j7wild
03-18-2009, 08:44 PM
this is so sad, so tragic, so sudden!!
:(
Actress Natasha Richardson Has Died Following Skiing Accident, Family Says
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 18, 2009; 8:08 PM
Natasha Richardson, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001670/ who died March 18 at age 45 from head injuries while skiing, was a glamorous and talented member of a British acting dynasty and the wife of actor Liam Neeson.
The unexpected tragedy made international headlines and prompted expressions of shock and grief. She fell on a beginners slope near Montreal during a ski lesson March 16 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 the Oscar-winning director and producer Tony Richardson ("Tom Jones"). Her maternal grandparents were the actors Michael 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."
Ms. 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's "A Streetcar Named Desire" (2005) on Broadway to a Disney remake of "The Parent Trap" (1998) in Hollywood.
As a young woman, Ms. 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 blonde 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."
In addition to Schrader's "Patty Hearst" (1988), in which she played the title heiress-turned-terrorist, and the psychological thriller "The Comfort of Strangers" (1990), Ms. Richardson 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.
She made some attempts to raise her income and public recognition, appearing in "The Parent Trap," with Lindsay Lohan, and "Maid in Manhattan" (2002) as a frosty socialite opposite a hotel maid played by Jennifer Lopez.
Film scholar David Kipen said of Ms. Richardson: "As an heir to the Redgrave theatrical and film dynasty, she was the British Drew Barrymore -- if Barrymore had better taste in roles and men. Richardson radiated intelligence in everything she did. She won raves for Shakespeare, Chekhov, O'Neill, Williams and Ibsen, and she could sing besides. If the movies never knew quite what to do with her, that strikes me more as the medium's fault than hers."
Natasha Jane Richardson was born in London on May 11, 1963. She made her stage debut at 4, directed by her father and playing her mother's bridesmaid in the movie "The Charge of the Light Brigade." The marriage ended around that time because of Tony Richardson's infidelities. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1991.
At 17, Natasha passed her audition at London's Central School of Speech and Drama without revealing her true name. She debuted in London's West End theater district as Nina in a 1985 revival of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" that starred her mother. It was a daunting way to start her professional career, but she later the New York Times, "If you jump in at the deep end, you only have to swim to the shallow end. But if you jump in at the shallow end, the deep end seems awfully far away."
During the show's run, she began a relationship with "Seagull" producer Robert Fox, and they later married. She left him to marry Neeson, with whom she appeared in "Anna Christie." Survivors include Neeson, and their two sons; her mother; and a sister, actress Joely Richardson(of the FX cable network's "Nip/Tuck").
Natasha Richardson's early film roles included "Gothic" (1986), a sexually provocative drama directed by Ken Russell. She played the mistress of atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in "Fat Man and Little Boy" (1988) and a court-appointed psychiatrist in "Nell" (1994), starring Jodie Foster, and was the troubled Catharine in a public television version of Tennessee Williams's "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1993) opposite Maggie Smith.
Traditionally attracted to darker-themed works, she was perhaps an unusual choice to play Sally Bowles in "Cabaret," a role popularized onscreen by Liza Minnelli.
But as she explained the role, she said she saw the character as desperate, perhaps a future drug addict or someone who "moves to England in the end and has a desperately boring middle-class existence, which is a kind of death in itself."
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031803237_pf.html
:(
Actress Natasha Richardson Has Died Following Skiing Accident, Family Says
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 18, 2009; 8:08 PM
Natasha Richardson, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001670/ who died March 18 at age 45 from head injuries while skiing, was a glamorous and talented member of a British acting dynasty and the wife of actor Liam Neeson.
The unexpected tragedy made international headlines and prompted expressions of shock and grief. She fell on a beginners slope near Montreal during a ski lesson March 16 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 the Oscar-winning director and producer Tony Richardson ("Tom Jones"). Her maternal grandparents were the actors Michael 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."
Ms. 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's "A Streetcar Named Desire" (2005) on Broadway to a Disney remake of "The Parent Trap" (1998) in Hollywood.
As a young woman, Ms. 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 blonde 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."
In addition to Schrader's "Patty Hearst" (1988), in which she played the title heiress-turned-terrorist, and the psychological thriller "The Comfort of Strangers" (1990), Ms. Richardson 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.
She made some attempts to raise her income and public recognition, appearing in "The Parent Trap," with Lindsay Lohan, and "Maid in Manhattan" (2002) as a frosty socialite opposite a hotel maid played by Jennifer Lopez.
Film scholar David Kipen said of Ms. Richardson: "As an heir to the Redgrave theatrical and film dynasty, she was the British Drew Barrymore -- if Barrymore had better taste in roles and men. Richardson radiated intelligence in everything she did. She won raves for Shakespeare, Chekhov, O'Neill, Williams and Ibsen, and she could sing besides. If the movies never knew quite what to do with her, that strikes me more as the medium's fault than hers."
Natasha Jane Richardson was born in London on May 11, 1963. She made her stage debut at 4, directed by her father and playing her mother's bridesmaid in the movie "The Charge of the Light Brigade." The marriage ended around that time because of Tony Richardson's infidelities. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1991.
At 17, Natasha passed her audition at London's Central School of Speech and Drama without revealing her true name. She debuted in London's West End theater district as Nina in a 1985 revival of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" that starred her mother. It was a daunting way to start her professional career, but she later the New York Times, "If you jump in at the deep end, you only have to swim to the shallow end. But if you jump in at the shallow end, the deep end seems awfully far away."
During the show's run, she began a relationship with "Seagull" producer Robert Fox, and they later married. She left him to marry Neeson, with whom she appeared in "Anna Christie." Survivors include Neeson, and their two sons; her mother; and a sister, actress Joely Richardson(of the FX cable network's "Nip/Tuck").
Natasha Richardson's early film roles included "Gothic" (1986), a sexually provocative drama directed by Ken Russell. She played the mistress of atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in "Fat Man and Little Boy" (1988) and a court-appointed psychiatrist in "Nell" (1994), starring Jodie Foster, and was the troubled Catharine in a public television version of Tennessee Williams's "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1993) opposite Maggie Smith.
Traditionally attracted to darker-themed works, she was perhaps an unusual choice to play Sally Bowles in "Cabaret," a role popularized onscreen by Liza Minnelli.
But as she explained the role, she said she saw the character as desperate, perhaps a future drug addict or someone who "moves to England in the end and has a desperately boring middle-class existence, which is a kind of death in itself."
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031803237_pf.html