The Screen Actors Guild, citing its opposition to "blacklisting," has now joined Vanessa Redgrave's appeal against a federal judge's decision in the Boston Symphony Orchestra case.
The 48-year-old British actress, who had announced her decision to appeal in a press conference here the morning of the death of her father Sir Michael Redgrave six weeks ago, has already gained the support of other industry unions--Actors Equity and the American Guild of Musical Artists.
On Wednesday SAG's board of directors voted 45 to 28 to file briefs in her case.
Guild spokesman Leonard Chassman said the judge's ruling "implicitly provides a basis for blacklisting performers if their political beliefs are deemed controversial." Using Redgrave's language on the day she announced her appeal, Chassman asserted that the ruling "cannot be allowed to go unchallenged." The case "transcends Ms. Redgrave's situation and potentially threatens the First Amendment rights of all performers."
Redgrave had sued the Boston Symphony for violating her civil rights and breach of contract in canceling her appearance as a narrator in a 1982 series of Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex." The orchestra claimed it canceled because of the threat of disruption over Redgrave's pro-Palestinian views.
