Happy Birthday to Heaven

If you'd like to know what a person plagued by bad luck looks like, I cordially invite you to join me for a coffee or tea. This post was originally finished and ready to go online before midnight. The emphasis is on "originally," because if I hadn't accidentally pressed the wrong key and deleted everything, I wouldn't have to start all over again. Two hours of work wasted. We're not all professionals, after all...
Anyway...
Today (May 11th) is Natasha's birthday. She would have turned 63 this year.

Natasha was born on May 11, 1963, the first daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson. Her acting talent was practically in her blood, as her maternal grandparents were also famous actors. Vanessa Redgrave's parents were actor Michael Redgrave and her mother, Rachel Kempson. Natasha's aunt Lynn Redgrave, as well as her younger sister Joely Richardson and Joely's daughter Daisy Bevan, also pursued acting careers.

Natasha attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and gained her first stage experience at the open-air theater in Regent's Park, where she played, among other roles, Helen in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" alongside Ralph Fiennes. Shortly afterward, she played Ophelia in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" at the Young Vic Theatre in London. In 1985, Natasha appeared on stage alongside her mother, Vanessa, and actor Jonathan Pryce, playing the role of Nina in Chekhov's "The Seagull." This was followed by several small roles in television and film productions, including "Patty (Hearst)" and Volker Schlöndorff's "The Handmaid's Tale."
In 1990, Natasha returned to the Young Vic Theatre and took on the title role in Eugene O'Neill's play "Anna Christie," a role she retained when the play moved to Broadway. Natasha, who was also a co-producer in New York, suggested Liam Neeson for the male lead. The two had briefly met nine years earlier during the production of the television miniseries "Ellis Island" and had a mutual acquaintance, Max von Sydow. Liam got the role, and while working together at the theater, the two fell in love and married on July 3, 1994. With their sons Mícheál (born on [date redacted]) and Daniel (born on [date redacted]), their family happiness was complete.

Liam likes to tell an anecdote about their marriage: "I was offered the role of James Bond several times back then, and Tasha told me, 'If you play Bond, we won't get married. I don't want to be constantly jealous of other women!' So I turned down the role and gave Pierce Brosnan the opportunity."

Natasha's sister Joely Richardson posted a lovely birthday greeting on her Instagram account today, which I would like to echo here:
"11th of May is forever my sister's birthday, even though she left this earthly plane 17 yrs ago. She and I loved how rousing this piece of music is (Joely accompanied her contribution with music by James Levine Sibelius: Symphony No 5, played by the Berliner Philharmoniker) -it would make her smile that I've picked up it. All these pictures are public domaine (screen shot) ,and with the recent 90s revival they kept popping up on my phone. The day Tasha married Liam Neeson was one of the happiest of her life (the tenderness of her upward gaze) - she couldn't believe it, and we danced until dawn. Oh the glamor of this couple, warmth and humor. Seize the day, she did. ❤️

Here is my birthday greeting for Natasha, which I'm writing on my Instagram account, in my little series about Liam (word for word):

Good afternoon, dear lovely Liam Neeson fans...
Today's part of my series is a greeting to heaven. Happy Birthday, dear lovely Natasha. We love and miss you very much.
One Photo, One Story
Part 269
May 11, 2026

Grit and Grace

In an interview with GQ, Liam was asked:

"Do you have a favorite parable from the Bible?"
... Liam replied:
"What my wife has on her tombstone, I guess that's my favorite now. That's not the direct quote, but what I put on her gravestone. She always saying that to me, you know? Where I'd be going. Eh, I'm not sure."
"She'd say the opposite. I would always say the glass is half empty, and she would always say half full. Always. But I'm changing, I think."
"Tasha, she's buried up near our house. Old cemetery. Her grandmother, too. I go see Tasha once or twice a week. Just talk. I like it ....."
"There's a Civil War soldier near her. I look at his headstone a lot. All it says is 'Grit And Grace'."
PhotosGhettyImage 
❤️🇮🇪🍀💚🤍🧡
Maidin mhaith, a Liam a ghrá geal, guím lá iontach síochánta ort féin agus ar do theaghlach. Táim smaoineamh place inniu. Ag seoladh go leor grá agus barróg chugat. Tá sé chomh maith go bhfuil tú inár saol. 💖🦋😇
❤️🇮🇪🍀💚🤍🧡

 

Beliebte Posts aus diesem Blog

The Day the Music Died

Bild
My little series about Liam Neeson is growing and is being read with pleasure by my followers on Instagram and Facebook. I am very pleased that the fans are enjoying this little series, which already has almost 200 parts.  Yes, I am proud of this little work because it proved to myself that I am not as stupid and superfluous as many people have told me.  Yesterday I told in my 199th part about how Liam experienced the moment when he heard that John Lennon was shot:  Liam told in September 2017 in an interview how he experienced the death of John Lennon: "I have to say there's a part of me that died when John Lennon was shot, with regards to listening to popular music. I just could not get over it. " "When John Lennon in December 8.1980 was shot, I was on stage with Stephen Rea. We are doing this Brain Freeland play, and we were touring Ireland with it. " "I remember we were playing a week in Dublin and I was sharing a dre...
Mehr anzeigen

When Liam became a serial killer (please don't take it too seriously)

Bild
 After a break of almost three months,  which I only interrupt once or twice,  I continued yesterday my little series about Liam on Instagram.  Over the past few weeks, I've been working intensively on an interview Liam gave in 1997 at the premiere of "Michael Collins" . The interview lasts about an hour and I've listened to it almost daily.  I still listen to this interview regularly because I still discover beautiful and interesting things that Liam talks about in it. The beginning, where he talks about Michael Collins, is particularly interesting, and you can see how much Liam cares about his role model.  It was and it is primarily to improve my listening comprehension of the English language and to convey the little stories Liam tells in the interview as accurately as possible. It's a very nice and interesting interview. I will not reproduce the interview in It's normal order,  but only in the passages that I wrote down when...
Mehr anzeigen

Thanksgiving Shona

A Liam, a stór, guím Lá Altaithe iontach duit féin agus ar do theaghlach.   Tá súil agam go gcaithfidh tú lá an-deas le do bheirt mhac Daniel agus Micheál agus a chailín Daniel, Natalie, agus go dtabharfaidh go leor cairde agus lucht aitheantais cuairt ort.    Is maith liom an bealach a dhéantar Thanksgiving a cheiliúradh i Meiriceá. Ó bhí mé óg, tá mé ag iarraidh an fhéile seo a cheiliúradh.  Toisc go ndeir sé an oiread sin faoi chomhtháthú teaghlaigh agus faoin gcaidreamh teaghlaigh le cairde, faoin gcaidreamh speisialta atá agat lena chéile. Ar an drochuair, ní raibh an t-ádh orm riamh an fhéile a cheiliúradh agus an taithí speisialta seo a mhothú. Tá áthas orm ar do shon gur féidir leat a chaitheamh inniu le do muintir.  Gach rath agus grá daoibh go léir.   A Liam, a chara, guím lá iontach síochánta oraibh agus tá súil agam go mbeidh cupán tae le chéile ag an mbeirt againn go luath agus go mbeidh comhrá beag againn. Is é sin mo mhian is mó....
Mehr anzeigen