first celebrities to visit communist Cuba.
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).