The Morlocks here have on more than one occasion been accused of dwelling on the melancholy, but in light of yesterday’s sad news of the death of actress Natasha Richardson, how could it be otherwise?  When a lovely and talented human being meets an untimely end, it’s yet another lesson in life’s precarious connection with all of us.  When it’s an actor or an actress we’ve admired, in some ways it becomes a personal loss for all of us, as we reflect on our experiences enjoying their performances.  The loss of Natasha Richardson is a shock in so many ways.

Acting dynasties don’t spring up everyday.  Back in the 19th century America had the Booth family, father and sons, whose acting legacy was overshadowed by John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a shame that his brother Edwin spent the rest of his career working through.  We also had the Barrymores, whose lineage dates back to the mid-1800s and continues strong to this day.  In Britain it has been the Redgrave family that’s dominated the theatrical world, with its roots also far back in the 19th century.  The daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and the granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave, Natasha Richardson proudly and gloriously carried on the family business, the business of performing. 

From her screen debut at four years of age in a fleeting role as a flower girl in her director-father Tony Richardson’s 1968 epic The Charge of the Light Brigade, to her decision to train at the prestigious London Central School of Speech and Drama, Richardson was on a steady path to excel in her chosen field.  She was as comfortable on the theatrical stage, where she officially started her professional acting career, as in front of the camera in her many film and television roles.  Movie audiences first became aware of her unique beauty and presence in Ken Russell’s delirious 1986 film Gothic – the story behind the creation of Frankenstein — where she played Mary Shelley, with Julian Sands as her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Gabriel Byrne as Byron. 

Natasha made another stunning impression in director Paul Schrader’s harrowing 1998 biodrama Patty Hearst, based on the newspaper heiress’ book about her 1974 kidnapping and brainwashing by the revolutionary group the Symbionese Liberation Army.   Richardson received rapturous reviews for her perfectly-pitched performance as Miss Hearst, in a story more strange than anything a screenwriter could have dreamed up.   (I can’t find a trailer to embed but you can see one here.)  The next year she had a co-starring role in Fat Man and Little Boy, the story of The Manhattan Project and the creation of the Atomic Bomb.

Two years later she again created a sensation with her starring performance in the film adaptation of writer Margaret Atwood’s futuristic tale of a world plagued by reproductive woes in 1990′s The Handmaid’s Tale, directed by Volker Schlondorff and co-starring Faye Dunaway and Robert Duvall, with strong supporting performances by Elizabeth McGovern and Aidan Quinn. 

Always sharing her acting time between movies, television and the stage, Richardson continued to amass excellent reviews in a variety of projects.  Movies included The Comfort of Strangers, Past Midnight, a comedy with an unusual title – The Favour, The Watch and the Very Big Fish – and Widow’s Peak.  She completed many television projects in the U.S. and abroad, including playing Zelda Fitzgerald to Timothy Hutton’s F.Scott.  

Natasha made her Broadway debut in 1993 as Anna Christie, opposite another Broadway newcomer, a tall, good-looking and talented Irish actor named Liam Neeson.  The two fell in love and married in 1994, and within two years welcomed two sons to their family.  Richardson and Neeson appeared onscreen together in 1994′s feature Nell, starring Jodie Foster.

Natasha Richardson’s other stage triumphs included her 1998 run in director Sam Mendes’ brilliant revivial of the musical drama Cabaret, co-starring Alan Cummings as the Emcee.  She won the 1998 Tony Award for her role as Sally Bowles, a mesmerizing performance which was universally praised for both her dramatic prowess and her musical panache.  She also won over NYC audiences with her starring roles in the play Closer and as Blanche DuBois in a 2005 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley and Amy Ryan as Stella.  At the movies she endeared herself to the younger set with her role as the mother to identical twins (played by Lindsay Lohan) in Disney’s remake of The Parent Trap, co-starring Dennis Quaid.   (There will be many saddened young people around now, kids who fell in love with the movie and with Richardson in it.)

More movies followed, light roles in comedies like Blow Dry, Waking Up in Reno and Maid in Manhattan, and challenging turns in projects like Chelsea Walls, Asylum, The White Countess, and Evening, playing the daughter of her real mother, Vanessa Redgrave, with whom she also appeared last September in NYC in a one-night revival of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.

So many more Natasha Richardson performances were yet to come, and are now only dreams.  Time will remember her as a gifted actress and vital human being whose life was cut short, but whose legacy of talent and humanity will go on to touch people through many years.   We haven’t even mentioned her charity work with various AIDS organizations, but it’s part of all the good things she leaves behind.

Natasha’s many fans around the world have already begun to offer tributes to her, including at this wonderful and longstanding fansite Adoring Natasha, a treasure-house of images at the Natasha Richardson Page at JSR Pages, and many heartfelt and lovely video tributes posted on YouTube.  I encourage you to watch a few, and I will post one here, from YouTube user Cracked Rendition Media.

The Movie Morlocks offer our sincere condolences to Miss Richardson’s family and friends in their time of great sorrow.