Liam Neeson thanks US for its support by becoming a citizen

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The Northern Ireland-born actor said "touching" condolence letters sent to him by well-wishers had prompted him to seek citizenship after living in America for 20 years.

Neeson, 57, made the revelation during his first interview since the death of the actress in March following a skiing accident in Canada.

Appearing on ABC's Good Morning America, the actor said the US had been "very good" to him, but he was still a "proud Irishman". He said the couple's two sons, Micheal, 12, and Daniel, 13, were "doing good" five months on from the tragedy. "I am still getting extraordinary condolence letters from American people that are deeply touching. That is part of the reason why I recently became an American citizen.

"America has been very, very good to me. I am still a proud Irishman, of course, but I have become an American citizen and I am very proud of that," said Neeson.

The actor, born in Ballymena, County Antrim, made New York his home after marrying Richardson in 1994. Both achieved great success in American films and theatre and, in a rare tribute, Broadway dimmed its lights to the actress after her death.

Neeson, who plays Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's forthcoming biopic, said his family are "taking each day as it comes".

He also paid tribute to Edward Kennedy, revealing the veteran senator had written to him following the death of Richardson.

"I met him a couple of times, and he wrote my family a very beautiful, touching condolence letter when Natasha died. It is the end of an era.

"I have a very clear memory of being a 10-year-old boy and being taken to the ancestral Kennedy homestead in Ireland and posing for a photograph underneath the gable of their home with the American flag and the Irish flag up there on the gable," Neeson said.