Liam Neeson pulls out of film year after wife’s death

Almost a year after his wife Natasha Richardson died from a freak brain injury sustained in a minor skiing accident in Canada, the Irish-born actor Liam Neeson has pulled out of a new film after his grief apparently caught up with him.

Ever since Richardson's death in March 2009, which left him with their two children to bring up on his own, Neeson has immersed himself in his work. His new film roles include Col 'Hannibal' Smith in The A Team, the part taken by George Peppard in the popular 1980s TV series.

The film he has suddenly backed out of was to have told the story of Saint Columba, who brought Christianity to Scotland. He was due to play King Aidan opposite Jeremy Irons as Columba.

The director Norman Stone, who made Shadowlands and The Mirror Crack'd, said: "He has decided not to go ahead, which is a pity, but the decision was made after what has been a difficult time for him and I respect the circumstances."

Natasha Richardson was one of the Redgraves, an acting dynasty stretching back to the 19th century. Her parents were Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson.

She and Neeson, best known around the world for his role in Steven Spielberg's Holocaust film Schindler's List, first met when they appeared together in a New York production of Eugene O'Neill's play, Anna Christie, in 1993. Two days after her death, the Broadway theatres dimmed their lights in tribute. ·