We are hearing reports that actress Natasha Richardson has been taken off life support equipment today. Richardson apparently suffered a brain injury yesterday while skiing in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Initially she seemed fine, but an hour later complained of an intense headache. Late in the day, she was flown to New York City, where she has been in Lenox Hill Hospital. Her family had the life support equipment turned off about 1:30 this afternoon.
Born 11 May 1963 in London, England, she won a Tony Award in 1998 as Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Cabaret. Best known as a film actress, she made her debut in 1968 as an uncredited flower girl at a wedding in The Charge of the Light Brigade, which was directed by her father, Tony Richardson (he died in 1991). Her genre appearances include: Tales from the Crypt (1996), Past Midnight (1991), The Handmaid’s Tale (1990), Worlds Beyond (1987), and Gothic (1986).
Richardson comes from an acting family. In addition to her father, her mother is actress Lynn Redgrave and her sister is actress Joely Richardson. After divorcing her first husband, Richard Fox, in 1993, she married actor Liam Neeson in 1994. The couple have two sons, aged 13 and 12.
[Edited 19 March 2009: We made an error. Richardson’s mother was Vanessa Redgrave. Lynn Redgrave, Vanessa’s sister, was Richardson’s aunt.]