Lights Go Out On Broadway – Celebrities Bid Adieu To Beloved Natasha
Posted on March 24, 2009
Filed Under East meets West, Guest Columnist | Leave a Comment
by Susan Stackpole
Broadway lights dimmed in memory of Natasha Richardson, Tony award-winning stage and film star, who died unexpectedly from a skiing-related head injury on 18 March, 2009 in Newyork. Richardson’s husband, Liam Neeson, and mother, Vanessa Redgrave, were in attendance. Theatres in London’s West End dimmed also at 7pm and lasted for one hour. Born Natasha Jane Richardson on 11 May 1963, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer, Tony Richardson. Her claim to fame came with her award-winning performance as Sally Bowles in Broadway’s 1998 revival of the musical, Cabaret, for which she won Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress, Drama Desk Award, for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Her memorable films include: Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998), and Maid in Manhattan (2002). Raised in London, Richardson was twice-married, first to Richard Fox, whom she divorced in 1992, later meeting Liam Neeson, her future second-husband, on the set of Anna Christie. The two wed in 1994, and had two sons, Micheál, 13, and Daniel, 12.
Richardson, 45, suffered a head injury when she fell during a private ski lesson on the beginner’s trail at Mont Tremblant Ski Resort about 129 kilometers northwest of Quebec. Richardson was originally hospitalized in Montreal and later flown to New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital, where she later passed away. She suffered an epidural hematoma, which caused bleeding between the skull and brain’s covering. Doctors said she may have survived if she’d received immediate treatment; however, almost four hours lapsed between the fall and her admission to the hospital. The London Sun reported Richardson turned down a $9 helmet rental. A Mont Tremblant staffer claims, “I remember Natasha coming into the shop before her lesson. She seemed cheerful, bright and extremely beautiful. Every skier is encouraged to wear a helmet, especially beginners like Natasha, but it is not legally enforced, and they can always refuse. Neeson, Richardson’s husband, was the last to leave the memorial viewing held at New York’s American Irish Historical Society, joined by sons, Micheál, and Daniel, along with Richardson’s mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and sister, Joely Richardson. International celebrities attending the viewing, paying homage to Richardson, including: Kenneth Cole, Ralph Fiennes, Ethan Hawke, Laura Linney, Julianna Margulies, Matthew Modine, Mike Nichols, Uma Therman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Fisher Stevens, Stanley Tucci, and Mathilde Krim of the American Foundation of AIDS Research – amFAR, on which Richardson had served on the board as trustee since 2006. AmFAR was a passionate cause of Richardson who helped raise millions of dollars in memory of her father who died of AIDS-related causes.
Richardson’s mahogany casket, adorned with the Irish claddagh symbol representing friendship, love, and loyalty, left Manhattan on Saturday around 9:30 am after the somber one-day wake. State police and local sheriff’s department kept media way as Richardson’s hearse and a black Land Rover filled with floral remembrances made the 90 mile trek to an upstate New York farm where Richardson and Neeson were wed in July 1994. The family attended St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lithgow, which is where Richardson’s grandmother, Rachel Kempson Redgrave, was buried following her death in 2003. No further funeral details are being released, though the funeral is thought to be held somewhere in Middlebrook, NY. Dimming lights signify the sorrowful hearts of those who’ve lost their beloved Natasha. Shock, sorrow, and overwhelming love are the dominant emotions surrounding this sudden and inexplicable tragedy. Tributes have poured in, and more can be found at http://www.natasha-richardson.org/. Richardson’s death serves as a wake-up call regarding the true fragility of life and the importance of living each moment to the fullest. Rest in Peace, Natasha.
 The typically Episcopalian church where friends and family gathered for an intimate funeral service to say goodbye to their beloved Natasha.
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An anonymous Irish funeral prayer best sums up Natasha’s radiant light.
An Irish Funeral Prayer
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Everything remains as it was.
The old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no sorrow in your tone.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effort
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.
There is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.
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