Liam Neeson, Star of 'Unknown,' Talks About the Death of His Wife, Religion and Life

Irish-born actor Liam Neeson has not spoken in detail about the tragic death of his wife, Natasha Richardson, on March 18, 2009. While Neeson was filming "Chloe" in Toronto, Natasha went skiing in a remote area of Quebec with their two sons, then aged.13 and 12. She fell and hit her head in what seemed, at first, to be a minor accident. She was lucid and talking immediately after her fall.

Three hours later, Richardson complained of headaches. Seven hours later, she was in critical condition and was airlifted to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Two days later, Natasha Richardson Neeson died at the age of 45 (Liam is 58).

Neeson has not spoken about that tragic night much.---until now.

THE NIGHT NATASHA DIED

In the March, 2011 "Esquire" magazine, Tom Chiarella interviewed Neeson (pp. 108-113).

THE EMERGENCY ROOM DRAMA

The night that Natasha died, Neeson says: "I walked into the emergency--it's like 70, 80 people, broken arms, black eyes, all that---and for the first time in years, nobody recognizes me. Not the nurses. The patients. No one. And I've come all this way (from Toronto where he was filming Atom Egoyan's "Chloe,") and they won't let me see her. I'm looking past them, starting to push---...

"I pull out a cell phone and a security guard comes up," Neeson told Chiarella, "and he starts saying, 'Sorry, sir, you can't use that in here,' and I'm about to ask him if he knew me when he disappears to answer a phone call or something.

So I went outside. It's freezing cold, and I thought, What am I gonna' do? How am I going to get past security? And I see 2 nurses, ladies, having a cigarette. I walk up, and luckily one of them recognizes me. .. . And this one, she says, 'Go in that back door there.' She points me to it. 'Make a left. She's in a room there.' So I get there just in time. And all these young doctors, who look all of 18 years of age, they tell me the worst. The worst."

It was tough for interviewer Chiarella to ask Neeson the hard questions, and even tougher for Neeson to answer them. A rough job to ask a man how he lost the love of his life. Chiarella tries to put Neeson at ease by relaying some tragedies he has experienced in his own life, but the actor still seems deeply affected by the death of his wife 2 years ago, and his hectic work pace since then would seem to reflect that.

WORK AS SALVATION

Liam Neeson went back to shooting "Chloe" after Natasha Richardson's funeral. Said Neeson, "I just think I was still in a bit of shock. But it's kind of a no-brainer to go back to work. It's a wee bit of a blur, but I know the tragedy hadn't just really smacked me yet." (p. 113)

Neeson also was quoted, in a "New York Times" article as having said, "I think I survived by running away. Running away to work."

Neeson is still surviving by "running away to work." He's playing an action hero in "Unknown," the film that took box office honors last week, the story of a man who suddenly finds that everything in his life has changed. His wife doesn't recognize him, is dead to him. Another man is wearing his name tag at a convention. Security is called to remove him from the scene. Eerie similarities to real life. Called "one of the most compelling actors of the late 20th century" (Sunday, February 20, 2011 New York Times"), Neeson's stint as the doctor whose life is co-opted by another is just one of his many film projects either in production or about to be released or, like "Unknown," in theaters now. The man seems to be working all the time.

He has a small role in this year's "The Hangover, Part II," which he credits to friend Bradley Cooper. [ He replaced Mel Gibson in a cameo role as a character called Tattoo.] In 2011, there is also "Last Stand" .

When 2012 rolls around, Neeson is set to play a role in "Battleship" and will also appear in the film "The Grey". Herecently made a guest appearance on "The Big C" with Laura Linney as "the bee man" (Neeson and Linney co-starred on Broadway in a remake of "The Crucible") and he will be in "Wrath of the Titans," as well, reprising his role as Zeus in the sequel to 2010's "Clash of the Titans," a remake of the 1981 film.

ACTING AS PRAYER

Back on May 9 of 2010 when excerpts from Retta Blaney's book "Working on the Inside" (Rowman & Littlefield publishers) were printed, Neeson talked about his life as an actor, a crossroads in his life, his faith, and how he realized that acting is a form of prayer.

Said Neeson to Blaney, "I found out in the jungles of South America (while filming "The Mission" with Robert DeNiro in 1986) that Stanislavsky (the originator of the 'Method' school of acting) had based his technique on the Spiritual Exercises of Jesuit founder St. Ignatius Loyola. It was a real revelation to me, and it brought 2 big parts of my life together. The Irish Catholic side was married to the life of an actor, and I found out that acting could be a form of prayer. It helped me, knowing that."

Neeson described his life before that to Blaney this way: "I was reasonably successful as an actor. I was 32 or 33 with a potential career ahead of me. I had done some flim-flam movies, but I didn't understand what being an actor meant any more." He described his life at that crossroads point, when he was still single, as "getting drunk at night and getting laid as much as I could."

BEGINNINGS

Neeson's rise as an actor can be attributed to his stage work. He was appearing onstage in Dublin at the Abbey Theatre as Lennie Small in an adaptation of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" when Director John Boorman ("Deliverance") saw him and offered him a part as Sir Gawaine in "Excalibur," Neeson's first movie break.

Neeson moved to the United States in 1987. He is now a naturalized citizen, which he announced on "Good Morning, America" on August 9, 2009. In a February 21, 2011 "People" Q&A now on the stands, Neeson said of his adopted homeland, "I love the people, the spirit and the landscape---the vastness of it."

Luck is always present in anyone's life and/or career. Steven Spielberg saw Neeson in Jodie Foster's film "Nell" and offered him the career-making role of Oskar Shindler in his much-honored film "Schindler's List."

THOUGHTS ON RELIGION AND LIFE

Once Neeson recognized that acting might be a prayerful thing, he said, he began to change. "I offer my performances as prayer for someone I've worked with as an actor or someone who has died. The image that comes into my head as I walk to the stage, I offer that performance up for that person."

Although he referred to himself as "a fallen-away Catholic" in the March, 2011 "Esquire" interview, he does acknowledge that he is raising his two sons (Micheal, 15, and Daniel, 14) as Roman Catholics. In Retta Blaney's book, Neeson said of faith, "I question more now. I don't mean that it's all hocum, but I've lost a simple faith. I do still believe, but I like to encompass all religions now. I believe we're all paying homage to God."

In that earlier interview---given before Natasha died--- , Neeson added, "Generally, I just give thanks for how lucky I am. I'm healthy. I have some money in the bank (the Neeson Millbrook, NY home was valued at close to $4 million dollars; he and Richardson purchased 16 more acres nearby in August of 2004) and I have a wonderful wife."

Much of that changed for Liam Neeson on March 18, 2009.