Natasha Richardson was the face of many ’90s childhoods, stealing hearts with her chic style and on-screen charisma in the 1998 classic The Parent Trap.
But in 2009, the star tragically died at 45 following a skiing accident, leaving behind her husband Liam Neeson and their two sons.
2024 marks 15 years since the actresses’ death, which has been commemorated with some emotional tributes from her nearest and dearest, including TV presenter Andy Cohen.
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Read on to learn more about Richardson’s iconic screen career, her heartwarming love story and her untimely death.
How did Natasha Richardson die?
Natasha Richardson was 45 when she died in 2009 following a skiing accident.
The actress was skiing in Canada when she fell and hit her head, suffering an epidural hematoma.
After being hospitalised a couple of hours after the fall, Richardson was then transferred to a hospital in New York City, where she was put on life support and died two days later.
Richardson’s husband Liam Neeson was by her side when she died.
The actress was survived by their two children Micheál, who was only 13, and his younger brother, Daniel, who was 12.
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What was Natasha Richardson’s last movie?
Two months before her death, Natasha Richardson finished recording her final lines in her last screen project The Wildest Dream.
The film, in which Richardson voiced explorer George Mallory’s wife Ruth Mallory, was released in 2010, the year after she died.
Neeson also voiced the narrator in the film.
“[Natasha] was as gripped with the Mallorys’ story as I was. As we all know, this was her final performance and I know she was very proud to be part of this compelling story,” the actor reportedly said per the Evening Standard.
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Richardson’s final on-screen appearance, however, came a year before her death in the 2008 film Wild Child, in which she played the school’s headmistress Mrs Kingsley.
Natasha Richardson’s movies and TV shows
Richardson was four when she made her on-screen debut in 1968 as an extra in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father, Tony Richardson.
Acting ran in the family; her mother Natasha Redgrave and sister Joely Richardson are both actresses.
Richardson went on to work in theatre before transitioning to film in the ’80s.
In 1984 she appeared in Every Picture Tells A Story before being cast in leading roles in Gothic and Patty Hearst.
The success only continued to grow in the ’90s as she starred in the 1990 films The Handmaid’s Tale and The Comfort of Strangers.
In 1998, Richardson landed the part of Lindsay Lohan’s mother Elizabeth James in the Disney remake The Parent Trap.
In 2021, the star’s son Micheál revealed it is his favourite of his mother’s films.
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The Parent Trap cast: Then and now
“I just see her so much as that person,” he told People magazine.
“I’m so lucky too, because she’s passed away, I can still watch her and see how she worked and also it’s a great thing to have.”
Richardson continued to work into the ’00s before her death in 2009, appearing in Maid In Manhattan, The White Countess and Wild Child.
Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson’s relationship
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Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson’s love story began in 1993 when they met on the set of the Broadway show Anna Christie.
Richardson was married to Robert Fox at the time she first met Neeson.
However, she would divorce Fox in 1992 after two years of marriage and tie the knot with Neeson in 1994.
Not long after they first said ‘I do’, the couple welcomed their first child, son Micheál in 1995, and their second son Daniel in 1996.
Since Richardson’s death, Neeson has not since remarried.
During a 2023 interview with Conan O’Brien, Neeson revealed he still speaks to his late wife “every day”, 14 years on from her death.
“We still talk every day, me and Natasha. Every day,” he told the television show host.
Liam Neeson’s heartbreaking last words to Natasha Richardson
In a 2014 interview with 60 Minutes, Liam Neeson revealed his wife first called him after the skiing accident that would two days later claim her life.
“I spoke to her and she said, ‘Oh, darling, I’ve taken a tumble in the snow.’ That’s how she described it,” he recalled.
Watch the video at the top of the page.
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After she was hospitalised and transferred to New York City, Neeson revealed his final words to his wife by her hospital bed before she was taken off life support.
“Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this,” he recalled telling Richardson in her last moments.
“You’ve banged your head. It’s…I don’t know if you can hear me, but that’s…this is what’s gone down,” he said to her.
“We’re bringing you back to New York. All your family and friends will come.”
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