Natasha Richardson died Wednesday after sustaining brain damage from a ski accident. Richardson was in intensive care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York when she died. She was 45.
Richardson was skiing at Mont-Tremblant near Montreal when she suffered a minor fall during a beginner’s ski lesson. The actress said she felt fine but later complained of headaches. She was then rushed to hospital and flown on Tuesday to the U.S. with swelling of the brain. She was taken off life support on Wednesday.
The actress was a member of the Redgrave acting dynasty and was the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave. She was also married to actor Liam Neeson, the pair had two sons.
She was born in 1963 and made her film debut at the age of 4 in “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” directed by her father, Tony Richardson. She later trained at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and made her West End debut as Nina in Charles Sturridege’s 1986 production of Chekhov’s “The Seagull.”
She continued to be on stage and made her New York debut in 1992. Prominent film roles followed, such as starring as “Patty Hearst” in the 1988 Paul Schrader biopic. Other film roles included Ken Russell’s “Gothic,” “A Month in the Country,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Nell,” “The Comfort of Strangers,” “Widow’s Peak,” “The Parent Trap,” “Maid in Manhattan,” “The White Countess,” and “Evening.”
Richardson won the Tony as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes “Cabaret” at the Roundabout Theatre Company. She was a regular fixture at the theatre and performed in Eugene O’Neill’s “Annie Christie,” a role that won her first Tony award nomination, Patrick Marber’s Rialto production of his play “Closer,” and Edward Hill’s “A Streetcar Named Desire,” playing Blanche Dubois. In January of this year she appeared along side her mother in a one-night concert benefit for Roundabout at Studio 54 of “A Little Night Music.”
