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Sweet-voiced actress with all the hallmarks of her dynasty
Fiona Mountford19.03.09
WE can only wonder at what delights might have been.
Immediately after her fateful skiing holiday, Natasha Richardson was due to have co-starred on Broadway with her mother in A Little Night Music.
The thought of this warm, deceptively sweet-voiced actress in Sondheim's witty masterpiece of musical theatre is a tantalising one, and just one more small loss in this devastating situation.
The truth of it is that, over here in London, we never saw enough of Natasha Richardson, who was largely based Stateside to accommodate husband Liam Neeson's career. We received tantalising glimpses of what Broadway theatregoers were able to enjoy more fully in the likes of Cabaret, where Ms Richardson took to the role of Sally Bowles with gusto, and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Yet what we did see was wonderful, such as when Richardson tackled the part, previously played by her mother, of the ethereal Ellida in Ibsen's The Lady From The Sea, which re-opened the Almeida Theatre in 2003.
The questing intelligence and fiercely guarded vulnerability on display were both trademarks of the Redgrave acting dynasty and qualities uniquely Ms Richardson's own. Still, if there weren't enough stage performances to satisfy us, there was always her film work.
She took smallish parts in a number of movies, but really shone in a few, out-acting both Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes in the lovably daft New York comedy Maid In Manhattan.
There was her haunting Evening Standard best actress award-winning turn in Asylum.
Cherishably for fans of Redgraves en masse, she starred with her mother and aunt Lynn in Merchant Ivory's The White Countess, and brought to the screen a captivating sense of stillness and poise that was too often lacking elsewhere.
Natasha Richardson has been much appreciated, and will be greatly missed.
