Natasha Richardson Dies At 45
I don’t quite know where to put this one.
She could be a wonderful actress. Not always. Her career included some great and awarded moments, but she was, first and last, a working actress, not an acting legend.
Her family’s history matters… but does it really?
Her passing, coming as it has off of a minor fall on a bunny slope, has a randomness about it that is both shocking and so very not, in a world where people still die of starvation for the lack of a few dollars a month.
One cannot help but to feel terrible for those who were a part of her life, from the mother who gave her life to the children she gave life to, and to all of those whose life she touched in between.
I’m 45, I’ve hit my head less significantly than happens on any single play in an organized tackle football game, and now I am dead. On some level, it’s breathtaking. And yet, as we watch the media try to find a place for this… desperately unable to… pathetic in its fumblings… embarrassing the highest ranks of doctors who are willing to appear on TV while being unable to offer any real information when so little is available… the passing’s circumstances are so banal as to make one wonder what all the attendant fuss is about.
My experience of Ms. Richardson’s work started with Paul Schrader’s Patty Hearst, a film I see as greatly underrated, which also included breakthrough, career-tone-setting performances by Ving Rhames and Dana Delany. She was, in that work, profoundly vulnerable and sexy in a way that surprised me. Her stage work was discussed around the release of the film. But The Handmaid’s Tale, directed by the The Tin Drum’s Volker Schl
So tragic, so sudden. Poor Neeson. Her death just came out of norwhere.
I’m very surprised by how much intrusive press this is getting. She was certainly not very famous. Very disappointing.
My heart aches for Vanessa Redgrave, the greatest living (English-speaking) actress…and maybe the greatest actress period.
Tragic indeed.
Not sure I understand this anti-autopsy stance. There’s no reason to publicize the results, but surely this information has value to the family and the medical community.
I supsect the reason for an autopsy in this case is to find out if there was some underlying pathology. Given that she seemed to be fine and the symptoms showed up later, they’d want to find out just what happened if possible. I am sure in a case like this the autopsy would have the family’s okay. I don’t know how the laws are in NY, but it’s unlikely they legally could withhold the results from the public. A death certificate, at least, would be issued.
My feelings about it are really about the spectacle… I hate seeing headlines like “Autopsy underway now.”
Sons are so young. That to me is what is so sad.
I agree. I mean, it’s not like there’s any mystery about what happened. We’re not talking an Anna Nicole situation where the cause of death is not readily apparent. There’s no longer an information vacuum to fill. Move on and let the family alone. There’s more important things to worry about. Like Obama’s NCAA picks!
The autopsy is two-fold. If she had an underlying condition it could be genetic. If she sustained an injury at earlier point in her life, their will be scar tissue or a clot. From a personal standpoint, I’d feel more at peace knowing there was a silent killer, like an arterial wall in the heart, than simply the lack of a helmet.
As for her career, she was more theater than film and the kids took priority because Liam was a financial machine and her pedigree always guaranteed some form of work. There’s no difference between her and Pfeiffer save preferred mediums.
I felt bad yesterday when, despite knowing who Richardson was, I couldn’t think of a single one of her films offhand. Yes, she’s primarily a stage actress, but it still felt weird.
As far as media coverage, as I’ve written elsewhere, I’m a little astounded by the People Magazine cover trumpeting ‘her tragic accident’. Not only was that awfully fast, but the cover has a banner headline stating ‘3D photo special Glasses inside!’. I’m sure the two are mutually exclusive, but taken at face value… more than a little icky.
And, if I may, why is every news service trumpeting the fact that she died during a ‘beginner sky lesson’? Is that detail really relevant at all except as a subtle jab?
I don’t think it’s a jab, it’s a detail that adds to the tragedy in that death came from something so innocuous, and it’s typical sensationalistic fear-mongering (if she could die on the bunny slope, could I die from skinning my elbow?)
I keep having flashes of Neeson’s performance in Love Actually — delivering the eulogy at his dead-before-her-time wife’s funeral, then trying to come to grips with the tragedy while caring for his distraught son.
Just a shame.
I enjoyed her work more than David did. Ken Russell’s Gothic, plus Patty Hearst, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Comfort Of Strangers all stayed in my mind. I also remember enjoying The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish, Widow’s Peak, Nell and Asylum.
What makes it especially sad, is that her husband and family are so classy and not Hollywood attention whores but solid professionals in a business that is so fake at times.
“Her passing, coming as it has off of a minor fall on a bunny slope, has a randomness about it that is both shocking and so very not, in a world where people still die of starvation for the lack of a few dollars a month.”
Really? Did we need all of the last part? No one likes ridiculous randomness. It wigs people out. It’s against the status quo. Go back the Joker, and you will get what I mean. Nevertheless; your bump to the head comment is rather dead-on.
No, that’s not a pun. The human body is just wacky in the worst possible way too many times.
You gotta feel sorry for a mother burying her child and a man doing the same to the mother of his children. Devastating for all those involved.
pool lady. since yesterday the british press has been quoting natasha’s medical diagnosis as being brain-dead due to subdural hematoma, and the autopsy has indeed bore that out. it looks like she was just so unlucky to have hit her head in that one-in-a-thousand way that causes bleeding/swelling in the brain, with no immediately noticeable effects, that can indeed be fatal. it’s one of the particular risks skiing and why beginners especially are urged to wear helmets, because you inevitably fall and whack your egg on the snow, which can be harder than it looks. but most people don’t wear helmets so natasha was just like thousands of other people who go on the bunny run every day and fall down, and a tragic combination of really bad luck and perhaps her reluctance to make a fuss when she thought she was ok led to her death.
(just a brief note of utter disgust: on the news i saw the gaggle of paparazzi lying in wait for liam neeson and family outside the family home in order to catch them arriving back from the hospital after natasha’s death, it made me feel physically ill. how do those fucking vultures live with themselves? neeson gave them a feeble little wave, trying to be a nice guy, it was pretty heart-breaking and i bet that’s just what those vampires were hoping for, and of course the news agencies paid handsomely for it, thus perpetuating the cycle. do those pathetic ‘photogs’ realise what a canker sore on the lip of humanity they are? probably not, being as everyone somehow justifies what they do so they can live with themselves)
i meant, ‘poor lady’ of course, apologies
i meant ‘poor lady’, of course, apologies
hanging my head in shame, further apologies (plus i got that ‘in a effort to curb malicious posts you have to wait an interval before you can post again’ message, a sure sign you have posted one too many times š