Actress Natasha Richardson Dies - Spokesman

Richardson's first film role was a bit part in her father's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1968), made when she was 4. After a handful of roles through her teens and early 20s, she broke through as Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's film "Gothic," and followed that up as Patty Hearst in Paul Schrader's 1988 film of the same name.

Richardson's other notable films included "The Handmaid's Tale" (1990); the TV movie "Zelda" (1993); "Nell" (1994), alongside Neeson, whom she married in 1994; the 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap"; and "Wild Child" (2008).

But some of Richardson's greatest successes were on the stage. At 22, she played opposite her mother and Jonathan Pryce in a London production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull"; the performance earned her the London Drama Critics' most promising newcomer award.

Richardson initially showed no sign of injury after the incident but about an hour later she was taken to a nearby hospital after feeling unwell. It was later confirmed her injuries were critical.

A spokesperson at Sacre Coeur Hospital in Montreal, where Richardson, 45, was taken Monday night, would only say Richardson is no longer in Canada, information she recieved from a spokesperson for Richardson's family.

Richardson was feeling fine for nearly an hour Monday after falling on a beginner's run during a private ski lesson, Mont Tremblant resort spokesperson Catherine Lacasse said.

Recently, a young man came to the ER complaining of headaches, progressive weakness in his left arm and leg, difficulty walking, and increasing fatigue.

He had fallen and hit his head the week before, but at the time he had been preoccupied with studying for an important exam and thought his symptoms were from the stress of studying.

We discovered a large clot in his brain, a result of his fall. But soon after his admission to the hospital, he slipped into a coma, and ended up requiring surgery to remove the blood clot and medicine to reduce the swelling of his brain.

Blunt head trauma can cause arteries or veins inside the skull to tear and leak. If the leak is small and slow, the symptoms may not occur for days or weeks.

Media reports said her two sons were skiing with her at the time of the accident.

She did not hit anyone or anything before coming to a stop. The ski instructor was by her side within seconds, Lacasse said.

There was no external sign of injury, no cuts or bleeding, Lacasse said.

Now sources close to the Tony award-winning actress say she is brain dead and being flown back to New York, where she will be taken off life support.