Favorite Female Icons, Part I

I love Vanessa Redgrave.

I had a weird dream last night where Vanessa Redgrave shot me in the arm, at close range, with a crossbow.

I first saw her in the made for tv movie "Playing for Time". A holocaust drama written by Arthur Miller about the french singer, Fania Fenelon's internment in Auschwitz. For some reason, my mom thought this was ok material for an 11 year old to watch.

Her performance in this picture is superb. Usually made for tv movies are really bad. They tend to chop up and dumb down the subject matter to make it digestible for mass audience viewing and also to insert commercials. The writing and her performance in this film save it from that fate.

I think she has a kind of masculine beauty. She brings this strength, elegence, and measured intensity to all of her roles. I loved her in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe for this very reason. She recently performed Hecuba onstage. I would have given anything to be able to see her live in this production. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/93064.html

I also love that she has never compromised her politics and views, even when they were considered extremely unpopular in this country and in the film industry. http://www.myvillage.com/pages/celebs-oscars-worst-speeches.htm