pinhead
19-03-2009, 05:20 AM
NEW YORK – Actress Natasha Richardson, the wife of actor Liam Neeson and part of the Redgrave acting dynasty, has died after suffering a head injury while skiing this week at Mont Tremblant, a family spokesman said Wednesday.
“Liam Neeson, his sons and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time,” Alan Nierob said in a statement.
Neeson was at his wife’s bedside after accompanying her on the flight from Montreal on Tuesday, as was her mother, actress Vanessa Redgrave.
Among grief-struck visitors was actress Lauren Bacall, who attended the couple’s 1994 wedding at their white clapboard farmhouse in rural Millbrook, 140 kilometres north of New York City.
Actress Meryl Streep and author Joan Didion also dropped by.
“It is a fact that her heart is beating, but she is brain-dead,” a family friend told People magazine earlier.
The Tony Award-winning actress suffered what appeared to be a minor fall during a private skiing lesson Monday on a meandering beginner’s trail at Mont Tremblant.
Richardson did not hit anyone or anything and her ski instructor was by her side within seconds, a Mont Tremblant spokesperson said. The Briton had no cuts or other signs of injury.
Two members of the ski patrol responded to a routine call from the instructor, but Richardson maintained she was okay and did not want to see a doctor. But she later developed a severe headache.
Neeson, who had been on a film shoot in Toronto, rushed to join her as she was hospitalized in Montreal’s Hôpital du Sacre Coeur.
It was there, friends have said, that doctors told Neeson there was little hope she would regain brain function.
It is believed the subsequent flight back to New York, where the couple has an apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was made largely for the benefit of Neeson and Richardson’s boys, Daniel, 12, and Michael, 13.
The youngsters spent most of their time yesterday at the family apartment, but the night before had visited their mother at her bedside in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital.
Michael arrived at about 8:45 p.m. with his maternal grandmother, who also lives in New York. Vanessa Redgrave arrived wearing a grey head scarf, and walked with a cane.
Daniel arrived about an hour later, accompanied by his mother’s aunt, actress Lynn Redgrave, and her sister Joely Richardson, 44, who stars in TV’s Nip/Tuck.
The entire group, except for Neeson and Vanessa Redgrave, left the hospital at about midnight, exiting through a frosted glass-panelled door that prevented the throng of photographers on the pavement outside from snapping their approach.
The family split time between their Manhattan apartment and the farm in Millbrook, close to where Neeson suffered a broken pelvis nine years ago when he collided with a deer while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Radio show host Howard Stern and TV talk king Regis Philbin were among Neeson and Richardson’s celebrity neighbours who expressed shock at how a simple skiing accident could have such tragic consequences.
Another neighbour, real-
estate broker Adrienne Cleere, turned up at the hospital, where she recalled meeting the couple at charity events. She said she found them “family-oriented and caring, as opposed to most celebrities.”
Richardson, whose late father was Oscar-winning director Tony Richardson, won her Tony in 1998 for playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Her performance propelled her to international stardom in her own right.
She also met Neeson on Broadway when they starred together in Anna Christie.
Richardson became known by many younger moviegoers for her role as Lindsay Lohan’s mother in the 1998 remake of Disney’s The Parent Trap.
She was a recent guest judge in the Bravo TV show Top Chef, and was also preparing to co-star with her mother in a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.
“Liam Neeson, his sons and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time,” Alan Nierob said in a statement.
Neeson was at his wife’s bedside after accompanying her on the flight from Montreal on Tuesday, as was her mother, actress Vanessa Redgrave.
Among grief-struck visitors was actress Lauren Bacall, who attended the couple’s 1994 wedding at their white clapboard farmhouse in rural Millbrook, 140 kilometres north of New York City.
Actress Meryl Streep and author Joan Didion also dropped by.
“It is a fact that her heart is beating, but she is brain-dead,” a family friend told People magazine earlier.
The Tony Award-winning actress suffered what appeared to be a minor fall during a private skiing lesson Monday on a meandering beginner’s trail at Mont Tremblant.
Richardson did not hit anyone or anything and her ski instructor was by her side within seconds, a Mont Tremblant spokesperson said. The Briton had no cuts or other signs of injury.
Two members of the ski patrol responded to a routine call from the instructor, but Richardson maintained she was okay and did not want to see a doctor. But she later developed a severe headache.
Neeson, who had been on a film shoot in Toronto, rushed to join her as she was hospitalized in Montreal’s Hôpital du Sacre Coeur.
It was there, friends have said, that doctors told Neeson there was little hope she would regain brain function.
It is believed the subsequent flight back to New York, where the couple has an apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was made largely for the benefit of Neeson and Richardson’s boys, Daniel, 12, and Michael, 13.
The youngsters spent most of their time yesterday at the family apartment, but the night before had visited their mother at her bedside in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital.
Michael arrived at about 8:45 p.m. with his maternal grandmother, who also lives in New York. Vanessa Redgrave arrived wearing a grey head scarf, and walked with a cane.
Daniel arrived about an hour later, accompanied by his mother’s aunt, actress Lynn Redgrave, and her sister Joely Richardson, 44, who stars in TV’s Nip/Tuck.
The entire group, except for Neeson and Vanessa Redgrave, left the hospital at about midnight, exiting through a frosted glass-panelled door that prevented the throng of photographers on the pavement outside from snapping their approach.
The family split time between their Manhattan apartment and the farm in Millbrook, close to where Neeson suffered a broken pelvis nine years ago when he collided with a deer while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Radio show host Howard Stern and TV talk king Regis Philbin were among Neeson and Richardson’s celebrity neighbours who expressed shock at how a simple skiing accident could have such tragic consequences.
Another neighbour, real-
estate broker Adrienne Cleere, turned up at the hospital, where she recalled meeting the couple at charity events. She said she found them “family-oriented and caring, as opposed to most celebrities.”
Richardson, whose late father was Oscar-winning director Tony Richardson, won her Tony in 1998 for playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Her performance propelled her to international stardom in her own right.
She also met Neeson on Broadway when they starred together in Anna Christie.
Richardson became known by many younger moviegoers for her role as Lindsay Lohan’s mother in the 1998 remake of Disney’s The Parent Trap.
She was a recent guest judge in the Bravo TV show Top Chef, and was also preparing to co-star with her mother in a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.