Vanessa Redgrave, immensely talented has amassed an amazing body of work. Has she ever had a vacation?
Actors now, for whatever reasons, don't work constantly the way she did/does.
Not the kind of actress whose name will live on though, a few decades after her death her face will be faintly recognisable but on the whole she will have vanished into obscurity.
shareShe'll live on. Any serious actor will remember her and look up to her and she will have her fans. She and Judi Dench and Maggie Smith are the 3 great Brits and will always be remembered. Just because she isn't in the next Blockbuster doesn't mean she'll fade away. Even classics like Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis (who are still well regarded and remembered) aren't as known to younger people because they were never the over glamorized types. Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly (more so Audrey) will always be known because her face is put everywhere cause of Breakfast at Tiffany's and Marilyn will be remembered as the stereotypical sexy blonde.
I think you could throw out any actress of Vanessa's generation and try and claim that. No one has the level of Audrey. Even Meryl Streep can fall into that group. Some stars are universal because of some movies. Everyone knows Judy Garland because of The Wizard of Oz. But I feel the only people that, by name, will be known by the masses will be Audrey and Marilyn because pop culture put them up there.