From the landmark films of Tony Richardson to the untimely death of Natasha Richardson - this is the saga of one of the greatest dynasties in British film and theatre. In 1928, at the end of a production of Hamlet at the Old Vic, Laurence Olivier strode to the front of the stage to hush the audience and announced, pointing at his co-star Michael Redgrave, "Tonight a great actress has been born. Laertes has a daughter." He meant Vanessa Redgrave. That is where this dramatic book's story begins. It concludes in 2009, with the sudden and tragic death in a skiing accident of Vanessa's daughter Natasha Richardson - and further family sorrow soon to follow with the deaths of both Corin and Lynn Redgrave. The story of this amazing family is explosive throughout - from the tangled private life of Tony Richardson, Natasha's father, who directed major films like Joseph Andrews , to Vanessa and Corin's complicated involvement with the Workers' Revolutionary Party, to the emergence of a fourth generation of fine actors with Natasha and Joely. There is truly never a dull moment - but plenty of scandal, melodrama, tragedy and intrigue - in the story of this remarkable dynasty, whose contribution to British drama and film has been immense.
