This Is Your Life: Rachel Kempson

Rachel KEMPSON Lady Redgrave (1910-2003)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Rachel Kempson, actress, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews as she arrived at Hatchard's bookshop in Kingston upon Thames, having been led to believe she was there to sign copies of her new book A Family and its Fortunes.

Rachel, who was born in Dartmouth, began acting with local amateur groups before training at RADA. Following a season with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford, she joined the Liverpool Playhouse, where she met the actor Michael Redgrave. They married in 1936 and appeared together in a season at London's Old Vic Theatre before Rachel took a career break to raise their family - daughters Vanessa and Lynn and son Corin - who would all become successful actors.

She resumed her career in the mid-1940s, appearing with Michael on stage at Stratford and in the films The Captive Heart and The Sea Shall Not Have Them. In the 1950s, she starred in seasons at the Royal Court Theatre and with the RSC in Stratford. On screen, she appeared in films such as Tom Jones and Georgy Girl and on television, notably in The Jewel in the Crown.

"It's not true! I don't believe it! Oh my god... how wonderful!"

programme details...

Edition No: 714
Subject No: 710
Broadcast date: Wed 17 Dec 1986
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Mon 15 Dec 1986
Venue: Teddington Studios
Series: 27
Edition: 10
Code name: Dynasty

on the guest list...

Vanessa Redgrave - daughter
Natasha Redgrave - granddaughter
Joely Richardson - granddaughter
Carlo Richardson - grandson
Corin Redgrave - son
Kika Markham - daughter-in-law
Mary Lee
Harvey - grandson
Arden - grandson
Luke - grandson
Jemma - granddaughter
Violet Hammond - cousin
Margaret Leslie
Nicholas - brother
Robin - nephew
Patricia Hayes
Dorothy Tutin
Constance Cummings
Robert Stephens
Kenneth Haigh
Edward Woodward
Geraldine James
Lynn Redgrave - daughter
Kelly - granddaughter
Annabel - granddaughter
Anthony Quayle
John Mills

production team...

Researcher: unknown
Writer: unknown
Directors: Terry Yarwood, Michael D Kent
Associate Producer: Brian Klein
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

An Actor's Life For Me

spotlight on the stars

Family Life

keeping it in the family

Screenshots of Rachel Kempson This Is Your Life

Scriptwriter Roy Bottomley recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, This Is Your Life: The Story of Television's Famous Big Red Book...

In the early evening of 15 December 1986, in the strictest secrecy, members of an internationally famous theatrical dynasty gathered in the Green Room at Teddington Studios.

Just a couple of miles down the road in Kingston upon Thames, Lady Redgrave, the actress Rachel Kempson, was arriving at a large book store to sign copies of her book A Family and its Fortunes. She was blissfully unaware that Eamonn Andrews was lurking nearby with our book.

Her first surprise came when she saw who the first two customers were – her daughter Vanessa, and Vanessa's daughter Natasha. They joined us at the studios, where Vanessa's younger daughter, Joely, later of Lady Chatterley fame, had arrived from the RSC at Stratford.

Lady Redgrave and her late husband, Sir Michael, were married for thirty-nine years and the story of the dynasty they founded continued to unfold, with Lynn Redgrave greeting her mother from Boston, Massachusetts, where she was on tour.

We had a live link to the stage of the Young Vic for the interval in a production of Julius Caesar, for a word from Brutus and Portia - Lady Redgrave's son Corin and his actress wife Kika Markham. Corin's children by his first marriage, Luke and the latest acting addition, Jemma Redgrave, joined us.

So did a splendid cast of friends and colleagues, among them Robert Stephens, Dorothy Tutin, Geraldine James, Kenneth Haigh and Patricia Hayes, and there were greetings from Sir Anthony Quayle and Sir John Mills, with Edward Woodward chipping in from location filming on The Equalizer in New York.

A last-minute surprise came when Lynn Redgrave rang to say, amazingly, she did not have a performance that night. Instantly we booked her on a plane from Boston, with daughters Kelly and Annabel. They came on set, gave Lady Redgrave a wonderfully warm hug and flew straight back to Boston. The very stuff of drama.

Series 27 subjects