Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, March 18, 2009
Celeb Natasha Richardson
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Dead.
Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a beginner’s skiing lesson, a resort spokeswoman, Lyne Lortie, said on Monday. “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.”
Fucking hell that's scary. I saw her on Broadway in Cabaret. She was pretty amazing.
8
I'll always remember how wonderful she was in "The Handmaid's Tale". Truly a tragedy for her family and her fans.
11
It's sad really. She was a good actress. There is only one solution. A constitutional ban on skiing.
12
no snark. i'm very sorry for the family's loss. they seem like a decent, humble family from top to bottom.
14
the NYT link requires a login.
you can find logins and passwords here: http://www.bugmenot.com/view/nytimes.com
you can find logins and passwords here: http://www.bugmenot.com/view/nytimes.com
15
14 ...and you wonder why newspapers are failing. We expect EVERYTHING for free. Even free of logons.
16
Jeez Dan. I powered through the podcast back-catalog this last month, so I've heard your 'skiers die' risk assessment with some frequency. I'm 41. I ski. I have sex with the gays. All of a sudden I'm freaked out. Shit
17
So sad. What a talent. And, truth be told, I was looking forward to her sharing her talents on stage with her mother in a revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music later this year. Dreadful all around.
18
OK - a little confused. I've read a few updates on this, and each one says, "she wasn't wearing a helmet." Who wears helmets skiing? I mean, if you're doing some super-dangerous stuff, right? But not a beginner or anyone normally - or is this some new thing. Helmets while skiing?
19
any time you're trying to get better at skiing, you should be wearing a helmet. because any time you're trying to get better, you're doing something unfamiliar and you're likely to get hurt.
come to think of it, any time you're skiing on a mountain with other people on it, you should probably wear a helmet anyways. Being run over sucks.
come to think of it, any time you're skiing on a mountain with other people on it, you should probably wear a helmet anyways. Being run over sucks.
20
This is how awful a person I am: I spent two minutes thinking "Oh, how awful!" But then it hit me: Liam Neeson is single?
21
@19 is right. Once while minding my business, traversing across a gentle slope at Summit Central (I still say "Ski Acres"), following a hundred yards or so behind one of my kids' classes, I was blindsided by a teenage shithead flying straight down the hill on his board. He went across the back of my skis, and his right elbow crunched my helmet at my right temple. My helmet flew off, my glasses de-constructed, and I came out of both of my bindings and fell to my face before I was able to turn to see him, through the blood flowing out of the gash above my nose into my eyes, merrily continuing his run down the hill. I have always been pretty sure I might've been killed by that asshole's elbow were it not for my helmet.
Anyway. R.I.P., Ms. Richardson
Anyway. R.I.P., Ms. Richardson
22
Damn. I've never heard of her until now, which is the honest truth. But, this is a tragedy nonetheless. Wear a helmet, peeps!
23
The really sad thing is that now she'll be associated with people who died while skiing, such as Sonny Bono and William Kennedy Smith.
25
It's sad when a person with talent and a full life dies. I need to step it up...and stay off the slopes.
26
@21 - that was my son who was learning at the time - and then wiped out so badly at the bottom of the hill the ski patrol had to take him into the first aid station.
27
@21. before we process this further, may I have your son's social security number and your bank account no.?
this was nobody who was learning at the time. He was coming straight down from the top of the mountain at high speed. furthermore, no matter what the skill level, nobody with a brain and a conscience would have failed to stop after their yard-sale crash with me.
this was nobody who was learning at the time. He was coming straight down from the top of the mountain at high speed. furthermore, no matter what the skill level, nobody with a brain and a conscience would have failed to stop after their yard-sale crash with me.
29
She may have had a pre-existing condition that added to her trauma. I once took a dive on a hill that I thought would kill me and never went skiing again.
30
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/…
Starz was recently showing the remake of "The Parent Trap" in which she played the mother.
It's sad that death came so young for her, but at least she went quickly.
Don't stop skiing, just wear the proper protective gear. If you die on the slopes, despite your precautions, it ain't like you were gonna live forever anyway. Staying home all day may make your life longer, but so much sadder. I'd rather die having fun.
Starz was recently showing the remake of "The Parent Trap" in which she played the mother.
It's sad that death came so young for her, but at least she went quickly.
Don't stop skiing, just wear the proper protective gear. If you die on the slopes, despite your precautions, it ain't like you were gonna live forever anyway. Staying home all day may make your life longer, but so much sadder. I'd rather die having fun.
31
I'm sure Mr. Golob or one of your other scientifically-inclined folks can explain this better, but it is possible (albeit unusual) for a very strong impact to the head to cause bleeding in the brain without causing a concussion or any noticeable trauma. I think I heard a doctor referring to it as "talk and die" - because you're talking right up until the pressure from the pooling blood in the brain causes severe damage.
I cannot begin to imagine what her family is going through right now :(
I cannot begin to imagine what her family is going through right now :(
33
Neil, the biomechanics of closed head injuries get a little to involved to fully explain here. In a nutshell, though, think of the brain as being sumberged in liquid. When the shull hits something and stops moving, the brain continues to keep moving, and actually impacts the inside of the skull.
To further complicate matters, that kinetic energy has to go somewhere, and the brain then usually rebounds and can hit the other side of the skull on the way back.
Needless to say, this can be pretty traumatic. Think of it as a "brain bruise," except the brain isn't your skin, and it isn't really supposed to get bruised.
To further complicate matters, that kinetic energy has to go somewhere, and the brain then usually rebounds and can hit the other side of the skull on the way back.
Needless to say, this can be pretty traumatic. Think of it as a "brain bruise," except the brain isn't your skin, and it isn't really supposed to get bruised.
34
The other problem is that the brain is locked into the skull. It has really nowhere it can expand to when it starts to swell, or be squeezed by a bloodclot that forms between the brain and the skull. The only "big hole" is the foramen magnum where the spinal cord comes out, and once you start to squeeze your whole brain through that little hole it dies.
Other options are an aneurysm. Sometimes those just blow up spontaneously, and they can cause poor coordination, etc. Sometimes it's not clear if the fall caused the bleed or the bleed caused the fall. I'm sure that's what the ski resorts attorneys will be arguing, but from the sound of things they didn't do anything really wrong.
Other options are an aneurysm. Sometimes those just blow up spontaneously, and they can cause poor coordination, etc. Sometimes it's not clear if the fall caused the bleed or the bleed caused the fall. I'm sure that's what the ski resorts attorneys will be arguing, but from the sound of things they didn't do anything really wrong.
36
I didn't see her in the fantastic revival of Cabaret 10+ years ago, (I had to make do with the touring company in St Louis with Joely Fisher), but I listened to the cast album over and over. Only judging by her oral performance, Richardson was one of the best Sally Bowles, ever. One of the few actresses to successfully capture the vulnerability of the character and the fact that Richardson was not a singer only validated the director's choice to cast her. I loves me some Liza Minnelli in the film version, but Minnelli's Sally doesn't make much sense; Sally is supposed to be a mediocre talent not Liza with a Z. Richardson's plaintive warble made Sally Bowles a real, identifiable character.
She'll be missed.
She'll be missed.
37
OK, we need to start a charity for buying helmets for our skiing/snowboarding celebrities. Write to your congressmen that we need some of that bailout money.
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