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MONT-TREMBLANT, QUE. — Surrounded by family in a New York hospital, Tony award winning actress Natasha Richardson died Wednesday after suffering a head injury in a fall on a Quebec ski hill this week.
Spokesman Alan Nierob confirmed the death Wednesday after two days of speculation about Ms. Richardson's condition, saying her husband, actor Liam Neeson, and family are “shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha.” She was 45.
Her death followed what seemed to be an innocuous fall on a beginner's run at Quebec's Mont-Tremblant resort on Monday. After the fall, Ms. Richardson appeared fine, joking with her instructor. But her condition soon deteriorated, and it's thought she suffered a brain injury. Wednesday night's statement didn't give a cause of death.
Yves Coderre, director of operations at Ambulances Mont- Tremblant, said Wednesday that ski patrollers requested an ambulance at the beginner's hill when Ms. Richardson fell.
But the workers were told they were not wanted and left, Mr. Coderre said in an interview with The Globe and Mail, citing preliminary information he has received.
“They never saw the patient,” said Mr. Coderre, “so they turned around.”
Sending the ambulance away may have cost Ms. Richardson dearly. (The ski resort also said this week that she declined initial medical help).
Mr. Coderre, who has 28 years' experience as a paramedic, says victims of potentially lethal head injuries often believe at first they are fine.
Brain trauma experts have said this week that time is of the essence in such cases.
“When you have a head trauma, you can bleed. It can deteriorate in a few hours or a few days,” Mr. Coderre said. “People don't realize it can be very serious. We warn them they can die, and sometimes they start to laugh. They don't take it seriously.”
Mr. Coderre said an ambulance was called later to Ms. Richardson's five-star hotel near the base of Mont-Tremblant, where management on Wednesday turned away a reporter from its chandeliered foyer overlooking Lac Tremblant.
When the medics got to the Hotel Quintessence, the actress was conscious but “wasn't in good shape” and was rushed to hospital in Sainte-Agathe, 40 kilometres away, Mr. Coderre said.
She was taken to a Montreal hospital soon after, and airlifted to New York on Tuesday, when some of the city's media reported her to be brain dead.
She's survived by her husband, Mr. Neeson, their two sons, ages 12 and 13, and her extended family, made up of many renowned stage and screen actors, including Vanessa Redgrave, her mother.
Ms. Richardson's tumble on the slopes was the talk of the ski hill at Mont Tremblant Wednesday, which was bathed in the same soft sunshine and spring-like snow conditions she had been enjoying before her fall.
The Nansen run, where Ms. Richardson fell and reportedly hit her head on the ground, was filled with families on March break who were drawn, like the British-born actress, to the gentle grade of the hill.
Many were perplexed at how such a critical injury could have occurred on the green-level slope, considered only a step up from the bunny hill.
But others said the conditions on Monday were far from ideal, and could have confounded a novice.
Dave Doucette, a Halifax resident, was skiing on Nansen on Monday afternoon, but quit early because of the conditions.
“By afternoon, it wasn't worth skiing because it was slushy and sticky. It was challenging standing on your feet,” said the father of two who was on a family holiday.
“I was able to stay up but I saw a lot of people falling down.”
Anna Peacock of Ottawa also said the run might have challenged a novice. Ms. Richardson had been taking a lesson with an experienced teacher when she fell.
“If you had never skied before, you wouldn't want to be there on your first time skiing. It was crowded and a bit icy in patches, and then thick in patches. For a beginner it would be harder,” Ms. Peacock said.
Heather Adams of Sheffield, England, said the conditions Monday were “a bit like glue.” Ms. Adams's mother fell on the snow and cut her lip after her skis got stuck.
Unlike Ms. Richardson, Ms. Adams and the rest of her family wore helmets.
“I fell this morning – I slipped and hit my head backwards. I got a bit of whiplash, but at least I'm still here,” she said.
“Helmet, helmet, helmet. Everybody should wear a helmet, beginners particularly.”
Two skiers say they saw a blonde woman without a helmet seated in the snow of the Nansen run, surrounded by resort staff on Monday. They say that she was speaking at the time.
“It struck me as odd that there was an adult with three people surrounding her,” said Toronto-area elementary school teacher Linda Laughlin, who believes the woman may have been Ms. Richardson.
Two members of the Mont-Tremblant ski patrol said that, paradoxically, a fall on a flatter hill can be more hazardous than one on a steeper slope. An incline can absorb the fall as the skier tumbles downhill, while a skier can fall with more impact on a flatter surface, they said.
“We've treated plenty of injuries” on the beginner hill, said one of the patrollers, who declined to give his name.
Chris Prouse, creator of the website Tremblant360.com, said the Nansen run is considered a forgiving trail and is so flat in spots that skiers need to propel themselves to move forward.
Ms. Richardson might have fallen if she had committed an awkward manoeuvre like getting her skis crossed or getting an edge caught in the snow, he speculated.
“I don't think the fault is with the run itself, because it's very tame,” he said.
“I think it was just an unfortunate accident – a mishap – and not any fault of the hill. It's a great run.”
With reports from Josh Wingrove in Toronto and The Associated Press
