Natasha Jane Richardson, 1963-2009
Update: at Bravo's A-List awards on 4.15, Natasha was named "Humanitarian of the Year" for her AIDS work, and am/FAR named an AIDS fund after her
Natasha Richardson was the actress daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, and sister of actress Miranda Richardson; she was also the wife of actor Liam Neeson. She was tragically killed in March when she had a brain hemorrage after a skiing accident near Montreal. She first came into public notice with the films Gothic (86, she played Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's pic of the Shelley's fright night that led to Mary's novel Frankenstein) and the tv biopic of Patty Hearst (88). In her next-to-last film, Evening (07), she fortunately got to act with her mother Vanessa, playing her daughter.
She never won major awards, but twice won the Evening Standard British Film Award for best actress: in 1990 for both Handmaid's Tale and Comfort of Strangers (her two best films, imo), and again in 2006 for Asylum, a daring role about sexuality.
Filmography
The saddest part of this story is that she could have been saved if treated earlier, within 90 minutes; however she was not rushed to the hospital until nearly three hours after her accident. By that time she was losing consciousness and had irreversible brain damage.
Update: at Bravo's A-List awards on 4.15, Natasha was named "Humanitarian of the Year" for her AIDS work, and am/FAR named an AIDS fund after her
Natasha Richardson was the actress daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, and sister of actress Miranda Richardson; she was also the wife of actor Liam Neeson. She was tragically killed in March when she had a brain hemorrage after a skiing accident near Montreal. She first came into public notice with the films Gothic (86, she played Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's pic of the Shelley's fright night that led to Mary's novel Frankenstein) and the tv biopic of Patty Hearst (88). In her next-to-last film, Evening (07), she fortunately got to act with her mother Vanessa, playing her daughter.
She never won major awards, but twice won the Evening Standard British Film Award for best actress: in 1990 for both Handmaid's Tale and Comfort of Strangers (her two best films, imo), and again in 2006 for Asylum, a daring role about sexuality.
Filmography
- Every Picture Tells a Story (83)
- Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "Copper Beeches" (BBC, 84)
- In the Secret State (85)
- Gothic (86)
- Ghosts (87)
- A Month in the Country (87)
- Patty Hearst (88)
- Fat Man and Little Boy (89)
- The Handmaid's Tale (90) - appearing with Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway, and Aiden
Quinn, this dystopian SciFi tale from the Margaret Atwood novel was probably her best film - The Comfort of Strangers (91)
- The Favor, the Watch, and the Very Big Fish (91)
- Past Midnight (91)
- Suddenly, Last Summer (93)
- Zelda (93)
- Widow's Peak (94)
- Nell (94)
- The Parent Trap (remake, 98)
- The Man Who Came to Dinner (2000)
- Haven (01)
- Blow Dry (01)
- Chelsea Walls (01)
- Waking Up in Reno (02)
- Maid in Manhattan (02)
- The White Countess (05)
- Asylum (05)
- The Mastersons of Manhattan (07)
- Evening (07)
- Wild Child (08) - unfortunately her last film was a 'not well received' teen comedy
The saddest part of this story is that she could have been saved if treated earlier, within 90 minutes; however she was not rushed to the hospital until nearly three hours after her accident. By that time she was losing consciousness and had irreversible brain damage.
