Natasha Richardson dies.

[truethat]

Terrible tragedy I'm sure we've all heard about but it seems to be bugging not just me. My heart goes out to her family. :cry1

It is interesting to me the way people are very upset that the actress was fine walking around one moment and then was brain dead within a matter of hours. We all know stories like this and it strikes a nerve. I'm wondering why this kind of death seems to cause such discomfort.

[LibraryLady]

Because she was young, had a young family, and was beautiful. Probably in that order.

I admired her greatly as an actress. She was especially good in The Handmaid's Tale, as difficult to watch as that movie is.

[Ladewig]

Terrible tragedy I'm sure we've all heard about but it seems to be bugging not just me. My heart goes out to her family. :cry1

It is interesting to me the way people are very upset that the actress was fine walking around one moment and then was brain dead within a matter of hours. We all know stories like this and it strikes a nerve. I'm wondering why this kind of death seems to cause such discomfort.

I'm not sure what kind of death you are describing? She died of injuries sustained in a skiing accident. What exactly would cause more discomfort than is normally associated with a death?

[a_unique_person]

Because she was young

She was 45.

[arthwollipot]

I didn't at first recognise the name. Then I looked at IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001670/) and I realised that I've seen not a single one of the films or shows she's been in. :(

[truethat]

I'm not sure what kind of death you are describing? She died of injuries sustained in a skiing accident. What exactly would cause more discomfort than is normally associated with a death?


It seems like, and we'll see via media coverage, that people are flipping out because of the "Talk and Die" aspect of it. That's how they are referring to it.

People seem really unnerved that she was up and walking around and then within an hour she was critical. Seems like we really don't understand that we are all a second or two away from death.

[Drudgewire]

People seem really unnerved that she was up and walking around and then within an hour she was critical. Seems like we really don't understand that we are all a second or two away from death.


Whenever someone famous dies of less than natural circumstances (and it isn't drug use) it serves to remind us all of our own mortality.

Being a critical thinking board, I guess nobody's going to bring up the "Redgrave Curse." :o

[truethat]

Oh man I vaguely remember that........now I have to look it up.

[LibraryLady]

She was 45.

Sweetie, it's all a matter of perspective.

[truethat]

Wow didn't take the press long to jump on the curse.


Here is a UK Telegraph story on it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/5014838/Natasha-Richardsons-death-adds-to-speculation-of-curse-on-Redgrave-dynasty.html

[LibraryLady]

Compared to, say, the Kennedys, not much of a curse.

[Drudgewire]

Compared to, say, the Kennedys, not much of a curse.


Yeah, a few divorces and bisexuality. It pretty much sounds like the "acting curse." :rolleyes:

[Gord_in_Toronto]

She was 45.


Exactly! So, so young! :(

(You'll understand one day!) ;)

[Vic Vega]

Sweetie, it's all a matter of perspective.


It isn't like we're talking about an 70-year-old. 45 is young to die from anyone's perspective.

[truethat]

I feel very bad for her husband. They seem to have had a wonderful love relationship and he's widowed at such a difficult age. Its just horrible.

[LibraryLady]

I recently bought the movie, Love Actually, in which Liam Neeson plays a recently widowed single father. His first scene is the funeral at which he gives a heart-wrenching eulogy of his young wife. I don't know when I'll be able to watch that again.

[madurobob]

Ugh. Nine years ago nearly the same thing happened to my wife. She was on blood thinners for a short term clotting disorder brought on by giving birth. One Friday afternoon she slipped and bumped her head. It seemed minor at the time - no blood, no bruising. But, that evening she went to bead early with a headache... and that was that.

All the press coverage of Natasha Richardson's death is surreal for me. On the one hand I don't want to know about it and don't want to hear about it - especially the details the talk show surgeons have been going into. But, on the other hand, its somehow healing to relive those moments with nine years of perspective; and to recall more vividly memories of her before that evening.

45 is young. 36 is younger still.

[truethat]

Ugh. Nine years ago nearly the same thing happened to my wife. She was on blood thinners for a short term clotting disorder brought on by giving birth. One Friday afternoon she slipped and bumped her head. It seemed minor at the time - no blood, no bruising. But, that evening she went to bead early with a headache... and that was that.

All the press coverage of Natasha Richardson's death is surreal for me. On the one hand I don't want to know about it and don't want to hear about it - especially the details the talk show surgeons have been going into. But, on the other hand, its somehow healing to relive those moments with nine years of perspective; and to recall more vividly memories of her before that evening.

45 is young. 36 is younger still.


I am so so sorry. That is just so horrible.

[LibraryLady]

Oh, Madurobob, I'm so sorry.

[HarryKeogh]

Ugh. Nine years ago nearly the same thing happened to my wife. She was on blood thinners for a short term clotting disorder brought on by giving birth. One Friday afternoon she slipped and bumped her head. It seemed minor at the time - no blood, no bruising. But, that evening she went to bead early with a headache... and that was that.

All the press coverage of Natasha Richardson's death is surreal for me. On the one hand I don't want to know about it and don't want to hear about it - especially the details the talk show surgeons have been going into. But, on the other hand, its somehow healing to relive those moments with nine years of perspective; and to recall more vividly memories of her before that evening.

45 is young. 36 is younger still.

Wow. I couldn't imagine. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I suppose this is all a warning to us all about how fragile the human life is. :(

[nemo]

My thoughts are with the family. Liam Neeson had suffered a serious motorcycle accident a few years back. I wonder if that made him any more cautious. Lessons on a bunny slope seem safe enough, but just goes to show anything can happen. Ironic that Liam's latest film is titled "Taken".

[Steelmage]

I had a friend who died of an aneurysm, at the time he was having it we just thought he had stomach flu because he was throwing up alot. It is sad as it is very sudden and without warning.

[Piscivore]

Ugh. Nine years ago nearly the same thing happened to my wife. She was on blood thinners for a short term clotting disorder brought on by giving birth. One Friday afternoon she slipped and bumped her head. It seemed minor at the time - no blood, no bruising. But, that evening she went to bead early with a headache... and that was that.

All the press coverage of Natasha Richardson's death is surreal for me. On the one hand I don't want to know about it and don't want to hear about it - especially the details the talk show surgeons have been going into. But, on the other hand, its somehow healing to relive those moments with nine years of perspective; and to recall more vividly memories of her before that evening.

45 is young. 36 is younger still.

Oh, man. I'm so sorry.

[Soapy Sam]

I confess I did not recognise this lady's name on the radio news today, but I'm not a big film or theatre fan. She seems to have been well known.
It seems like a very sad event, that an apparently minor fall on a beginner's slope could result in death.
I admit I was confused at why it was considered news of apparently global importance, but it again raises the question of head protection for skiers.

I never wore a helmet and doubt I would, as it would spoil the experience for me, but I always wear a helmet when I cycle.

How do other skiers feel?

Sorry, I just saw there is an identically named thread already. Please ignore this one.

[lionking]

I hate to admit this, but the first thing I thought was "bugger, Liam Neeson might not be the same actor again".

Very sad and far too young.

[AgeGap]

Seems like we really don't understand that we are all a second or two away from death.

Or we understand but block it out. We hear stories like this and imagine for a second it is someone we know or even ourselves.
Look what happened to The Comedian.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Compared to, say, the Kennedys, not much of a curse.

Even with the Kennedy's, it's not much of a curse. Over a span of fifty years, two were murdered, one went to prison for a murder, one died of a drug overdose, one drove drunk and nearly died, one died at war, one died in a skiing accident, two died in a plane crash.

This is not unusual. Not considering the enormous numbers of the family and the span of years and generations. And, frankly, save for the plane crash and the skiing accident, this could describe every fifth working class family in America- but no one talks about the "curse" of a family from the Bronx or Camden.

And fame, wealth and influence are a two-edged sword. On one hand, people like this have had so much luck, so much fortune and so many blessings. The Presidency, the Governorship of Massachusetts and several Senate seats- how is that for a "curse"? On the other, they would be more likely to have a few screw up kids who use drugs and die or murder a neighbor's daughter after a drinking binge.

And these events aren't "fate". A plane crash that takes a young man, his wife and her sister is very tragic, yes, but it's not the result of a curse, it's the result of an inexperienced pilot doing something very foolish and very regrettable when he should have known better. No big picture here. Nothing caused it but one lapse of judgement and stupidity.

[WinstonCountyWildman]

And on that same day how many thousands of other people died?

Just because she was famous doesnt make it any more painful etc.

[madurobob]

And on that same day how many thousands of other people died?

Just because she was famous doesnt make it any more painful etc.

How many of us, as a group of forum posters, would have heard of any of those other thousands? That's the point. We didn't *know* Natasha Richardson, but we all knew *of* her, or saw a picture and thought "wasn't she that mom in that one movie with the famous kid..."?

It doesn't make her any more important than any of the other thousands, but it does strike a common chord with a LOT more people. I see no reason to be surprised that people would then talk about it.

[arthwollipot]

We didn't *know* Natasha Richardson, but we all knew *of* her, or saw a picture and thought "wasn't she that mom in that one movie with the famous kid..."?Nope:

I didn't at first recognise the name. Then I looked at IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001670/) and I realised that I've seen not a single one of the films or shows she's been in. :(

[madurobob]

Nope:

ok.... "most"? :)

[arthwollipot]

ok.... "most"? :)Most works. :)

[Rolfe]

If that freak accident had happened to Jane Bloggs it would have received some media coverage. Local newspaper, short mention on local TV news and so on. And people who never knew her but lived near her or knew someone who knew her or even who went to the same school as her would feel a connection, and talk about it.

This is much the same thing, on a bigger scale, because many people knew of her well enough to resonate with the connection.

Rolfe.

[madurobob]

If that freak accident had happened to Jane Bloggs it would have received some media coverage. Local newspaper, short mention on local TV news and so on. And people who never knew her but lived near her or knew someone who knew her or even who went to the same school as her would feel a connection, and talk about it.

This is much the same thing, on a bigger scale, because many people knew of her well enough to resonate with the connection.

Rolfe.
Perhaps. But, that freak accident *did* happen to the first Ms Madurobob just under a decade ago. No media coverage at all, short of the obligatory obit in the local paper. It was big news within a community of people who knew her - a couple hundred perhaps. But, that makes perfect sense; she was no celebrity.

I cannot begrudge Natasha Richardson the coverage she's received in similar circumstances - its the nature of celebrity. She was a Tony winning actress, married to a movie star, and the daughter of a family of famous actors. Lots more people know her, know of her, know of her family, and, as you say, can resonate with the connection(s). Its only natural for people to chat about it at the water cooler.

I don't think this is anything like, say, random-missing-white-girl-syndrome that we are hit with a couple of times a year (sorry - I watched a Chris Rock show last night).

[LibraryLady]

Perhaps. But, that freak accident *did* happen to the first Ms Madurobob just under a decade ago. No media coverage at all, short of the obligatory obit in the local paper. It was big news within a community of people who knew her - a couple hundred perhaps. But, that makes perfect sense; she was no celebrity.

I cannot begrudge Natasha Richardson the coverage she's received in similar circumstances - its the nature of celebrity. She was a Tony winning actress, married to a movie star, and the daughter of a family of famous actors. Lots more people know her, know of her, know of her family, and, as you say, can resonate with the connection(s). Its only natural for people to chat about it at the water cooler.

I don't think this is anything like, say, random-missing-white-girl-syndrome that we are hit with a couple of times a year (sorry - I watched a Chris Rock show last night).


I actually call that the Nancy Grace syndrome.

[truethat]

And on that same day how many thousands of other people died?

Just because she was famous doesnt make it any more painful etc.

Who said it did? Finding out about the death of someone whose career you have followed and been a fan of, as well as her husband, makes it relevant to me.

The fact that someone I don't know out there has died doesn't make their death any less important. I just didn't know about them.

Weird that you would even post this.


Especially since we've given condolences to posters in the thread who have also lost loved ones.

[BPSCG]

I admit I was confused at why it was considered news of apparently global importance, but it again raises the question of head protection for skiers.

I never wore a helmet and doubt I would, as it would spoil the experience for me, but I always wear a helmet when I cycle.

How do other skiers feel?As it happens, I was in Utah, leading a trip for our ski club at the time. At least half, if not more, of our 36 people on the trip wore brain buckets. When I started skiing ten years ago, almost no one did.

Our club had another trip the week before, to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. On that trip, a guy who'd been with our club since the FSM was a semolina sprout, fell while trying to avoid a kid. He was an excellent skier (teaches in our club ski school) and was wearing a helmet, but broke his neck when he went down. He was airlifted to Salt Lake City, where a number of us visited him the day after his surgery. He'll recover fully (will spend 4-6 months in a halo cast), but his skiing days are over, as another fall, even a minor one, at his age (he's 76) could be fatal.

I heard a number of comments that week from people saying, "Hmmm, maybe it's about time I finally bought a helmet." Even an average skier can hit 30 mph on the slopes. And even if you're an excellent skier who never falls - and there's really no such thing - how are you going to protect yourself from the out-of-control snowboarder who plows into you from behind? If he's wearing a helmet and you're not, who do you think is going to come off second-best in a head-to-head collision?

Whenever I lead a trip, I advise people to get a brain bucket. It's the second most important piece of safety equipment you have on the slopes, just after the stuff between your ears that it was designed to protect.