Vanessa Redgrave

Born: January 1937
Where: London, England

When Laurence Olivier announced that "tonight a great actress has been born" on the occasion of Redgrave's entrance into this world, he could not have known just how prescient his words would be.

She debuted on the big screen in London alongside her father Michael in 1958's A Touch of the Sun and earned particular praise for her Rosalind in As You Like It in 1961 and her Nina in The Seagull.

In 1964 Redgrave scored a personal triumph in the title role of the fascistic Scottish schoolteacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

The role of David Warner's wife in 1966's Morgan!/Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment brought her a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Acting several times opposite David Hemmings, Redgrave evoked rank passion as a cool 60s London swinger (Blow Up), and as a prim Englishwoman during the Crimean War (The Charge of the Light Brigade).

With an Oscar-nominated turn as Isadora, Redgrave began to explore the more neurotic aspects of the determinedly free-spirited persona she was creating.

The 70s, however, proved a frustratingly variable time for the actress. She was well-matched opposite Glenda Jackson's spiteful Queen Elizabeth in Mary, Queen of Scots, which brought her a third Best Actress Academy Award nomination.

Redgrave found a less congenial vehicle, though, in Ken Russell's confused rampage The Devils and was lost amid the parade of star cameos in Murder on the Orient Express.

The little-seen Agatha and the overlong, choppy Yanks didn't help matters, but the title role of Julia proved at least a temporary respite.

The 80s and 90s saw Redgrave firmly entrenched in character leads and supporting roles, her star persona's vulnerability and eccentricity having come completely to the fore.

She etched a superb portrait of the lesbian feminist in The Bostonians (picking up another Best Actress Oscar nomination) and did a fine job as Joe Orton's reassuring agent Peggy Ramsay in Prick Up Your Ears.

Small but pivotal parts followed: Redgrave was deeply moving as the dying mother of a hit man in Little Odessa and enlivened the confusing proceedings of Mission: Impossible with an astringent cameo.

She brought the same level of craft to her small turn as a deeply religious woman who holds the key to a mystery in Smilla's Sense of Snow.

Deep Impact and Girl, Interrupted followed and she next returned to the big screen in a featured role in The Pledge, directed by Sean Penn and starring Jack Nicholson.

In 2002, Redgrave was cast as Clementine Churchill in the HBO movie, The Gathering Storm. Her protrayal as the wife of Winston Churchill earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in A Movie.

Indeed, Redgrave has often attracted as much attention for her political beliefs - she has been an outspoken member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party (standing for election to Parliament on four occasions).

Her acceptance speech at the 1978 Oscar ceremony (in which she referred to protesters as "Zionist hoodlums") led to an unfortunate backlash.