- Born
- Died
- Birth nameNatasha Jane Richardson
- Nickname
- Tasha
- Height5′ 7½″ (1.72 m)
- Natasha Jane Richardson was born in Marylebone, London, England, to director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave. She was the sister of actress Joely Richardson, the niece of actors Corin Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave, and the granddaughter of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson.
Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Richardson performed extensively on stage in roles, including "Helena" in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Ophelia in "Hamlet" at the Young Vic. In 1986, she garnered the London Drama Critics' Most Promising Newcomer Award for her performance as "Nina" in "The Seagull", with Vanessa Redgrave and Jonathan Pryce. In 1987, she played "Tracey Lord" in Richard Eyre's musical, "High Society".
Natasha 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). Natasha 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.
Also in 1994, she co-starred with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson in Nell (1994) and, in 1998, in The Parent Trap (1998) with Dennis Quaid. Her early 2000s films include Blow Dry (2001) released in 2001, and Ethan Hawke's Chelsea Walls (2001).
Natasha performed the title role of "Anna Christie", first in London, where she was voted London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award in 1992, then on Broadway at the Roundabout in 1993, where she was nominated for a Tony for Best Actress in a Play, a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actress, and a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress. For her performance as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' production of "Cabaret", she won the 1998 Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress in a Musical. She then appeared on Broadway in Patrick Marber's Tony-nominated play "Closer". In December 2009 she had been intended to play "Miss Julie" on Broadway with Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by David Leveaux for Roundabout Theatre.
Richardson's television credits included Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" for the BBC, also starring Judi Dench, Michael Gambon and Kenneth Branagh; the HBO cable feature Hostages (1992); the BBC film Suddenly, Last Summer (1993), based on the play by Tennessee Williams, and also starring Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe. In 1993 she starred as Zelda Fitzgerald in the TNT movie Zelda (1993), co-starring Timothy Hutton and directed by Pat O'Connor (cable Ace nomination for Best Actress). She played Ruth Gruber in the 2001 CBS mini-series Haven (2001) based on Ms. Gruber's autobiography.
In March 2009, Natasha died in a New York City hospital, after falling and receiving a head injury whilst skiing in Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. Natasha was married to actor Liam Neeson from 1994 until her death, and the couple have two children.- IMDb Mini Biography By: jack splat
- SpousesLiam Neeson(July 3, 1994 - March 18, 2009) (her death, 2 children)Robert Fox(December 16, 1990 - June 30, 1992) (divorced)
- Children
- Parents
- RelativesJoely Richardson(Sibling)Michael Redgrave(Grandparent)Rachel Kempson(Grandparent)Lynn Redgrave(Aunt or Uncle)Kika Markham(Aunt or Uncle)Corin Redgrave(Aunt or Uncle)Jemma Redgrave(Cousin)Carlo Gabriel Nero(Half Sibling)Katherine Grimond(Half Sibling)Daisy Bevan(Niece or Nephew)
- Liam Neeson claimed that he and Richardson had a mutual agreement in their marriage that in the event one of them entered a vegetative state, they would not stay on life support. Richardson's liver, kidneys, and heart were all transplanted.
- Her private funeral service was held in New York on March 22, 2009. Among the people in attendance were her husband Liam Neeson, their two sons, her mother Vanessa Redgrave, her sister Joely Richardson, her aunt Lynn Redgrave, Laura Linney, Ralph Fiennes, Ciarán Hinds, Meryl Streep, Don Gummer, Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Alan Rickman, Holly Hunter, Mia Farrow, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.
- (October 20, 2018) Her older son, 23-year-old Micheál Neeson, changed his surname from Neeson to Richardson in her honor, nine years after her tragic death.
- Met her husband Liam Neeson when they both appeared in Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie" (1993) for which she was nominated for a Tony award.
- On March 16, 2009, she received a serious head injury during a private beginner's skiing lesson at Mont-Tremblant, 80 miles outside Montreal. She appeared to be fine, and initially refused treatment. That afternoon, she developed a headache and was taken to Centre Hospitalier Laurentien, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec. That evening, she was transferred to the ICU at Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montréal, where she was declared brain dead. The next day, at her family's request, she was transferred to Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, where she was removed from life support.
- [in an interview with The Telegraph in February 2003] I used to be much more ambitious. I don't feel ambitious at all now in terms of using work as a stepping stone to somewhere else, but I do feel an enormous thirst to do work that I care about. I don't think I've ever played a part on film that has given me the opportunity to do what I've been able to do on stage.
- [in an interview with The Telegraph in February 2003] I wake up every morning feeling lucky - which is driven by fear, no doubt, since I know it could all go away.
- [on playing Patty Hearst] I gobbled up this part, but I had no idea of the difficulties inherent in playing a character who's not a heroine.
- [on being part of an acting dynasty] It's a huge help to be the daughter of famous parents; the doors open just out of curiosity, and after you land a job, you have the inspiration of their help, and their own work.
- [on her role in Asylum] "It's a very dark, very intense, very sexy story, full of pain and passion and all the stuff I love. I'm a hopeless romantic so I fall for that stuff hook, line and sinker."
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