Yesterday we learned the very sad news that Tony Award winning actress Natasha Richardson passed away at the young age of 45 on Wednesday after suffering a head injury during a ski lesson in Canada on Monday. In honor of her memory, Broadway dimmed their lights for a full minute at 8pm ET last night. Here are a couple photos of the darkened Great White Way in silent tribute to Natasha last night:

Grieving Liam Neeson was held in a comforting embrace by actress Sarah Jessica Parker as the actor attended a touching tribute by New York’s theatreland to his late wife Natasha Richardson. The Sex And The City star was among the luminaries of stage and screen who lined Broadway as theatres dimmed their lights in a minute long tribute to Neeson’s actress wife. The star was hugged by SJP, and husband Matthew Broderick who both came out to show their support to one of theatreland’s own. And despite Natasha’s strong British roots, the location of the tribute proved all the more fitting, as it was on Broadway that Neeson, 56, first met his wife of 15 years, when they appeared on stage together in 1992. Liam and his wife’s family, including mother Vanessa Redgrave, arrived to witness the moving tribute to the actress. At 8pm the lights of New York’s Broadway theatre district were dimmed for a minute in her honour. The solemn crowd applauded as Broadway’s theatres dimmed their lights one by one. The 45-year-old actress and mother of two died died two days after a fall on Monday on a beginners’ ski slope at the Mont Tremblant resort in Canada where she was holidaying with her two sons. The tribute to the British actress, who made her home in New York with her film star husband was a fitting reflection of the affection and the respect both she – and the theatrical dynasty she was a part of – was held in. Miss Richardson appeared in more than 30 films but was best known for her stage work, winning a Tony Award for her performance in the musical Cabaret in New York. She had been due to appear with her mother in a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music … Stars of stage and screen paid tribute to Miss Richardson following her untimely death. Sam Mendes, whose 1998 Broadway production of Cabaret saw Natasha win a Tony award for her portrayal of Sally Bowles said: “Natasha combined the best of Redgrave and Richardson: the enormous depth and emotional force of a great actor on the one hand, and the intelligence and objectivity of a great director on the other. She was one of a kind, a magnificent actress.” Maid In Manhattan co-star Ralph Fiennes described Richardson’s death as a “devastating loss”. Fiennes has been friends with Neeson since the pair appeared together in Schindler’s List. He said: “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. 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.” Dame Judi Dench said: “She had an incredibly luminous quality that you seldom see, and a great sense of humour. I thought she was a really great actress.” Richardson was described as an ‘outstanding’ student at the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she studied from 1980 to 1983. The principal, Professor Gavin Henderson, said she had not capitalised on her family’s theatrical pedigree to win a place. He also revealed plans to set up a scholarship fund in her memory. He said: “She was an outstanding student, as her tutor George Hall recalls, ‘totally grounded in professional discipline and stage craft, a joy to work with – having the theatrical genes of the Redgraves, and the film culture of her father.’”

While a tribute like this is very fitting it’s all still so very sad. Natasha was a vibrant woman who was thriving on holiday just 5 days ago and after one small fall that was perceived as nothing at all, her life is over and she’s already being memorialized. It’s all so tragic … and that these events happened so quickly, very scary too. Again, my thoughts and prayers go out to Richardson’s family … may they find the strength to endure this horrible time in their lives.

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Very sad news to report today … actress Natasha Richardson, who starred in films like Nell, The Parent Trap (1998) and Maid in Manhattan, passed away yesterday due to complications resulting from a skiing accident that happened in Canada earlier this week. At first we heard that Richardson suffered a small fall while enjoying a skiing lesson but that she refused medical treatment because the fall was nothing serious. Later that day, Richardson reportedly complained of headaches and was taken to the hospital … from that point on reports were erratic at best — some claimed she had died, others that she was merely brain dead. Sadly, it turns out that the reports of her injuries were as serious as was initially reported. Natasha died yesterday at the young age of 45 years old:

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career melded glamorous celebrity with the bloodline of theater royalty, died Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She had suffered head injuries in a skiing accident Monday north of Montreal, and was flown to New York on Tuesday. She was 45 and lived in Manhattan and in Millbrook, N.Y. Alan Nierob, a spokesman for her husband, the actor Liam Neeson, announced Ms. Richardson’s death Wednesday night. “Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” a statement said. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.” The statement did not disclose the cause of death or discuss Ms. Richardson’s medical condition. The gravity of her injuries had prompted an outpouring of public interest and concern and flurries of rumor and speculation since Monday, when reports of her accident began filtering out of the Mont Tremblant ski resort in the Laurentian hills. Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a beginner’s skiing lesson, a resort spokeswoman, Lyne Lortie, said Tuesday. “It was a normal fall; she didn’t hit anyone or anything,” Ms. Lortie said. “She didn’t show any signs of injury. She was talking and she seemed all right.” Still, an instructor and a ski patrol member accompanied her off the slopes, and when Ms. Richardson complained of a headache about an hour later in her hotel, she was taken by ambulance to a hospital nearby and later transferred to one in Montreal. She was flown to Lenox Hill on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, as television news vans stood outside, friends including Lauren Bacall and family members including Ms. Richardson’s mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and sister, the actress Joely Richardson, were observed arriving. Mr. Neeson was seen crouched beside her in an ambulance in Montreal the day before … Besides her husband, Ms. Richardson is survived by their two sons, Micheal Richard Antonio Neeson, 13, and Daniel Jack Neeson, 12, as well as her mother, her sister and a half-sister, Katherine Grimond.

I received word of Natasha’s passing last night while I was enjoying the festivities at SxSW in downtown Austin, TX … it was not the news I wanted to hear, obviously. While I wasn’t the biggest Natasha Richardson fan (ie. I doubt I ever mentioned her on the blog before) she was deffo one of those actresses that was a welcome sight in any movie. She reminded me so much of Emma Thompson … she was such a talent. It is a really frightening thought to know that simple fall like this could end someone’s life. How many times have we hit our heads and thought nothing of it at the time? It’s such a sad, sad tragedy. I’m sure it is an incredible shock to lose her in this way. My thoughts, prayers and condolences goes out to her grieving family.

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