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Natasha Richardson faced a tragic final curtain Tuesday night as her heartbroken family gathered in New York to say farewell to the Tony Award-winning actress.
Felled by a skiing accident, Richardson had "been on life support since this morning," a source close to the family said yesterday. "She is brain-dead."
Her husband, actor Liam Neeson, and their two sons, Michael, 13, and Daniel, 12, were with her.
So was Richardson's mother, legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave. Richardson's sister, actress Joely Richardson, was also helping them deal with this "absolutely dire and terrible" situation, the source said.
Late last night, Joely fought back tears and declined to comment as she took her stricken sister's sons into Lenox Hill Hospital, where Natasha was on a ventilator.
It was a sudden, tragic finale for the 45-year-old actress, whose late father was Oscar-winning director Tony Richardson.
What made the loss even harder to accept was that Richardson didn't appear to be badly hurt when she wiped out while skiing on a bunny slope at a Canadian resort Monday afternoon.
Her sons were with her at the time. Richardson, laughing at her own clumsiness, refused at first to go to a doctor, witnesses said.
Tuesday night, there were tears as Richardson's family prepared to follow the heart-crushing choreography that goes with making the decision to let a loved one go.
"The rule of thumb is: You have two neurological exams, 12 hours apart, to show that there is no evidence of higher brain activity," said Dr. Philip Stieg, chairman of New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell's department of neurological surgery.
"If that is so, the patient is brain-dead; they are clinically dead."
At that point, he said, "The family has two options:
"You turn off the ventilator, the heart will stop beating, and that is it," he said. Or, the family can keep her alive a bit longer "and allow them time to say goodbye."
The tragedy sent shock waves down Broadway.
Richardson won her Tony in 1998 for playing Sally Bowles in "Cabaret." She is "theater royalty," said William Ivey Long, who designed her costumes.
"Natasha is strong, but when you hear about something so horrible you think about those vulnerable characters" she has played, Long said.
"Natasha is one of the greatest actresses of her generation," added Todd Haimes, artistic director of the Roundabout Theatre Company. "Incredibly sweet, gracious."
Richardson has another strong tie to Broadway - she met her husband when they starred together in "Anna Christie."
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