Actress 'critical' at NY hospital

Actress Natasha Richardson is being treated at a New York hospital
after suffering a head injury during a fall at a Canadian ski resort.

The
45-year-old, a member of one of the world's most prominent acting
dynasties, was taking a supervised lesson on Monday on a beginners run
at the luxury Mont Tremblant resort in Quebec when the accident
occurred.

According to reports, the Parent Trap
star initially felt okay, but about an hour later complained of feeling
unwell and was taken to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in
Ste-Agathe. She was later transferred to the Sacre-Coeur Hospital.

Her
husband, Irish actor Liam Neeson - who she married in 1994 and has two
sons with - rushed from his Toronto film set to be at her side. He had
her transferred to New York where she is being treated at the Lennox
Hill Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side, which specialises in
"acute care".

Some reports suggest she suffered
a "traumatic head injury", with others claiming she is "brain dead" but
it is unclear how critical her condition actually is.

Richardson's
sons, Michael, 13, and Daniel Jack, 12, who had been in Canada on the
holiday, her mother, Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, and her
sister, actress Joely Richardson, have visited the hospital.

Richardson's
father was the late director Tony Richardson and she is the
granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, the sister of
actress Joely Richardson, and the niece of Lynn Redgrave.

Born
in May 1963, she was educated at St Paul's Girls School in London and
trained at the city's Central School of Speech and Drama.

Her
extensive experience on stage includes a number of Shakespearean roles,
among them Ophelia in Hamlet and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In
1986 she won the London Drama Critics' most promising newcomer award
for her performance as Nina in The Seagull alongside her mother.

She
also won a Tony award for best actress in a musical for her performance
as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' production of Cabaret on Broadway in
1998.