Natasha (updated from 3/17)

From The Comfort Of Strangers, Paul Schrader, 1990

Natasha Richardson is, and always has been, an actress of uncommon beauty, intelligence and grace. I have ever loved her work, and I must admit that, ever since seeing her once in person, lunching at the late, great Lola sometime in the latter part of the 1980s—where she looked several times more gorgeous and luminous than she does in even her most glamourous screen roles, and impressed this six-foot-plus lad with her height as well—I've nurtured a starstruck crush on her of the sort that I'm loath to admit, not being much of a starstruck sort in general. All of which is my roundabout and awkward way of saying I'm genuinely, and possibly inappropriately, torn up by her current plight, and that I'm praying for her, and for all of her family, very ardently indeed. 

UPDATE: I just (late Wednesday) learned the awful news of her death. One may connect what dots one may—I think of Natasha's mother, Vanessa Redgrave, bringing to life Joan DIdion's grief so very recently—but the bottom line is there is no greater tragedy than a parent having to put to rest a child. For whatever it's worth, I would like to convey my most sincere condolences to all of Natasha Richardson's family. 

Comments

[Joe Bowman]

I'm very concerned about the strangeness of the reports surrounding her injury. I feel the same way, Glenn.

[Account Deleted]

Such an awful piece of news. Natasha always comes across as a genuinely nice person. Let's hope today brings some good news.

[bill]

I was following this story all day yesterday, and, while I have no idea how severe her condition actually is, there are some journalists who need to lose their jobs over their reporting. "Time Out New York" claimed, at one point yesterday, that she'd died. They retracted that in favor of reporting that she was brain dead. From what I've been reading, that's not true either. She's suffering from brain swelling, which could be bad, or could be treated with little to no lasting damage to her. I'm obviously ardently hoping for the latter possibility, but Adam Feldman for "TONY" needs to have his ass handed to him for his coverage.

[Campaspe]

I agree with Bill. I've been working in the big bad media for ages, but anyone can see that TONY didn't follow standard procedure, which is to get confirmation from either the immediate family or the hospital. It's a question not only of simple human decency, but of how fucking stupid and ghoulish you will look if you are wrong. The wire services and places like CNN and Fox apparently did wait, but in this Internet age it is all about getting the hits. So you get creeps like Perez and TMZ jumping all over it, then blaming TONY when the story wasn't right. If Perez wants to claim he's a journalist he's gotta act like one--you look at TONY's thin sourcing ("family friends") and check it yourself. You don't need a Columbia degree to figure that out.

Anyway, rant over, it's just awful to think of how the coverage much have deepened the pain for the people who know her. She and Neeson have been a fixture on the NY charity circuit for years and have done a lot of good for the city's cultural institutions. I am really, really hoping she pulls through.

[colinr]

I agree on Nastasha Richardson and am hoping for the best.

I've been a bit annoyed that the reports here in the UK are only focusing on her roles in The Parent Trap and Maid In Manhattan (with a bit of footage of her character meeting Liam Neeson's in Nell for added poignancy) instead of acknowledging her work in Gothic, The Company of Strangers (as noted above), Patty Hearst and so on.

I hold her in particularly high regard for her role in The Handmaid's Tale, which moved me so much it inspired me to search out Margaret Atwood's novel...but I still imagined Richardson in the title role while reading!

And Asylum which seems to have been somewhat underrated amongst her recent work.

[bill]

"Asylum" was an odd one. I remember that Ebert slammed it as being ridiculously melodramatic, and imagined that the source novel, by Patrick McGrath, must be different. Well, I've read that book, and I can tell you that the film hewed to it pretty closely, and I don't remember thinking the film ramped up tone. And, to me, the level of Gothic melodrama in both the novel and film seemed well within the bounds of reason. That said, I didn't love the movie -- it seemed to want to just be the novel, on screen. I did think Richardson was very good, though.

[justine]

Add me to those saying a novena for Natasha Richardson, a truly luminous actress.

And add me to the list of admirers of "Asylum" - a fairly perfect capturing of Patrick McGrath's novel, with an intense, daring lead performance by Richardson.

[Ryan Kelly]

What awful, awful news. My condolences to Mr. Neeson and Vanessa Redgrave, as no one deserves this kind of pain in their life.

[bill]

When I heard this news, I felt sick inside. My condolences to her family, as well.

[Max]

Tragic enough had she fell and was severely injured immediately. But the fact that she was up walking and laughing, then complained of headaches, and now this... so awful. To lose a wife of 15 years so suddenly, and for her mother such a young daughter, I cannot imagine.

[Andrew Wyatt]

It seems she's left us. Shit.

Fond memories of her looking very sexy in a distinctly Irish pastoral way opposite Mia Farrow and Joan Plowright in Widow's Peak.