Family and friends hold wake for actress Natasha Richardson

Mar 21, 2009, 0:08 GMT

Actresses Vanessa Redgrave (C), her daughter actress Joely Richardson (R), and her granddaughter Daisy Bevan (L) arrive at wake for actress Natasha Richardson at the American Irish Historical Society on 5th Avenue in New York, 20 March 2009. EPA/JASON SZENES

Los Angeles - The family and friends of actress Natasha Richardson held a traditional Irish wake for her Friday in New York, two days after her tragic death following a skiing fall.

Her husband and actor Liam Neeson was joined by their two sons - Micheal Richard Antonio, 13, and Daniel Jack, 12, Uma Thurman, Diane Sawyer, Richardson's mother Vanessa Redgrave, sister Joely Richardson and numerous other film and theatre personalities, People magazine reported.

Richardson will be buried Sunday during a private funeral service in Millbrook, New York, where she belonged to the local Catholic church.

On Thursday night all theatres on Broadway dimmed their lights in memory of the 45-year-old actress who won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the musical, Cabaret.

The wake took place as the New York Times reported that Richardson did not get medical help till approximately four hours after the fall, rather than the one hour originally stated in the Canadian resort's initial account of the incident. The discrepancy could have a strong impact on investigations of culpability in Richardson's death.

According to the accounts so far, Richardson fell during a private skiing lesson on a beginners' slope in the Canadian resort of Mont Tremblant. She is said to have declined medical treatment before being rushed to hospital after complaining of a headache.

However, she rapidly descended into critical condition, and doctors were unable to save her. An autopsy conducted on Thursday said she had died from internal bleeding in the skull caused by a blunt impact to the head.

Richardson was born into a theatrical family on May 11, 1963, in London. Her father, Tony Richardson, was a director who won an Oscar for Tom Jones, while her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, won the supporting-actress Academy Award for 1977's Julia.

She made her own impact on the film world in the Ken Russell movie Gothic in 1986. Richardson also starred in the 1988 movie Patty Hearst, The Handmaid's Tale in 1990 and Nell in 1994, when she appeared with Neeson, whom she married later that year. Later films included the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap and Wild Child in 2008.