Redgrave dynasty star dies

Lynn Redgrave who stepped out of the shadows of her acting family to star in the classic 1966 British comedy Georgy Girl, has died age 67.

 Her death from breast cancer at her home in Connecticut on Sunday, comes less than a month after her actor brother Corin died after a short illness.

The youngest child of the renowned actor Sir Michael Redgrave and actress Rachel Kempson, Redgrave spent much of her life living in the shadow of her parents and siblings including her sister, the Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave. In a 1999 interview she admitted that, growing up, her parents had few expectations of her. "It was always, ‘Corin’s the brain, Vanessa the shining star, oh, and then there’s Lynn."
But it was her turn as the ‘ugly duckling’ of Georgy Girl, starring opposite James Mason, which made her an international star, earning her an Oscar nomination for best actress in a leading role.
Moving to the US saw Redgrave develop a 50-year career as a respected and versatile actress on her own terms, away from her family. In 1999 she won a Golden Globe and received her second Oscar nomination, for best supporting actress, for her role as the Hungarian housekeeper in Gods and Monsters the biopic about homosexual film director James Whale starring Ian McKellen.
Yesterday director Michael Winner, who cast Redgrave in one of her first film roles, described her as a "phenomenal actress, she could do comedy, tragedy – anything really – with absolute ease". The former chat show host Sir Michael Parkinson said Redgrave was "maybe the jolliest and most likeable of all the family… she had a great comedic talent."
One of Redgrave’s last appearances in public was at her 70-year-old brother Corin’s funeral on April 12. Her death comes just comes just over a year since her niece, the actress Natasha Richardson, died of head injuries following a freak skiing accident last April.