Liam Neeson spent two decades as a respected dramatic actor, nominated for Schindler’s List and starring in Michael Collins and Rob Roy, before Taken made him an unlikely action lead in his mid-fifties.
The pivot created an entire subgenre of older men with particular skills, and he has made a substantial number of them since, with diminishing returns he has discussed openly.
Schindler’s List remains the performance, playing a man whose motives are never fully explained even to himself.
His wife Natasha Richardson died in 2009 and he has spoken about working continuously afterward as a way of managing it, which recontextualises the volume of the later output.
