Natasha Richardson
Date of Birth:
11 May 1963, London, England, UK
Date of Death:
18 March 2009, New York City, New York, USA (epidural hematoma)
Birth Name:
Natasha Jane Richardson
Nickname:
Tasha
Height:
5' 9" (1.75 m)
Mini Biography:
Natasha Richardson made her feature film debut as Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's Gothic (1986). Her performance caught the attention of director Paul Schrader, who cast her in the title role in Patty Hearst (1988). Since then, Ms. Richardson achieved notable success in such films as Pat O'Connor's A Month in the Country (1987), Roland Joffé's Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) and The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish (1991), featuring Bob Hoskins and Jeff Goldblum. For her performance in Volker Schlöndorff's The Handmaid's Tale (1990) and Schrader's The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Richardson earned The London Evening Standard Award for Best Actress of 1990; and for Widows' Peak (1994), also starring Mia Farrow and Joan Plowright, she received the Best Actress Award at the 1994 Karlovy Vary Festival.
In 1995 she co-starred with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson in Nell (1994) and, in 1998, in The Parent Trap (1998) with Dennis Quaid. Her recent films include Blow Dry (2001) released in 2001, and Ethan Hawke's Chelsea Walls (2001).
Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Richardson performed extensively on stage in roles including Helena in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Ophelia in "Hamlet" at the Young Vic. In 1986 she garnered the London Drama Critics' Most Promising Newcomer Award for her performance as Nina in "The Seagull", with Vanessa Redgrave and Jonathan Pryce. In 1987 she played Tracey Lord in Richard Eyre's musical "High Society". She performed the title role of "Anna Christie", first in London, where she was voted London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award in 1992, then on Broadway at the Roundabout in 1993, where she was nominated for a Tony for Best Actress in a Play, a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actress, and a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress. For her performance as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' production of "Cabaret", she won the 1998 Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress in a Musical. She then appeared on Broadway in Patrick Marber's Tony-nominated play "Closer". In December 2009 she had been intended to play "Miss Julie" on Broadway with Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by David Leveaux for Roundabout Theatre.
Richardson's television credits included Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" for the BBC, also starring Judi Dench, Michael Gambon and Kenneth Branagh; the HBO cable feature Hostages (1992) (TV); the BBC film Suddenly, Last Summer (1993) (TV), based on the play by Tennessee Williams, and also starring Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe. In 1993 she starred as Zelda Fitzgerald in the TNT movie Zelda (1993) (TV), co-starring Timothy Hutton and directed by Pat O'Connor (cable Ace nomination for Best Actress). She played Ruth Gruber in the 2001 CBS mini-series Haven (2001) (TV) based on Ms. Gruber's autobiography.
In March 2009, she died suddenly, after falling and receiving a head injury whilst skiing in Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada.
Spouse:
Liam Neeson (3 July 1994 - 18 March 2009) (her death) 2 children
Robert Fox (15 December 1990 - 30 June 1992) (divorced)
The Wildest Dream The Wildest Dream Conquest Of Everest 
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Movie Synopsis:
In 1999, renowned American mountaineer Conrad Anker made a discovery that reverberated around the globe. High in Mount Everests death zone, he found the body of George Mallory 75 years after the British explorer mysteriously vanished during his attempt to become the first man to summit the worlds tallest peak.
Mallory had risked everything as he set out, dressed in gabardine and hobnailed boots, in pursuit of his dream of reaching the top of Everest, which in 1924 was the last great adventure left to man. He was last spotted alive just 800 feet below the summit. Then the clouds rolled in and Mallory vanished into legend.
After discovering his body, Conrad Ankers life became intertwined with Mallorys story. Remarkably, Mallorys body was found with all his belongings intact. The only thing missing was a photograph of Ruth, which Mallory had promised to place on the summit. Haunted by Mallory's story, Conrad longed to return to Everest to lay Mallorys ghost to rest.
Directed by Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker Anthony Geffen, narrated by Academy Award® nominee Liam Neeson and featuring the voices of Oscar® nominee Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Hugh Dancy and Alan Rickman, The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest is a breathtaking mountaineering adventure that seeks to answer the enduring mysteries surrounding George Mallorys death on Mount Everest. Foremost among them: Could Mallory have succeeded in reaching the summit before he and fellow climber Andrew Sandy Irvine disappeared in 1924?
In the quest for answers, Anker finally returns to Everest in 2007 with British climbing prodigy Leo Houlding, replicating as closely as possible Mallorys ill-fated expedition. The men retrace the North East Ridge Route, even removing the ladder from the infamous Second Step to free climb this dangerous 90-foot sheer rock wall just as Mallory and Irvine would have had to do 83 years earlier.
Far more than a film about mountain climbing, The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest tells the remarkable story of George Mallory, whose famous reply to a reporters question about his reason for wanting to climb Everest (Because its there) has inspired generations of adventurers. Mallory was a passionate and complex man, torn between two overwhelming and competing loves: his wife and the mountain that ultimately took his life.
Told through the poignant and evocative letters between Mallory and his beloved Ruth, the film combines previously unseen archival photos, specially restored film footage and dramatization with the present-day story of Ankers expedition to tell the tale of the quest to conquer Everest and the compelling longing for home. In this, Ankers story parallels Mallorys in a tale of obsession as relevant today as it was in 1924.