Actress Rachel Kempson—who was perhaps best known as the mother of Vanessa, Lynn, and Corin Redgrave—died Fri., May 23, in Millbrook, NY, at the home of her granddaughter, actress Natasha Richardson. She was 92.
Before Kempson met her husband, actor Michael Redgrave, in 1934 at the Liverpool Rep, her roster of theatre credits included frequent appearances at Stratford's Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. Later, in the mid-1940s, after assuming the role of mom to her three kids, she returned to the stage, starring with her husband in such hits as "Uncle Harry" and "Jacobowsky and the Colonel."
In the 1950s she became a founding member of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court. In later years, she costarred with Alec Guinness in "A Family and a Fortune" (1975) and "The Old Country" (1979).
Kempson also enjoyed a career in film, appearing in "Georgy Girl" (starring daughter Lynn Redgrave) and "Out of Africa." Kempson starred in PBS's "The Jewel in the Crown" for Masterpiece Theatre in 1984. Her last stage appearance took place in 1998 at the Los Angeles Central Library, in a reading of Chekhov's "The Lady with the Dog." Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave and Gregory Peck were also participants.
The Dartmouth, England-born Kempson trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before launching her acting career. She became Lady Redgrave in 1959 when Queen Elizabeth II knighted her husband, who passed away in 1984.
Kempson's daughter Lynn is currently appearing on Broadway in Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" at the Minetta Lane Theatre; while Vanessa is playing Mary Tyrone Off-Broadway in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at the Plymouth Theatre. Both actresses received Drama Desk awards for their performances. Vanessa earned a Tony nomination for her role of the tortured, morphine-addicted heroine.
Kempson's son Corin Redgrave was recently seen Off-Broadway, performing in Richard Nelson's "The General From America." Earlier he starred on Broadway in Tennessee Williams' "Not About Nightingales." Granddaughter Natasha Richardson is currently starring in a revival of Ibsen's "The Lady From the Sea" at the Almeida Theatre in London.
Kempson is survived by her three children and 10 grandchildren, who also include actresses Joely Richardson and Jemma Redgrave.