Vanessa: The Life of Vanessa Redgrave - Hardcover

Fascinating. Masterfully written. Read Vanessa if you want a fully schooled lesson on the woman most of her peers think of as the greatest living actress.--Liz Smith, New York Times bestselling author and long-time gossip columnist

A compelling survey into the work and spirit of one of the greatest actresses of the past half century, penned by one of the most trenchant and percipient writers covering movies today.--William J. Mann, author of "Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn" and "Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood"

Fresh and insightful: it's not easy to characterise what makes a performance effective or otherwise, and critics often duck the responsibility altogether, but Dan Callahan is skilled at finding feisty, odd, intelligent ways to evaluate the ineffable.

Exceptional. ... Writing a book about an actor while she is still alive is not easy, but Callahan thrives on the difficulties. ... As for Dan Callahan, he seems to me a leader among young writers on film.--David Thomson

Unsparing about Redgrave's politics, Callahan shines in his analysis of her performances. He not only understands the technical aspects of acting but he has a romantic appreciation of its transcendent, near-magical qualities.--Lloyd Rose

Who isn’t in awe of Vanessa Redgrave? Her career on stage and screen remains vital and her extreme-left political stands are still quite controversial. This is the moment, and this is the biography, to take stock of Vanessa Redgrave both as actress and as political activist with a critical, objective study of her life and career. It is also time to account for her unparalleled achievements as an empathetic actress of considerable genius. In his Biographical Dictionary of Film, David Thomson writes about Redgrave, “She has made mistakes, but there is a case for her as the best actress alive, ready for further challenge.” Anyone who has seen Redgrave in her numerous stage and film roles will know why Thomson rates her as the very best we have. The radiant, fearless, daring, perverse and always unpredictable Redgrave is the brightest light in the forest of her famous family.