22 Facts About Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson appeared in The Handmaid's Tale, Nell, The Parent Trap, Maid in Manhattan, and The White Countess.

Natasha Richardson died in New York City, in 2009, from an epidural hematoma after a skiing accident in Quebec, Canada.

Natasha Jane Richardson was born and raised in Marylebone, London on May 11,1963, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty.

Natasha Richardson was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, half-sister of Carlo Gabriel Nero and Katharine Grimond Hess, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Natasha Richardson was educated in London at two private schools, the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington and St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Natasha Richardson made her Broadway debut in 1993, in the title role of Anna Christie, which is where she met future husband Liam Neeson.

In January 2009, two months before her death, Natasha Richardson played the role of Desiree in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, with her mother Vanessa Redgrave who played Mme.

In 1984, Natasha 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.

Natasha Richardson later starred as Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalised account of the author's creation of Frankenstein.

Natasha Richardson later credited her with giving him the best kiss of his life during the film.

Natasha 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.

Natasha Richardson appeared in the Disney film remake The Parent Trap in 1998 alongside Dennis Quaid, as Elizabeth James, divorced mother of Lindsay Lohan.

Natasha Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 miniseries Ellis Island.

Natasha 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; and Haven on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan on NBC.

Natasha Richardson married actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared in Millbrook, New York; she had become a naturalised American citizen.

Natasha Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father Tony Richardson had died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Natasha Richardson was 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 she was an ambassador.

Natasha Richardson received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

An avid smoker, although she had reportedly quit smoking, Natasha Richardson was an outspoken critic of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.

On 16 March 2009, Natasha Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a beginner skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort, about 130 kilometres from Montreal.

Natasha Richardson was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died two days later from an epidural hematoma.

Natasha Richardson was buried near her maternal grandmother Rachel Kempson in the churchyard.