Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A working actress and matriarch of Britain's most famous theatrical dynasty.
On the island
Eight records
Quintet in A major, D.667 'Trout Quintet'
Louis Kentner with members of the Hungarian String Quartet
I knew Louis Kentner and Griselda. And Diana, now Lady Benuin. And I used to have supper with them quite a lot, and we we had an enormous amount of fun, and Louis used to play.
City of London Sinfonia, conducted by Richard Hickox
I've always loved Handel's water music, and I used to imagine the boats going up and down in the days of Queen Elizabeth.
If the Heart of a Man is Depressed with Cares (from The Beggar's Opera)Favourite
Michael Redgrave with the Glyndebourne Company
To me, quite beautifully. I mean, I I was so in love with his voice, I was more in love with him when than ever when he played MacHees in the Beggars' Opera.
The Four Seasons (Spring movement)
Victoria Mullova with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Claudio Abbado
I've always loved this record. as I had a very dear, dear friend in the country, John Fowler, of Colfax and Fowler, and it was his favourite, and whenever I was in his house we used to put on the entire Vivaldi's four seasons before dinner.
Adam lay ybounden (from A Ceremony of Carols)
Choir of Westminster Cathedral, conducted by David Hill
I admire both Benjamin Britton and Peter Peirs. I always admired them. I saw as many of their operas as I possibly could, and I went to Woolborough and took Linny with me.
Orchestra of the Academy of St. Cecilia, conducted by Franco Mannino
I know Dirk Bogard. I admired him enormously in Death in Venice, and I thought the music was absolutely perfect. Also, I've been to Venice about six times, and I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conducted by Sir Colin Davis
The reason being that Michael and I on our way to Venice saw it. At the Opera House in Milan. And also he directed it at Leinbourne, very beautifully indeed.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:10What are you working on at the moment?
Well, at the moment I'm playing Volumnia in Coriolanus with Corinne. I promised to do it with him for years. And now at last we're doing it. … I happened to have my back turned to him in a certain movement. And he said Mother, and I said, What is it, darling? And it was actually of course it was he meant it it was part of the play. Oh, mother, mother, you see. But he he simply said mother and I said, Oh, darling, what was that?
Presenter asks
6:32Can you remember what first inspired you to go into the theatre?
Well, it wasn't really. Until I saw Sybil Thorndyke play Catherine of Aragon in a very wonderful production. Of Henry the Eighth, and I thought her voice was so wonderful. And I came home, I started to read it to mother, and she said, That's not very good. I said, Well, I want to go into the theatre and I am determined on it. And she said, Oh, well, we'll see.
Presenter asks
11:13How did you meet the young Michael Redgrave?
Well, I was engaged. By William Armstrong. To go to the Liverpool Rep, which was really about the best in England. And The morning after I arrived I thought I'd walk down and I walked round the theatre and have a look at the photographs. And there was this gorgeous young man, Michael. And the thing that I thought was so lovely about him was that he didn't look actorish, if you know what I mean, what I would always call a laddie actor. He looked. Well, straightforward and ordin not ordinary, but straightforward and good looking. Well, then I went round to the stage door, and Willie, who was absolutely dear, Said, now, Rachel, I want you to meet Michael Redgrave, your leading man. We shook hands. And Michael Said, well and then they said, Well, well, come on, let's go on the stage and we'll start. From then on he took me out to lunch every day. We used to sing the Beggars' Opera on our way back to rehearsal. And I was falling madly in love with him. And that was how it started.
The keepsakes
The book
Charlotte Brontë
Cause I love all the Bronte books and I've been to Howarth and seen the house and all the rest of it. And read it a million times, I'm sure. And read it more times than I can say. But you'd love to read it again.
The luxury
Presenter asks
19:09Your daughter Vanessa was a difficult baby. How did you cope?
Well, I had a very difficult nanny for a start, who I really grew to dislike extremely. Because she was so much too severe, and I don't think you should be with small children. Anyway. For that reason I think Vanessa rebelled. I mean, I would have done if I'd been her. And um at that time I got to know Edith Evans very well. And so she said one day, well, let's go for a walk in Kensington Gardens. And it was autumn, and Vanessa like any child, loved shuffling through the leaves and getting that lovely sort of shuffle, shuffle, crunchy sound. And at last we thought well we must go home, and must go home to tea. And um Vanessa started screaming. So I picked her up and there were an awful lot of people watching. And I shoved her in the pl plam and sort of pushed her down, scream, scream, scream. And I thought these people were going to sort of say, Well, you're very cruel or something and Edith said, Walloper, Rachel, walloper, and I'll I'll stand by and witness you only did it in kindness And then we went out of the park and she immediately bought her a toy horse. But you did wallop, Vanessa. Well, I gave it a bit of a wallop on the bottom, yes. I don't think it was a very hard one.
Presenter asks
24:39Your children are known for their left-wing views. Is that born of you, or did you spot it early on?
No, I don't think it's born of me because I'm not any longer political. But when did it all begin, their political leanings? Can you remember? Well, I think the absolute beginning was the time of the invasion of Hungary, when Vanessa was a student. And she wanted immediately, she was only seventeen, but she wanted to go to Hungary at once. And Michael said, Well, you. You really can't at your age, but you can take collecting boxes and collect money for Hungary, which she did. And then she and Corinne went on various demonstrations. Yes, but then they weren't the only ones. I mean, there were a lot of people who weren't WRP who went on demonstrations anti nuclear. C and D And what did their father, Sir Michael, think of this? Well, he said, thank God they've got some opinions, a lot of people don't have any. Well he And he just said, Well, Vanessa's divinely mad. It's lovely.
Presenter asks
29:36How dramatically has widowhood changed your life?
Well His illness was so appalling. I didn't want him to die, I wanted him to live. But that was a selfish view, because when somebody's as ill as that and you just walk them round the square and finally day and night nurses It's You know that they must die, but at the same time I wanted him to well, he did go on going to the theatre. He went on working for a long time, did tremendous American tours. He had Parkinson's disease. He had Parkinson's for about fifteen years. At first nobody knew what it was and they said, Oh, it's just drink. Well, I knew by the look there's a very strange look about a Parkinson person with their eyes fixed and they stumble. And when we were walking I take his arm and he, you know, stumble and this fixed look in the eyes because it affects the eyes. So that Really? I didn't want him to die, of course not. I loved him very much, and in a way, more when he was ill, and I You know I was with him a lot. I used to sit with him and talk to him and play records and do anything I could and walks. And he even went to see Natasha at the Jung Vic, playing Ophelia and Hamlet, which was the last he saw. And at that time he was in a Nursing home at Inum. Ivor Bucks, and the matron said he talked of nothing else for three days, and then finally, apparently, his the kidneys gave out and he died quietly in his sleep. But I was terribly upset at not being there. I was doing television with Connie Cummings and others. And we had to go up to Leeds, and there was nothing I could do about it, and I didn't I didn't realise that he was as ill as that, or if I had. You don't have understudies, you see. And the day I came back, I said, Well, now, Corinne, let's go and see Dad. And he said, Dad died this morning. which was to me awful. And I do feel very lonely. I mean, it's no good saying I don't. I know people, and therefore work becomes everything. So, you want to go on working as far as possible and as long as possible. Which gives you great financial independence. Yes, it does. Which is important, obviously.
“sort of slightly out of it, if you can put it that way. You perhaps t felt taken over by his life and his stardom, as it were.”
“I said to myself fairly early on, my husband can do what he likes, he can get drunk. I shall never, never, never criticise him, which wasn't really a very good thing.”
“And the thing that I thought was so lovely about him was that he didn't look actorish, if you know what I mean, what I would always call a laddie actor.”
“Finally, the Doctor, who was called Pink of all names, slung me over his shoulder and dragged me downstairs. and on to a thing, and I was given a whiff of chloroform. And I woke up, and there was this exquisite creature. With A fish like Peaches and cream sucking her thumb.”
“And she said, I love you forever because you've let me go, you haven't held on to me.”