The Devils (film) The Devils (film) The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama horror film directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. Russell's screenplay is based partly on the 1952 book "The Devils of Loudun" by Aldous Huxley, and partly on the 1960 play "The Devils" by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book. The film is a dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest executed for witchcraft following the supposed possessions in Loudun, France. Reed plays Grandier in the film and Vanessa Redgrave plays a hunchbacked sexually repressed
Vanessa Redgrave the play. In September 2013, Redgrave once again starred opposite James Earl Jones in a production of "Much Ado About Nothing" at The Old Vic, London, directed by Mark Rylance. In 2016 Redgrave played Queen Margaret in "Richard III" with Ralph Fiennes in the title role, at the Almeida Theatre, London. In a poll of "industry experts" and readers conducted by "The Stage" in 2010, Redgrave was ranked as the ninth greatest stage actor/actress of all time. Redgrave was married to film and theatre director Tony Richardson from 1962 to 1967; the couple had two daughters, actresses Natasha Richardson (1963–2009)