Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson
Richardson in 1999
Born	Natasha Jane Richardson (1963-05-11)11 May 1963 Marylebone, London, England
Died	New York City, US
Resting place	St. Peter's Episcopal Cemetery, Millbrook, New York
Citizenship	United Kingdom, United States
Alma mater	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1968–2009
Spouse(s)	Robert Fox (m. 1990; div. 1992) Liam Neeson (m. 1994)
Children	2, including Micheál
Parents	Tony Richardson (father) Vanessa Redgrave (mother)
Family	Redgrave

Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson.

Early in her career, she portrayed Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's Gothic (1986) and Patty Hearst in the eponymous 1988 biopic film directed by Paul Schrader and later received critical acclaim and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 1993 revival of Anna Christie. She also appeared in The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998), Maid in Manhattan (2002), and The White Countess (2005).

For her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award.

Richardson died in New York City in 2009 from a head injury after a skiing accident in Quebec.

Early life

Natasha Jane Richardson was born in Marylebone, London on 11 May 1963, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty. She was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, half-sister of Carlo Gabriel Nero and Katharine Grimond Hess, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967. The following year, she made her film debut at the age of four in an uncredited role in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson was educated in London at two private schools, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington and St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Career

Theatre

Richardson began her career in regional theatre at Leeds Playhouse, and in 1984 at the Open Air Theatre in London's Regent's Park, when she appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Ralph Fiennes and Richard E. Grant. Her first professional work in London's West End was in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in 1985. This production also featured her mother, Vanessa Redgrave. Soon afterward she starred in a London stage production of High Society, adapted from the Cole Porter film. She made her Broadway debut in 1993, in the title role of Anna Christie, which is where she met future husband Liam Neeson. In 1998, she played the role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' revival of Cabaret on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The following year, she returned to Broadway in Closer, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and in 2005 she appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in the revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski. In January 2009, two months before her death, Richardson played the role of Desirée in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, with her mother Vanessa Redgrave who played Mme. Armfeldt. At the time of Richardson's death, the pair were preparing to co-star in a Broadway revival of the musical.

Film

Richardson in 2008

In 1984, Richardson made her first credited screen appearance as an art tutor in the James Scott-directed Every Picture Tells A Story, based on the early life of the painter William Scott. She later starred as Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalised account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year she starred with Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed her for the title role in Patty Hearst, his 1988 docudrama about the heiress and her kidnapping. Her performances with Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid's Tale and Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (directed by Schrader) won her the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. In 1991, she appeared in The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish with Bob Hoskins. He later credited her with giving him the best kiss of his life during the film. "She got hold of me and kissed me like I've never been kissed before. I was gobsmacked".

Richardson was named Best Actress at the 1994 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for Widows' Peak and that same year appeared in Nell with Jodie Foster and future husband Liam Neeson. She appeared in the Disney film remake The Parent Trap in 1998 alongside Dennis Quaid, as Elizabeth James, the divorced mother of Lindsay Lohan. Additional film credits include Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won her a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, she recorded her offscreen role as the wife of climber George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest during a 1924 expedition, in the 2010 documentary film The Wildest Dream, for which Liam Neeson provided narration. Director Anthony Geffen described listening to the film since her death as "harrowing".

Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 miniseries Ellis Island. That same year she made her British television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year she appeared as Violet Hunter with Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". She starred with Judi Dench, Michael Gambon and Kenneth Branagh in a 1987 BBC adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe in a 1993 BBC adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams; as Zelda Fitzgerald in the 1993 television movie Zelda; and Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC. She appeared as a celebrity judge on Top Chef, season 5.

Personal life

Richardson's first marriage was to filmmaker Robert Fox, whom she had met in 1985, during the making of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull; they were married from 1990 to 1992. She married actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared in Millbrook, New York; she had become a naturalised American citizen. Richardson had two sons with Neeson: Micheál (born 1995) and Daniel (born 1996).

She helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father Tony Richardson had died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. She was also actively involved in AmfAR, becoming a board member in 2006 and participating in many other AIDS charities, including Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Mothers' Voices, AIDS Crisis Trust and National AIDS Trust, for which she was an ambassador. She received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

An avid smoker, although she had reportedly quit smoking, Richardson was an outspoken critic of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.

Injury and death

On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a beginner skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. At first, she refused any medical help but complained of a severe headache about two hours after the accident. She was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died two days later from an epidural hematoma. Richardson's family issued a statement on the day of her death: "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."

On 19 March 2009, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway in Manhattan and in the West End of London as a mark of respect for Richardson. The following day, a private viewing was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan. On 22 March 2009, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York, close to the family's upstate home. Richardson was buried near her maternal grandmother Rachel Kempson in the churchyard. Richardson's aunt, Lynn Redgrave, was buried in the same churchyard on 8 May 2010, near Richardson and Kempson.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes	Ref.
1968	The Charge of the Light Brigade	Flower girl at wedding	Uncredited appearance
1973	High Crime	Luisa, the girl playing hopscotch	Uncredited appearance
1983	Every Picture Tells a Story	Miss Bridle
1986	Gothic	Mary Shelley
1987	A Month in the Country	Alice Keach
1988	Patty Hearst	Patty Hearst
1989	Fat Man and Little Boy	Jean Tatlock
1990	The Handmaid's Tale	Kate / Offred
1990	The Comfort of Strangers	Mary
1991	The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish	Sybil
1992	Past Midnight	Laura Mathews
1994	Nell	Dr. Paula Olsen
1994	Widows' Peak	Mrs Edwina Broome
1998	The Parent Trap	Elizabeth "Liz" James
2001	Blow Dry	Shelley Allen
2001	Chelsea Walls	Mary
2002	Waking Up in Reno	Darlene Dodd
2002	Maid in Manhattan	Caroline Lane
2005	The White Countess	Countess Sofia Belinskya
2005	Asylum	Stella Raphael	Also executive producer
2007	Evening	Constance Lord
2008	Wild Child	Mrs. Kingsley	Final on-screen film appearance
2010	The Wildest Dream	Ruth Mallory (wife of George Mallory)	Voice only Posthumously released Final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1984	Oxbridge Blues	Gabriella Folckwack
1984	Ellis Island	Young Whore
1985	The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	Violet Hunter	Episode: "The Copper Beeches"
1987	Ghosts	Regina
1992	Hostages	Jill Morrell
1993	Zelda	Zelda Fitzgerald
1993	Suddenly Last Summer	Catharine Holly
1996	Tales from the Crypt	Fiona Havisham
2001	Haven	Ruth Gruber	CTV Television Network
2007	Mastersons of Manhattan	Victoria Masterson
2008	Top Chef	Guest Judge

Theatre

Year	Production	Role	Venue(s)	Notes	Ref.
1983	On the Razzle	Marie	West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
1983	Top Girls		West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
1983	Charley's Aunt	Amy Spettigue	West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
1985	The Seagull	Nina	Queen's Theatre, London
1985	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Helena	Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London
1985	Hamlet	Ophelia	Young Vic Theatre, London
1986– 1987	High Society	Tracy	Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Leicester Victoria Palace Theatre, London
1993	Anna Christie	Anna	Criterion Center Stage Right, Broadway	Nominated—Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1998	Cabaret	Sally Bowles	Kit Kat Klub, Broadway	Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999	Closer	Anna	Music Box Theatre, Broadway
2003	The Lady from the Sea	Ellida Wangel	Almeida Theatre, London
2005	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois	Studio 54, Broadway

External links

• Natasha Richardson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Natasha Richardson at the Internet Movie Database
• Natasha Richardson at AllMovie
• Natasha Richardson – Daily Telegraph obituary
• Natasha Richardson at Find a Grave