Natasha Richardson’s family attend Broadway tributes to dead actress

Natasha Richardson's husband Liam Neeson and her mother Vanessa Redgrave went to Broadway last night to attend the dimming of the theatre lights in tribute to the actress who died on Wednesday evening from a brain injury she suffered while skiing in Canada on Monday.

Only 24 hours after having to take the decision to turn off his wife's life support machine, Neeson was hugged by New York actor friends including Matthew Broderick and his wife Sarah Jessica Parker (above, with Neeson). Natasha's sister, Joely Richardson, well known in the US for her role on TV's Nip/Tuck, was also there as, one by one, the Broadway theatres dimmed their lights at 8pm local time.

It was an emotional moment for all the family, but especially for Neeson who had first met his wife when they appeared together on Broadway in the Eugene O'Neill play, Anna Christie, back in 1993.

An autopsy report released yesterday confirmed what medical experts had predicted: that the seemingly mild accident she suffered when she fell in the snow at Mont Tremblant near Montreal had caused an epidural haematoma - a haemorrhage of blood between the brain and the skull.

Eugene Flamm, chairman of neurosurgery at the Montefiore Medical Center, New York, told the media: "It is a common syndrome where someone gets hit on the head, seems fine, and then falls down unconscious. It takes that much time for the pressure to build up on the brain."

The dura is the membrane between the brain and the skull. If blood collects in the area in between, it presses harder and harder against the brain. Eventually it causes herniation: the whole brain shifts. "When something large makes the brain shift, the blood supply gets cut off and the whole brain dies," said Dr Flamm.

Tributes continue to pour in for the actress, in particular for her Broadway work. The English director Sam Mendes, who directed her in the Broadway revival of Cabaret, for which she won a Tony award in 1998, said: "It defies belief that this gifted, brave, tenacious, wonderful woman is gone. She was one of a kind, a magnificent actress. She was also an amazing mother, a loyal friend, and the greatest and most generous host you could ever hope to meet." ·