LONDON – British actor and political activist Corin Redgrave, brother of actress Vanessa and a member of the famous acting dynasty, died yesterday, aged 70.
“Corin Redgrave has died today,” the family statement said. “He was taken ill at home in the early hours of Sunday morning. He died very peacefully surrounded by his family. We will miss him so very much.” Redgrave was born in 1939, the son of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson.
His first stage appearance was at the Royal Court in 1961 as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dreamand his best known film roles came in the films A Man for All Seasons, Excalibur,and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Redgrave was also a prominent left-wing political activist. In 2004, he launched a new political party to promote human rights which he said had been abused during the war on terror.
Asked if he thought it was an artist’s place to try to shape politics, he said: “If artists, actors, musicians and writers just felt they ought to be celebrities and shut up, then the world would be a pretty awful place to be.”
Redgrave was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000 and suffered a heart attack in June 2005. – (Reuters)