NATASHA RICHARDSON DIES FOLLOWING SKI ACCIDENT
Family members shared a final farewell to NATASHA RICHARDSON at her funeral service on Sunday (22Mar09) in the New York town where she wed LIAM NEESON.
The tragic actress died after a fall while skiing on the slopes of Mont Tremblant in Montreal, Canada on Monday (16Mar09) that left her with a serious brain injury.
She was flown to New York by her husband Neeson on Tuesday (17Mar09) where relatives, including her actress mother Vanessa Redgrave and sister Joely Richardson, stayed by her bedside until her life support machine was switched off on Wednesday (18Mar09). She died hours later, aged 45.
The actress' mahogany casket, marked on its side with an Irish symbol representing friendship, love and loyalty, left Manhattan, New York at approximately 9:30am local time on Saturday (21Mar09), after a one-day wake.
Neeson was among the pallbearers for his wife's coffin at the private service on Sunday (22Mar09) afternoon at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Millbrook, New York - near the home where they exchanged vows in 1994 and raised their two children.
The actor arrived with sons Micheal, 13, and Daniel, 12, and mother-in-law, Vanessa Redgrave. Richardson's aunt, Lynn Redgrave, and sister Joely Richardson followed.
Actor Ralph Fiennes was also at the funeral, which was open to family and close friends.
Richardson will be laid to rest at a nearby cemetery where her grandmother, Rachel Kempson Redgrave, was buried in 2003.
• Birth Name
Liam Neeson
• Birth Date
06/07/1952
• Birthplace
Ballymena, Northern Ireland
• Credits
21 Movies, 4 TV appearances, 2 awards
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• Family
Father: Barney Neeson
Worked in a boys' primary school
Mother: Kitty Neeson
Worked in a girls' grammar school
Mother-In-Law: Vanessa Redgrave
Sister: Bernadette Neeson
Sister: Elizabeth Neeson
Sister: Rosaleen Neeson
Son: Daniel Jack Neeson
Born Aug. 28, 1996; mother, Natasha Richardson
Son: Micheal Richard Antonio Neeson
Born June 22, 1995; mother, Natasha Richardson
• Hookups
Companion: Jennifer Grey
Briefly dated
• Notes
"Doing ['Schindler's List'] made me aware of the importance of what you say on a 20-foot screen that 20 million people are going to see. There's a responsibility. It's not that I wanted to play good guys all the time. But it made me wary of doing a piece of trash just because it had a large budget. Not that there's anything wrong with entertainment, and Hollywood will churn that out regardless. It's just that I was suddenly made aware of the responsbilities I have as an actor." - Neeson quoted in The Los Angeles Times, Nov. 20, 1994
"I don't set out to play real people; what usually motivates me is the quality of the writing. But yeah, I guess I may subconsciously seek them out. These are people who stand for something, something that is good to remind audiences of; they had a code of ethics that you perhaps don't find anymore." - Neeson on playing historical characters such as Oskar Schindler and Alfred Kinsey to The Observer, Oct. 13, 2002
"I thought I'd be the pipe-smoking, roaring-fire, cardigan-wearing dad, and I became totally frozen," he admits. "I looked at my wife with pleading eyes: 'You go first!' She went first." - Neeson, on how he reacted when he sons asked him about sex, quoted to People magazine, Nov. 22, 2004
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I get a chance to do something I love and they pay me lots of money for it. This is an honor to sit with you in this beautiful hotel in Los Angeles. It should be wintertime, man. I should be working in some factory in Belfast. But I'm not. I give thanks for that." - Neeson quoted in Movieline magazine, May 1999
"It comes to the point where you feel raped, where nothing is private and everybody and his f*cking mother knows something about my personal life. You come away feeling cheap and tacky." - Neeson on the tabloid press to USA Today, April 3, 1995
"There's actors who want to know what their character had for breakfast last Tuesday. I'm not from that school. I had this amazing costume, half samurai, half Arthurian, and just having that on I got the guy. I knew how he stood. So do I know this world? Yes, I do. But if I have to describe it, I can't." - Neeson on how he as an actor approached Qui-Gon Jinn, his character in "The Phantom Menace" to Movieline magazine, May 1999
"We're all groping our way through life and hoping we'll be accepted and tolerated. And, God bless people like Kinsey who can kind of shine a light into a murky area of our humanity." - Neeson talking about Alfred Kinsey, who he portrayed in "Kinsey" to Cynthia McFadden of ABC's Primetime, Oct. 14, 2004
In 2002, Neeson received an Order of the British Empire Award from Queen Elizabeth for his stage and screen career.
Made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in December 1999
Neeson suffered a broken pelvis when his motorcycle collided with a deer near his upstate New York home on July 11, 2000.
• Milestones
(2002) Appeared in the highly anticipated Martin Scorsese film "Gangs of New York"
(1961) At age nine, joined a boxing team run by a priest
(1993) Breakthrough screen role as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List"; received Best Actor Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations
British TV debut, "Merlin and the Sword"
(1992) Broadway debut in a critically-acclaimed perfomance in "Anna Christie" opposite Natasha Richardson
(2003) Cast in Richard Curtis' ensemble comedy, "Love Actually"
(2005) Cast opposite Orlando Bloom in Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven"
(1984) Co-starred as Blackie O'Neill in the syndicated miniseries "A Woman of Substance"
(1994) Co-starred with Natasha Richardson and Jodie Foster in "Nell"
(2007) Co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in the western "Seraphim Falls"
(1981) Feature film debut, as Sir Gawain in Boorman's "Excalibur"
(1987) Featured as a deaf-mute man falsely accused of murder and defended by Cher in "Suspect"
(1992) Featured in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives"
Grew up in Ballymena, Northern Ireland
(1999) Had featured role as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace"
(1988) Had featured roles in "The Good Mother" opposite Diane Keaton
(1978) Joined the Abbey Theatre after moving to Dublin
(1979) Made educational film debut as Jesus of Nazareth in a film based on John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" (filmed for evangelical Bible students in Ireland)
(1990) Made feature starring debut as the titular tortured antihero of "Darkman"
(1976) Made professional stage debut in "The Risen People" at Lyric Player's Theatre in Belfast
(1987) Moved to Los Angeles
Planned to become a teacher, before answering an ad placed by the Lyric Players' Theatre in Belfast
(1980) Played Lenny in the Abbey Theatre production of "Of Mice and Men"; spotted by director John Boorman who later cast the actor in "Excalibur"
(1996) Played a father whose teenaged son is charged with murder in "Before and After"; co-starred Meryl Streep
(2004) Played the title role in Bill Condon's "Kinsey"; received Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations
(1995) Played title role in the Scotland set historical adventure "Rob Roy"
(1999) Portrayed a professor who conducts psychological experiments in Jan De Bont's remake of "The Haunting"
(1970) Quit boxing as a middleweight, following a blackout after a bout
(2008) Reprised role as the voice of Aslan in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"
(1986) Reprised role of Blackie O'Neill in the syndicated miniseries sequel "Hold That Dream"
(2002) Returned to Broadway in "The Crucible" opposite Laura Linney
(1998) Returned to Broadway playing Oscar Wilde in David Hare's drama "The Judas Kiss"
(2005) Starred as Batman's mentor Henri Ducard in the fifth installment "Batman Begins"; directed by Christopher Nolan
(1998) Starred as Jean Valjean in Bille August's adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic tale of injustice "Les Miserables"
(1996) Starred as the title revolutionary in Neil Jordan's controversial film "Michael Collins"
(1976-1978) Stayed with the Lyric Players' Theatre repertory company for two years
(1984) US TV debut, the CBS miniseries "Ellis Island"
(2005) Voiced Aslan in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"; based on the children's novel by C.S. Lewis
(2005) Starred alongside Cillian Murphy, as the priest who fathers him in Neil Jordan's "Breakfast on Pluto"
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