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Natasha Richardson

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

Natasha Richardson
Portrait of Natasha Richardson. She was a young white woman with blonde hair, wearing blue-tinted sunglasses, a pink shirt and light blue cardigan.Natasha Richardson 1999.jpg Natasha Richardson 1999.jpg
Richardson in 1999
BornNatasha Jane Richardson
(1963-05-11)11 May 1963
Marylebone, London, England
💀Died18 March 2009(2009-03-18) (aged 45)
New York City, U.S.18 March 2009(2009-03-18) (aged 45)
Resting placeSt. Peter's Episcopal Cemetery, Millbrook, New York
🏳️ Citizenship
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
🎓 Alma materRoyal Central School of Speech and Drama
💼 Occupation
Actress
📆 Years active  1968–2009
👩 Spouse(s)
👶 Children2, including Micheál
👴 👵 Parents
👪 RelativesJoely Richardson (sister)
FamilyRedgrave

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, Richardson 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. Richardson also appeared in The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998), Maid in Manhattan (2002), and The White Countess (2005). She also provides the voice of Barbie the Flamingo in Rugrats All Growed Up and Go Wild (2003).

For her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret, Richardson 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 2009 from a head injury after a skiing accident in Quebec.[1]

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,[2] granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson,[2][3] sister of Joely Richardson, half-sister of Carlo Gabriel Nero and Katharine Grimond Hess,[4] niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave,[2] and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967.[5] 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.[2]

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,[6] before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.[7]

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 Richardson 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.[8] Soon afterward, Richardson 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 Richardson met future husband Liam Neeson and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play at the 47th Tony Awards. In 1998, Richardson 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 at the 52nd Tony Awards. The following year, Richardson 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 Richardson appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in the revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire,[2] opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski. In January 2009, two months before her death, Richardson played the role of Desirée Armfeldt in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, with her mother Vanessa Redgrave, who played Madame Armfeldt. At the time of Richardson's death, the pair were preparing to co-star in a Broadway revival of the musical.[6]

Film

File:NatashaRichardson.jpg
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.[9] Richardson later starred as Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalised account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year, Richardson starred with Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed Richardson for the title role of Patty Hearst in the 1988 docudrama film Patty Hearst about the heiress and her kidnapping. Richardson's 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, Richardson 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."[10]

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's characters Hallie Parker and Annie James. Additional film credits include Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won Richardson a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as Mrs. Kingsley, the headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, Richardson recorded her offscreen role as Ruth Mallory, 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".[11]

Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 miniseries Ellis Island. That same year, Richardson made her British television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year, Richardson appeared as Violet Hunter with Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches." Richardson 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; Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC. Richardson 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.[12] Richardson then met actor Liam Neeson while performing in a revival of the play Anna Christie on Broadway in 1993.[13] Richardson married Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared in Millbrook, New York;[14] she had become a naturalised American citizen.[15] Richardson had two sons with Neeson: Micheál and Daniel.[16]

Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father Tony Richardson had died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.[17] 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 Richardson was an ambassador. She received AmfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.[18]

Richardson was a smoker.[19] Although she had reportedly quit smoking,[20] she was a critic of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.[21]

Death and funeral

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.[22] At first, she refused any medical help but complained of a severe headache about two hours after the accident.[23] Richardson was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died two days later from an epidural hematoma.[24] Her 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."[25] Neeson donated Richardson's organs following her death.[26]

On 18 March 2009, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway in Manhattan and in the West End of London as a mark of respect for Richardson.[27] The following day, a private viewing was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan.[28] On 22 March, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York,[29] close to the family's upstate home. Richardson was buried near her maternal grandmother Rachel Kempson in the churchyard.[30] Her aunt, Lynn Redgrave, was buried in the same churchyard on 8 May 2010, near Richardson and Kempson.[31] The 2015 biographical thriller Everest was later dedicated to her.

Acting credits

Film

Year Film Role Notes
1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade Flower girl at wedding Uncredited appearance
1973 High Crime Luisa, the girl playing hopscotch
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
A Kind of Magic Gem Voice role
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Kate / Offred
The Comfort of Strangers Mary Kenway
1991 The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish Sybil
1992 Past Midnight Laura Mathews
1994 Nell Dr. Paula Olsen
Widows' Peak Mrs. Edwina Broome
1998 The Parent Trap Elizabeth "Liz" James
2001 Blow Dry Shelley Allen
Chelsea Walls Mary
2002 Waking Up in Reno Darlene Dodd
Maid in Manhattan Caroline Lane
2003 Rugrats All Growed Up and Go Wild Barbie the Flamingo Voice role
2005 The White Countess Countess Sofia Belinskya
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 Voice only; Posthumously released; Final film role

Television

Year Title Role Notes
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 Engstrand
1992 Hostages Jill Morrell
1993 Zelda Zelda Fitzgerald
1993 Suddenly Last Summer Catharine Holly
1996 Tales from the Crypt Fiona Havisham Episode: "Fatal Caper"
2001 Haven Ruth Gruber CTV Television Network
2007 Mastersons of Manhattan Victoria Masterson
2008 Top Chef: New York Guest Judge Episode: "12 Days of Christmas"

Theatre

Year Production Role Venue(s) Notes
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 Zarechnaya 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 Lord Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Leicester
Victoria Palace Theatre, London
1993 Anna Christie Anna Christie 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

References

  1. ↑ "Quick treatment could have saved Richardson". Today.com. 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2024. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Natasha Richardson part of legendary acting family". CNN. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  3. ↑ Debrett's People of Today. Debrett's Peerage Ltd., 2007
  4. ↑ "Natasha Richardson Leaves Bulk of Assets to Husband Liam Neeson". Fox News Channel. 31 May 2009. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ Arnold, Laurence; Peter S. Green (19 March 2009). "Natasha Richardson, Actress of Elegance, Pedigree, Dead at 45". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pulleine, Tim (19 March 2009). "Natasha Richardson The daughter of actor Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson was destined for the theatrical profession". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  7. ↑ Singh, Anita (19 March 2009). "Natasha Richardson skiing accident in Canada: profile of actress". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  8. ↑ Weber, Bruce (18 March 2009). "Natasha Richardson, actress, Dies at 45". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 April 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  9. ↑ "Aesthetica Magazine – James Scott: Every Picture Tells A Story, London". Aesthetica. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  10. ↑ Greenstreet, Rosanna (18 June 2011). "Q&A: Bob Hoskins". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2011. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  11. ↑ "Director: Natasha Richardson "Powerful and Harrowing" in Final Film". Us Weekly. 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  12. ↑ "Obituaries – Natasha Richardson". The Daily Telegraph. 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  13. ↑ Huguenin, Patrick (17 March 2009). "Magical marriage takes a tragic turn". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2016. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  14. ↑ "Millbrook's Natasha Richardson suffers critical head injury from ski accident". Poughkeepsie Journal. 17 March 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2009. he and Neeson married in 1994 at their Millbrook home, and now have two sons [dead link]
  15. ↑ "Natasha Richardson: Member of celebrated acting family who found success on stage and screen – Obituaries, News". The Independent. London. 20 March 2009. Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ Abrahamson, Rachel Paula (March 19, 2024). "Natasha Richardson's son Daniel remembers his mother 15 years after her death". TODAY. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  17. ↑ Middlekauff, Tracey (2009). "Fighting AIDS in Memory of Her Father". People. Archived from the original on 7 May 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  18. ↑ "amfAR :: Natasha Richardson :: The Foundation for AIDS Research :: HIV / AIDS Research". amfar.org. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  19. ↑ Bearn, Emily (27 April 2003). "Prime Time for Natasha". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  20. ↑ Chui, Alexis (24 March 2009). "Natasha Richardson: 'She Was So Much Fun'". People. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  21. ↑ Franck, Elisabeth (8 April 2001). "Cigarette Aficionados Go to War". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on 28 September 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  22. ↑ "Neeson opens up on death of wife: 'It still kind of isn't real'". New York Daily News. 21 February 2014.
  23. ↑ Marikar, Sheila (March 17, 2009). "Natasha Richardson Died of a Subdural Hematoma After Skiing Accident". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  24. ↑ "Richardson's Death: Accidental Blunt Impact". ABC News.
  25. ↑ Weber, Bruce (19 March 2009). "Natasha Richardson, actress, Dies at 45". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 March 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  26. ↑ "Liam Neeson has spoken openly about donating his late wife Natasha Richardson's organs following her death in a skiing accident five years ago". evoke.ie. 21 February 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2015. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  27. ↑ "Richardson gets West End tribute". BBC News. 20 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  28. ↑ "Natasha Richardson buried in New York". 23 March 2009. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  29. ↑ "Family bid farewell to Richardson". BBC News. 22 March 2009. Archived from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  30. ↑ "Natasha Richardson Buried Near Upstate NY Home". The Canadian Press. 23 March 2009. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2009. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  31. ↑ Family, friends say goodbye to Redgrave CBC News 8 May 2010 Retrieved:8 May 2010.

External links


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