Natasha Richardson

Autopsy: Richardson died from bleeding in brain By HILLEL ITALIE, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK -- Actress Natasha Richardson died from bleeding in her skull caused by the fall she took on a ski slope, an autopsy found Thursday. The medical examiner ruled her death an accident, and doctors said she might have survived had she received immediate treatment. Richardson suffered from an epidural hematoma, which causes bleeding between the skull and the brain's covering, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office. Such bleeding is often caused by a skull fracture, and it can quickly produce a blood clot that puts pressure on the brain. That pressure can force the brain downward, pressing on the brain stem that controls breathing and other vital functions. Patients with such an injury often feel fine immediately after being hurt because symptoms from the bleeding may take time to emerge. "This is a very treatable condition if you're aware of what the problem is and the patient is quickly transferred to a hospital," said Dr. Keith Siller of New York University Langone Medical Center. "But there is very little time to correct this." To prevent coma or death, surgeons frequently cut off part of the skull to give the brain room to swell. "Once you have more swelling, it causes more trauma which causes more swelling," said Dr. Edward Aulisi, neurosurgery chief at Washington Hospital Center in the nation's capital. "It's a vicious cycle because everything's inside a closed space." Richardson, 45, died Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan after falling at the Mont Tremblant resort in Quebec on Monday. Details of her treatment have not been disclosed. It remained unclear Thursday exactly how she was injured. Resort officials have said only that she fell on a beginner's trail and later reported not feeling well. A CT scan can detect bleeding, bruising or the beginning of swelling in the brain. The challenge is for patients to know whether to seek one. "If there's any question in your mind whatsoever, you get a head CT," Aulisi advised. "It's the best 20 seconds you ever spent in your life." Descended from one of Britain's greatest acting dynasties, including her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, Richardson was known for her work in such plays as "Cabaret" (for which she won a Tony) and "Anna Christie" and in the films "Patty Hearst" and "The Handmaid's Tale." Mourning continued Thursday with Broadway theaters planning to dim their lights in Richardson's honor at 8 p.m., the traditional starting time for evening performances. Praise also came from both tabloid celebrities such as "The Parent Trap" co-star Lindsay Lohan and theater artists like Sam Mendes, who directed the 1998 revival of "Cabaret." "It defies belief that this gifted, brave, tenacious, wonderful woman is gone," said Mendes, who also directed the Academy Award-winning "American Beauty." Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League, the trade organization for Broadway theaters and producers, called Richardson "one of our finest young actresses." "Her theatrical lineage is legendary, but her own singular talent shined memorably on any stage she appeared," she said. Richardson gave several memorable stage performances, more than living up to some of the theater's most famous roles: Sally Bowles of "Cabaret," Blanche DuBois of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and the title character of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie," a 1993 revival in which she co-starred with future husband Liam Neeson. (They have two sons: Micheal, 13, and Daniel, 12.) The death of Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, greatly heightened the debate over skiing safety. In Quebec, officials are considering making helmets mandatory on ski hills. Jean-Pascal Bernier, a spokesman for Quebec Sport and Leisure Minister Michelle Courchesne, said Thursday that the minister met with emergency room doctors this week and will meet with ski hill operators soon. Emergency room doctors in the province first called for mandatory use of helmets three weeks ago. Questions also arose about why the first ambulance called to the ski resort was turned away. Yves Coderre, director of operations at the emergency services company that sent paramedics to the Mont Tremblant resort, told The Globe and Mail newspaper Wednesday that the paramedics were told they were not needed. "They never saw the patient," Coderre said. "So they turned around." Coderre said another ambulance was called later to Richardson's luxury hotel. By that point, her condition had worsened, and she was rushed to a hospital. Richardson said she felt fine after her spill but became ill later and complained of a headache. Doctors say sometimes patients with brain injuries have what's called a "lucid interval" in which they act fine for an hour or more as the brain slowly, silently swells or bleeds. Symptoms such as a headache, confusion, vomiting or difficulty seeing, speaking or moving appear after pressure builds in the skull. Emergency surgery is often need to drain the blood or remove the clot. Associated Press writers Lauran Neergaard in Washington, Maria Cheng in London, Karen Matthews in New York and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. _____ Actress Natasha Richardson dies at 45 By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer NEW YORK --Tributes have begun to pour in from across the show business generations for Natasha Richardson, the Tony Award-winning actress who died after suffering a head injury on a ski slope. "She was a wonderful woman and actress and treated me like I was her own," said Lindsay Lohan, who as a preteen starred with Richardson in a remake of "The Parent Trap" in 1998. "My heart goes out to her family. This is a tragic loss." Actress Judi Dench told the BBC that Richardson was "a really great actress" who had "an incredibly luminous quality, that you seldom see, and a great sense of humor." "It's just so shocking, really shocking, and I hope that everybody leaves the family quietly to somehow pick up the pieces," Dench said. Sam Mendes, who produced the Broadway musical "Cabaret" for which Richardson won a Tony, said, "It defies belief that this gifted, brave, tenacious, wonderful woman is gone." Richardson fell during a private lesson Monday at a ski resort in Quebec. She was not wearing a helmet. The 45-year-old actress was seemingly fine afterward, but about an hour later, she complained that she didn't feel well. She was hospitalized Tuesday in Montreal and later flown to a hospital in New York. Alan Nierob, the Los Angeles-based publicist for Richardson's husband, Liam Neeson, confirmed her death Wednesday without giving details on the cause. There were no details on funeral arrangements. Neeson and Richardson's sister, actress Joely Richardson, were seen leaving Lenox Hill hospital Wednesday. Actress Lauren Bacall also visited the hospital. Yves Coderre, director of operations at the emergency services company that sent paramedics to the Mont Tremblant resort where Richardson suffered her fall, told The Globe and Mail newspaper Wednesday the paramedics who responded were told they were not needed. "They never saw the patient," Coderre told The Globe and Mail. "So they turned around." Coderre said another ambulance was called later to Richardson's luxury hotel. By that point, her condition had gotten worse and she was rushed to a hospital. Richardson's career highlights included the film "Patty Hearst" and a Tony-winning performance in a stage revival of "Cabaret." Richardson was a proper Londoner who came to love the noise of New York, an elegant blonde with large, lively eyes, a bright smile and a hearty laugh. Jane Fonda on Wednesday recalled meeting a young Richardson on the set of "Julia," the 1977 film Fonda starred in opposite Richardson's mother, Vanessa Redgrave. "She was a little girl but already beautiful and graceful. It didn't surprise me that she became such a talented actor," Fonda recalled on her blog. "It is hard to even imagine what it must be like for her family. My heart is heavy." As an actress, Richardson was equally adept at passion and restraint, able to portray besieged women both confessional (Tennessee Williams' Blanche DuBois) and confined (the concubine in the futuristic horror of "The Handmaid's Tale"). Like other family members, she divided her time between stage and screen. On Broadway, she portrayed Sally Bowles in the 1998 revival of "Cabaret." She also appeared in New York in a production of Patrick Marber's "Closer" (1999) as well as the 2005 revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," in which she played Blanche opposite John C. Reilly's Stanley Kowalski. She met Neeson when they made their Broadway debuts in 1993, co-starring in "Anna Christie," Eugene O'Neill's drama about a former prostitute and the sailor who falls in love with her. The New York Times critic Frank Rich called her "astonishing" and said she "gives what may prove to be the performance of the season." Her most notable film roles came earlier in her career. Richardson played the title character in Paul Schrader's "Patty Hearst," a 1988 biopic about the kidnapped heiress for which the actress became so immersed that even between scenes she wore a blindfold, the better to identify with her real-life counterpart. Richardson was directed again by Schrader in a 1990 adaptation of Ian McEwan's "The Comfort of Strangers" and, also in 1990, starred in the screen version of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." She later co-starred with Neeson in "Nell" and with Mia Farrow in "Widows' Peak." More recent movies, none of them widely seen, included "Wild Child," "Evening" and "Asylum." Richardson was born in London in 1963, the performing gene inherited not just from her parents (Redgrave and director Tony Richardson), but from her maternal grandparents (Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson), an aunt (Lynn Redgrave) and an uncle (Corin Redgrave). Her younger sister, Joely Richardson, also joined the family business. She also is survived by two sons, Micheal, 13, and Daniel, 12. Friends and family members remembered Natasha as an unusually poised child, perhaps forced to grow up early when her father left her mother in the late '60s for Jeanne Moreau. (Tony Richardson died in 1991). Interviewed by The Associated Press in 2001, Natasha Richardson said she related well to her family if only because, "We've all been through it in one way or another and so we've had to be strong. Also we embrace life. We are not cynical about life." Her screen debut came at 4, when she appeared as a flower girl in "The Charge of the Light Brigade," directed by her father, whose movies included "Tom Jones" and "The Entertainer." The show business wand had already tapped her the year before, when she saw her mother in the 1967 film version of the Broadway show "Camelot." "She was so beautiful. I still look at that movie and I can't believe it. It still makes me cry, the beauty of it," Richardson said. She studied at London's Central School of Speech and Drama and was an experienced stage actress by her early 20s, appearing in "On the Razzle," "Charley's Aunt" and "The Seagull," for which the London Drama Critics awarded her most promising newcomer. She and her mother acted together, most recently on Broadway to play the roles of mother and daughter in a one-night benefit concert version of "A Little Night Music," the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical. Before meeting up with Neeson, Richardson was married to producer Robert Fox, whose credits include the 1985 staging of "The Seagull" in which his future wife appeared. She sometimes remarked on the differences between her and her second husband--she from a theatrical dynasty and he from a working-class background in Northern Ireland. "He's more laid back, happy to see what happens, whereas I'm a doer and I plan ahead," Richardson told The Independent on Sunday newspaper in 2003. "The differences sometimes get in the way but they can be the very things that feed a marriage, too." She once said that Neeson's serious injury in a 2000 motorcycle accident--he suffered a crushed pelvis after colliding with a deer in upstate New York--had made her really appreciate life. "I wake up every morning feeling lucky--which is driven by fear, no doubt, since I know it could all go away," she told The Daily Telegraph newspaper in 2003. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London, Drama Writer Michael Kuchwara and AP Television Writer Lynn Elber contributed to this report. ___ Reaction to the death of actress Natasha Richardson: "Natasha was a great actress, a fantastic mother, a loving wife and a whirlwind of energy, with an infectious love of life expressed firstly by her wonderful deep laugh. Anyone who knew her will be in mourning today. I hope that Liam and her sons are helped in their pain by the great love and sympathy that is coming to them from people all over the world." -- Helen Mirren. ___ "Tash was the warm sun in the center of a large constellation of family, friends, all of those lucky enough to know her _ she is irreplaceable in our lives; she gave us so much, so generously _ her legacy is the love that connects us all." -- Meryl Streep. ___ "For everyone who knew and loved her, Natasha's death is a terrible, devastating loss. She was a star. A great actress, a beautiful woman, a fiercely loyal friend, a brilliant and generous companion. She was an adoring and loving wife and mother. She was unique. My thoughts and prayers go out to Liam and her beautiful sons, Micheal and Danny and to all her family. I cannot imagine a world without her wit, her love, her mischief, her great, great talent and her gift for living. I loved her very much. She was a supreme friend. I shall miss her deeply." -- Ralph Fiennes. ___ "Tasha is irreplaceable. I cannot think of anyone kinder, more generous, thoughtful, smarter or more fun. She is godmother of two of my children. The Neesons and Vanessa (Redgrave, Richardson's mother) have always made me feel a part of their wonderful family. My thoughts and prayers are with them." -- Mia Farrow. ___ "She was one of a kind, a magnificent actress. ... She was also an amazing mother, a loyal friend and the greatest and most generous host you could ever hope to meet." --Sam Mendes, who directed the Broadway musical "Cabaret" for which Richardson won a Tony Award in 1998. ___ "Natasha was brilliant, beautiful, funny, talented beyond measure, as emotionally raw as she was razor sharp. ... May Liam, her beautiful boys and her loving family hold her close as they move through this tragic moment." -- Jodie Foster, who co-starred with Richardson and Liam Neeson in the 1994 drama "Nell." ___ "She was a wonderful woman and actress and treated me like I was her own. ... My heart goes out to her family. This is a tragic loss." -- Lindsay Lohan, who co-starred with Richardson in a remake of "The Parent Trap" in 1998. ___ "As a stage actress she was really coming into her own, she was becoming a major star and taken extremely seriously on the stage and also her film work ... was excellent. She had a sort of luminous presence on the stage, but offstage she was a very shy, very easygoing, almost self-deprecating character who didn't like being made a fuss of." --Tim Walker, theater critic for Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper. ___ "She was quite careful about what she did. But what she did, she went into with a full heart and a passion. She was very discerning, very serious about the film roles she chose. It's absolutely tragic that somebody with so much to offer, and of course from this great acting dynasty, should be taken at this time of her life, and tragic of course for her family." -- British theater critic Michael Coveney. ___ "I just want to say how deeply saddened I am, we all are, by the sudden passing of actress Natasha Richardson yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband Liam Neeson, their two sons, the rest of their family and friends. Yet another reminder of how fleeting life can be and how precious. We need to value every moment." -- Oprah Winfrey, on her talk show. ___ "She was a lady. I can't tell you enough what a good person she was, and fun and vivacious and the most full of life." -- Kelly Ripa, co-host with Regis Philbin on the syndicated talk show "Live With Regis and Kelly."