Natasha Richardson, a glamorous and talented member of a British acting dynasty and wife of actor Liam Neeson, died Wednesday from head injuries suffered while she was skiing. She was 45.
Richardson fell on a beginners’ slope near Montreal during a ski lesson with her 12- and 13-year-old sons Monday and initially appeared coherent, but an hour later she complained of a headache. As her condition worsened dramatically, she was flown to a hospital near her home in New York City, where her family gathered.
She was the daughter of Academy Award-winning actress and human-rights activist Vanessa Redgrave and Oscar-winning director and producer Tony Richardson (“Tom Jones”). Her maternal grandparents were actors Mich ael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Her aunt is actress Lynn Redgrave, with whom Natasha Richardson and her mother appeared in the 2005 Merchant-Ivory production “The White Countess.”
Natasha Richardson may have been overshadowed by the public profile of her family, particularly her mother, but she was widely respected for the high quality and versatility of her performances.
She won a Tony Award for a 1998 revival of the musical “Cabaret,” in which she played the bohemian showgirl Sally Bowles, and starred in a variety of film, television and stage productions, ranging from Blanche Du Bois in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 2005 on Broadway to a Disney remake of “The Parent Trap” in 1998 in Hollywood.
As a young woman, Richardson was considered one of the most promising actresses of her generation and earned a reputation as a specialist in formidable dramatic parts. She received a Tony nomination and outstanding notices for her lead role as a woman with a dark past in a 1993 revival of the Eugene O’Neill waterfront story “Anna Christie.”
She was a statuesque blond with a smoky voice, and director Paul Schrader, who cast her in several movies, once noted how she “had an essential quality of mystery about her. You can watch her for the better part of two hours, and still think that she’ll show you something new.”
Richardson also starred in movie dramas including “A Month in the Country” (1987) with Colin Firth, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (1990) with Robert Duvall and “Widows’ Peak” (1994) with Neeson.
