Natasha Richardson passes away after skiing accident

[Faith Akiyama]

flixster

IrishCentral.com has learned exclusively that famed actress Natasha Richardson, the wife of Irish superstar Liam Neeson, has been critically injured in Canada, according to an insider at the Montreal hospital to which she was taken.

Richardson, who was set to co-star with her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, in a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music," was apparently injured in a tragic ski accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. It is not known whether Neeson is at his wife's side.

Richardson made her feature film debut as Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's "Gothic" (1986). Her performance caught the attention of director Paul Schrader, who cast her in the title role in "Patty Hearst" (1988). Since then, Ms. Richardson has achieved notable success in such films as Pat O'Connor's "A Month in the Country" (1987), Roland Joffé's "Fat Man and Little Boy" (1989) and "The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish" (1991), featuring Bob Hoskins and Jeff Goldblum. For her performance in Volker Schlöndorff's "The Handmaid's Tale" (1990) and Schrader's "The Comfort of Strangers" (1990), Richardson earned The London Evening Standard Award for Best Actress of 1990; and for "Widows' Peak" (1994), also starring Mia Farrow and Joan Plowright, she received the Best Actress Award at the 1994 Karlovy Vary Festival.

In 1995 she co-starred with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson in "Nell" (1994) and, in 1998, in "The Parent Trap" (1998) with Dennis Quaid. Her recent films include "Blow Dry" (2001) released in 2001, and Ethan Hawke's "Chelsea Walls" (2001).

From Irish Central

I love Liam and Natasha Really, really hope that she will recover fully.

 

[MyNameIs]

That's so sad. Hope she recovers.

 

[Deleted member 82231]

Oh my goodness!! I hope she is okay

I just worked on a film with Liam Neeson. Such a nice man.

 

[harmonious]

What horrible news. I hope she's able to recover fully.

 

[dior_couture1245]

Oh, how awful! I hope she recovers fully and the injuries aren't permanent. A brain injury doesn't sound good.

 

[ponytrot]

i hope she'll be ok!

my prayers go out to her and her family.

 

[vogue28]

Oh this is terrible. I hope she recovers soon

 

[olga.]

this sounds pretty serious. full recovery might be just wishful thinking when we are talking about severe brain injuries. she had to ski very fast or on dangerous territory.. i hope someone's with liam neeson during this tough time. that's why i am afraid of skiing so much. too many people got hurt because of this.

 

[LoveLetter]

Just heard. Hope she recovers soon.

 

[LolaSvelt]

There have been some rumours that she's died. I hope that's not true.

 

[Scott]

omg,i hope she does indeed recover.

 

[dior_couture1245]

I just feel sick about this, I've always been fond of the Richardson clan...this is why I will never ski.

I'm anxious for more news.

 

[Scott]

^i know she was born with it in her blood. loved her in Gothic.

i really hope she'll come out of this well.

 

[LUXXX]

I don't like what I'm hearing...this is such a shock.

 

[kimair]

The Tony-award winning actress Natasha Richardson was taken to a Montreal hospital after a skiing accident on Monday, a Montreal-area resort confirmed on Tuesday.

Lyne Lortie, a spokeswoman for the Mont Tremblant ski resort in the Laurentian Hills north of Montreal, said Ms. Richardson had fallen during a beginner’s lesson. She was not wearing a helmet at the time, she said.

“It was a normal fall; she didn’t hit anyone or anything,” Ms. Lortie said. “She didn’t show any signs of injury, she was talking and she seemed all right.”

As a precaution, Ms. Richardson was accompanied by a member of the resort’s ski patrol and her instructor, who then remained with her at a hotel.

When Ms. Richardson, 45, began experiencing headaches about an hour later, she was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Ste. Agathe, Quebec about 20 minutes from the resort. Ms. Lortie said that Ms. Richardson was transferred to the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal later in the afternoon.

Ms. Lortie said that the resort has no knowledge about Ms. Richardson’s injuries.

The Montreal hospital, citing privacy rules, declined to discuss her condition.

A spokeswoman for the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force, said that it had no information about the accident.

The Canadian Press reported that Kika Markham, the wife of Ms. Richardson’s uncle, Corin Redgrave, had confirmed the skiing incident.

“We know that she has had an accident but we really do not know any more details,” she told the news agency. “We are very concerned.”

Ms. Richardson won a Tony in 1998 for her performance in “Cabaret.” Her film performances include role in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Parent Trap.”

Several Canadian news outlets said that that Liam Neeson, Ms. Richardson’s husband, had left a film set in Toronto to be with his wife in Montreal on Monday.

She is the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson, the film director and producer.

Mr. Neeson married Ms. Richardson in 1994 and the couple have two children.

nytimes.com

 

[yellowetpink]

oh my gosh
I have to admit I haven't - that I know of - seen many of her films, but The Parent Trap was my favourite film throughout my childhood! I still know all the words...I really hope she recovers soon and well!

 

[LUXXX]

More and more news outlets are now confirming that Natasha is brain dead and will be taken off life support once her family says goodbye...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509477,00.html

 

[Meg]

^
I know. It's so tragic. Esp. at it seems like the fall wasn't that hard, it was just how she went down, as she was conscious and doing alright the first hour after. She seemed like such a warm woman, the British theatre world is really at a loss. I hope it's not true

 

[vogue28]

OMG

 

[LUXXX]

^
I know. It's so tragic. Esp. at it seems like the fall wasn't that hard, it was just how she went down, as she was conscious and doing alright the first hour after. She seemed like such a warm woman, the British theatre world is really at a loss. I hope it's not true

The same thing happened to a friend of mine, he hit his head on a board at a construction site; he went home, ate dinner with his family and then didn't wake up the next morning. Sometimes it's hard to believe how fragile our heads are.