New York  - Actress Natasha Richardson died Wednesday in a New York hospital, her family announced, broadcaster CNN reported.

The family had gathered at her bedside Wednesday for a final, tragic vigil after the British born actress, 45, was critically injured Monday in a skiing accident in Canada's Quebec province.

Numerous reports since Tuesday had said that Richardson was brain dead and that her family members were facing the agonizing decision to take her off life support. People magazine had quoted a family friend as saying that Richardson had "no chance."

Richardson was a member of the Redgrave acting dynasty and wife of actor Liam Neeson, who left a Toronto movie shoot to be at her side in Montreal, the CTV network reported.

Richardson was injured Monday afternoon in a seemingly innocuous fall while skiing on a bunny slope at the Mont Tremblant resort, 125 kilometres north-west of Montreal.

According to a spokesperson for the ski resort, Richardson fell during a private lesson on a beginner slope while not wearing a helmet. She managed to walk back to her room and was laughing and joking but was taken to hospital an hour later when she started having headaches.

After her condition turned gravely worse, she was flown on Tuesday back to New York on a private jet.

Neeson and Richardson have been married since 1994 and have two sons, Micheal Richard Antonio, 13, and Daniel Jack, 12, who were reportedly skiing with her when the accident happened.

Richardson won a Tony Award for playing Sally Bowles in a Broadway production of Cabaret in 1998. She starred in Nell, The Parent Trap and more than 30 film and television productions. (dpa)