Posted on 12/06/2002 11:34:20 PM PST by MadIvan
Film star Vanessa Redgrave stepped in to help in the release of fellow actor Ahmed Zakayev, a Chechen rebel envoy accused of mass murder, who is seeking political asylum in the UK.
It is not the first time the actress has spoken out publicly on causes she supports. BBC News Online takes a look at the political episodes that have featured in her life.
Vanessa Redgrave, born in 1937, is a fully-fledged member of an acting dynasty.
She is the daughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Corin and Lynn Redgrave, and mother of Natasha and Joely Richardson.
She shared another passion with her father, that of politics, but has gone on to become far more involved in causes than he ever was.
Serious
These causes have often been controversial.
And utterly stupid - Ivan
In 1977 during her acceptance speech at the Academy Award ceremony, she attacked "Zionist hoodlums" who had campaigned against her because she had defended the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.
She has supported the exploited and oppressed, from Sarajevo to Tibet.
Or in the case of Chechniya, the murderous and the vile - Ivan
She is also a Unicef special representative and takes seriously her role to be at the service of children from any country.
To use an old American expression, "gag me with a spoon" - Ivan
More recently, she was among several actors who voiced their support for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece.
Traitor too, oh well - Ivan
The Parthenon 2004 campaign pledged to make the British government and museum curators send back the ancient sculptures in time for the Olympics in Athens in 2004.
But Redgrave's left-wing politics have probably not helped her screen career, and some admirers have pointed out that most other actresses of her eminence have been made Dames.
Her Majesty is notoriously allergic to giving titles to people who are renowned only for their idiocy - Ivan
Sense of justice
It is debatable whether her political forays have helped her career in Hollywood.
Others admire her strong sense of justice.
Mark Rylance, director of London's Globe Theatre, was moved to cast Redgrave in the male role of Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest (2000) because "Prospero is a man with immense power who is moved to mercy. Vanessa understands that".
And the production was a flop. Tradition, old boy, tradition, Prospero's a bloody man! - Ivan
In an interview with the BBC's Women's Hour in 1991, Redgrave herself admitted that sometimes her forays into political causes, coupled with her acting commitments had taken its toll on family life.
But she said: "As a mother you have got to have a view for now and a view for the future."
She added: "The people I admire most are those who struggle for everyone ... to have their democratic rights (to say what they think).
I thought I had learned all I need to know about you but it appears as if there is more than I even imagined. When did you serve?
Really? When did this happen?
I seem to recall that the last time you posted pacifist nonsense to me, other soldiers piled in on your head. You may not have been aware of it - as I also recall, you didn't come back to that thread either.
Ivan
Fish gotta swim,birds gotta fly,and you have to work at the level where you are semi-competent. Who knows,maybe one day you can ever progress to the point where you can function at the level of a fully-qualified idiot?
My my, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed, or never went back to it. If you as a solider, don't know the distinction between the situation of a soldier as compared to that of a civilian...well I dare say the Sergeant didn't give you a thorough enough working over in Basic Training.
Ivan
The key word here being "seem".
You may not have been aware of it - as I also recall, you didn't come back to that thread either.
Oh,yeah.Yew juz be so bad,yew juz skeered me to death!
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