It has just been announced that Oscar-winning actress and longtime activist Vanessa Redgrave will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Film Academy. The honor will be presented at the 36th European Film Awards show in Berlin on December 9.
Vanessa Redgrave: A Long-Spanning & Incredible Career
In a career spanning more than six decades, Redgrave has deftly straddled theater, film, and television. She first made her name on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before breaking into film work in 1966 with Karel Reisz’ Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment. Her worldwide career was begun with the role, which earned her the best actress award at Cannes. Since then, she has won several acting awards, including another best actress award at Cannes, two Emmys, a Tony, two Golden Globes, and two BAFTAs.
She received six Academy Award nominations, for her roles in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966), Isadora (1968), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Julia (1977), The Bostonians (1984), and Howards End (1992). In 1977, she received an Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance as Julia in Fred Zinnemann’s Julia, alongside Jane Fonda.
What are Vanessa Redgrave’s other notable roles & take on activism?
Other significant cinema roles for Redgrave include Anne Boleyn in Zinnemann’s A Man For All Seasons (1966), Agatha Christie in Michael Apted’s Agatha (1977), and a show-stopping performance as the vampish weapons dealer Max in Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible (1996).
Throughout her career, Redgrave has been vocal on political and social causes. She was a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and has supported different political freedom movements across the world throughout her life, often at the expense of her profession. She was an outspoken opponent of the US-led War on Terrorism in the 2000s, and she has lately raised awareness of Europe’s immigration issue. Redgrave is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.