Redgrave and ex-husband sue mistress

The couple, whose alimony case last year was distinguished by its acrimony, have been forced back together to take legal action against Mr Clark’s former mistress, Nicolette Hannah.

It was Ms Redgrave’s discovery that her husband secretly fathered Nicolette’s seven-year-old son which caused the breakdown of their marriage.

The pain of the betrayal was compounded by the fact that Nicolette went on to marry the couple’s son, Ben, and for four years Ms Redgrave had unwittingly treated their child Zachary as a grandson.

The three parties faced one another again in a Santa Monica courtroom where they are disputing the ownership of a 200,000 cottage in Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles.

Nicolette, 37, claims the cottage was signed over to her as a gift by Mr Clark so that he could see their son more often but Mr Clark, 69, and his former wife Ms Redgrave, 58, argue the property does not belong to her and should be sold as part of their divorce settlement.

On the opening day of the case, the court heard of the tangled background to the collapse of their 32-year marriage.

The couple married within two weeks of meeting in the mid-1960s when Ms Redgrave, the sister of Vanessa Redgrave and aunt of Joely Richardson, was a rising star, having been nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film Georgy Girl.

Mr Clark was also an actor, who had received acclaim for his role as the child star of a radio production of Just William. He gave up his showbusiness career to become his wife’s manager.

The couple had three children and it was their daughter Kelly who introduced her father to Nicolette Hannah, whom he employed as a secretary in 1990.

Mr Clark had an affair with Nicolette which resulted in her giving birth to Zachary. He told the court that they both agreed to keep the identity of the child’s father a secret and Nicolette continued to live in the family home.

Mr Clark said: "She said to me on more than one occasion she was uncomfortable living in our house and it was unreasonable for her to expect us to be happy under one roof.

"There was an empty cottage and she moved in approximately 1992. I said I was going to put it in her name. She [Ms Redgrave] was agreeable."

Mr Clark claimed Nicolette signed the cottage back to him temporarily so that he could deal with a tax bill and he never signed it back over to her because she took legal action to restrict his access to Zachary.

By then, Mr Clark’s deceit had been complicated by Nicolette’s marriage to eldest son Ben, an airline pilot. She told him Zachary was the unintended product of a one-night stand. But Ben discovered the real identity of Zachary’s father and insisted that his mother should be told the truth.

Mr Clark broke the news at a family Thanksgiving Dinner in November 1998 and Ms Redgrave left.

At a divorce hearing in December last year the couple fought tooth and nail over their 5 million estate.

Clark laid claim to a "significant share" of their fortune.

He claimed that for 12 years they had a "sexless" marriage and agreed to tolerate one another’s infidelities.

She retaliated by accusing him of being a miser who mishandled her money, mismanaged her career and never allowed her to have her own chequebook. Ms Redgrave was ordered to pay around 20,000 a year in alimony to her former husband.

Lawyers for Ms Redgrave argue that Nicolette is not entitled to the cottage she is claiming because the actress did not consent to the gift.

"He was managing her career, he was managing her life, he did not ask permission. Lynn Redgrave did not approve", her lawyer told the court. She is trying to obtain a free property that she has no right to."

Since the breakdown of Ms Redgrave and Mr Clark’s marriage, his former mistress has also divorced their son Ben and now has the name Nicolette Hernandez after marrying again, to Mr Clark’s plumber. Her son Zachary is now ten years old. The case to decide who is legally entitled to the disputed 200,000 cottage continues today.