She previously had overcome breast cancer, but this time, Lynn Redgrave lost her battle and passed on. Lynn Redgrave had fought and won against breast cancer before, a command performance even more enlightening as to her character than her celebrated roles in such films and plays as “Georgy Girl,” “Shakespeare for My Father” or “Nightingale” as outlined by the Boston Herald. Lynn Redgrave was 67 years old. Lynn Redgrave passed peacefully with children Ben, Pema and Annabel at her side at her home in Connecticut.
Lynn Redgrave was known as an ebullient free-thinker
Redgrave had a knack for playing women like the lead in the Oscar-nominated “Georgy Girl,” real women with energy and purpose. And Redgrave fought against cancer until the very end, said her publicist Rick Miramontez. She was loved by all and never stopped working on her dramatic craft, even when illness wracked her body with pain. “The endless memories she created as a mother, grandmother, writer, actor and friend,” wrote Miramontez in a statement to the media,” will sustain us for the rest of our lives.”
Lynn is not the first Redgrave to die within the past 12 months
The past 12 months have been difficult for the Redgrave extended family: first came the death of Lynn’s niece Natasha Richardson in a ski accident, then the death of Lynn Redgrave’s older brother Corin. Older sister Vanessa Redgrave, 73, remains to carry on the Redgrave line of acting royalty. Movie roles in “Gods and Monsters” and major stage parts in “The Constant Wife” and “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” were among other notable Lynn Redgrave performances. In addition, she appeared on such popular TV shows as “Desperate Housewives,” “Law and Order” and “Ugly Betty.”
Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave faced life differently
While Vanessa Redgrave has been known to be very open about politics but much less so about her personal life, Lynn Redgrave was very much the reverse. Lynn found the best way to face her struggles with bulimia and cancer was to speak openly and candidly of them. In her book “Journal: A Mother and Daughter’s Recovery from Breast Cancer” (written with daughter Annabel Clark in 2004), Lynn Redgrave laid bare her daily struggle with that which would ultimately take her life.
Her courage through it all is admirable in scope. Lynn Redgrave’s loved ones and fans will miss her dearly.