It is with sadness that I have to write about the tragic death of Natasha Richardson at the age of 45 from head injuries sustained in an accident on a ski-slope in Canada.

Since the news broke I have watched as the initial reports went from bad to worse and felt with a sinking heart that there could only be one outcome.

As the eldest daughter of my favourite actress Vanessa Redgrave I have followed Natasha's career since seeing her in her first major stage appearance in 1985 as 'Nina' in THE SEA GULL opposite Vanessa as 'Madame Arkadina'. She triumphed in this role - which Vanessa had played not only at the same theatre in the '60s but also in Sidney Lumet's film - beautifully portraying Nina's journey from a shy teenager to a broken and disturbed actress.

In 1987 she lit up the stage at the Victoria Palace in Richard Eyre's misbegotten attempt at making the GUYS AND DOLLS lightning strike twice with the tepid stage version of HIGH SOCIETY. However Natasha showed true star quality and charisma as Tracey Lord, ably following in the footsteps of Grace Kelly and Katherine Hepburn.

18 years later I saw her final London stage appearance as the haunted and haunting Ellida in the Almeida Theatre's production of Ibsen's THE LADY FROM THE SEA - again re-visiting a role that Vanessa had played in the 1970s.

Of course in the intervening years she had established herself in America as a leading lady on stage and screen. As successful as she was on stage I feel, despite her 20-odd films, she never really found a good defining screen role.
She certainly worked consistently but real screen stardom seemed to elude her. She certainly had the potential to have the career that Kate Winslet now enjoys but whether it was due to a lack of offers, her private life as wife and mother or a combination of both it never really seemed to happen.

She certainly had her chances - a luminous Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's GOTHIC, a sterling stab at PATTY HEARST in Paul Schrader's less-than-gripping biopic, the abused future slave in THE HANDMAID'S TALE and as Sofia, a Russian countess adrift in pre-war China in THE WHITE COUNTESS.

Time and again Natasha Richardson seemed drawn to playing women dancing on the edges of volcanos - on film: Mary Shelley, Patty Hearst, Offred in THE HANDMAID'S TALE, Countess Sofia, Stella Raphael in ASYLUM; on television: Catherine in Tennessee Williams' SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, Zelda Fitzgerald; on stage: Nina, Ellida, Ophelia, O'Neill's ANNA CHRISTIE; Anna in CLOSER; Sally Bowles in CABARET and her final stage role as Blanche DuBois in STREETCAR. For someone who appeared so stable and together offstage it is fascinating how she was drawn to these emotionally-out there roles.

I also saw her once at the National Film Theatre after a screening of her father's last film BLUE SKY where she spoke movingly and eloquently about her father. His death from an AIDS-related illness no doubt informed her decision to campaign for and actively support AMFAR the US AIDS charity. Indeed it was just over a month ago that she appeared, as glamorous as ever, at an AMFAR gala to launch New York Fashion Week.

It is a sad irony that Vanessa's most recent stage role has been in THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING which in part dealt with a mother's grief for her dead daughter.

In January Natasha and Vanessa appeared together in a concert performance of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC in New York. They supposedly both enjoyed the experience so much they were contemplating appearing in a proper Broadway revival next year. When the concert was announced last year it coincided with me receiving my Flashbacks redundancy payment so I mused on booking the $100+ ticket but no... it was saved to eek out my existence sans job.

I'll never learn.

A few more photographs of Natasha whose loss to the theatre is incalculable... as Sally Bowles in CABARET and accepting her Tony Award for that performance, as Blanche DuBois in STREETCAR and with Vanessa after the A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Benefit two months ago.