captioning funded by cbs and ford >> we need to make a stand right now that our schools must be the important thing we have in this country-- not wall street, not capitol hill, our schools. >> pelley: he doesn't want to be known as a hero, but when you react the way he did during a deadly school shooting, it's hard to call him anything else. >> i saw a young man firing into the crowd. i just stood up, shut my table all the way, and started after him. >> pelley: the emergency plan is to get all the kids out of the hallways, gets them all into rooms and shelter in place. frank didn't do that. >> he didn't. he acted as a father. >> simon: you have been called him an evil genius. >> yes, yes, i have. >> simon: he's talking about

wolfgang beltracchi, a forger so brilliant that, for decades, he made millions while his paintings were hung in museums around the world. but his brilliance wasn't that he could copy a rembrandt or a cezanne; it's that he imagined paintings they might have done, even shot fake photographs to document them. see that woman in front of those paintings? she's his wife and partner in crime. >> cooper: you may know liam neeson for his oscar-nominated role in "schindler's list." but at the improbable age of 61, he's become one of hollywood's highest paid action stars. reports are, for "taken 3," you're going to make upwards of $50 million. you're laughing. >> yeah. ( laughs ) >> pelley: tonight, neeson reveals why his hard-earned success is bittersweet, and the grief he feels over the death of his wife, natasha richardson.

>> grief's like... it hits you. it's like a wave. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can.

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we approached a man that was obviously beaten down by the years and could use a little help. and i said, "is there anything i can give you?" and he said, "i'll take a handshake."

it stopped me in my tracks. it made me reevaluate everything. treating this man with respect first was more important to him than charity or pity. i think that's huge -- to be considerate. that's what it's about. [ female announcer ] mutual of omaha. insure your possibilities. insurance. retirement. banking. investments. >> pelley: two years ago this week, three students were killed and three were wounded in a high school shooting you probably don't remember because there are so many. an assistant football coach named frank hall helped stop that shooting. but when we sat down with him

recently, hall told us he wished there was no reason to know his name or, god forbid, think of him as a hero. he's the type you'd call a "regular guy." on february 27, 2012, hall was doing what he always did. with hugs and fist bumps, he kept order among a hundred kids gathering in the school cafeteria before class. then, hall was confronted by a question no one can truly answer-- what would you do at the sound of gunfire? no time to think. there's only the reflex of character. this is the story of a fraction of a second and the months of consequences that follow. so much time has passed and still no one in chardon, ohio, knows why it happened. in february 2012, they'd been marking the inches of lake erie snow and counting the days till the tapping of the maples.

"forbes" had said that this was the fourth best place in america to raise a family, and many of the 5,000 in chardon credited the high school, ranked excellent 13 years in a row. >> 9-1-1. what is your emergency? >> this is chardon high school calling. we need assistance right now. there's a student with a gun. >> pelley: at 7:35, the call came from the principal's office. there, teacher tim armelli heard shots down the hall. >> tim armelli: you knew that the shooting was what it was. you're... your head's telling you there's shots; your heart's not believing it. you... you freeze for a moment. you don't think you're going to see your wife or kids again. >> pelley: you got onto the school p.a. and said what? >> armelli: "lockdown. teachers, go to lockdown." >> pelley: in the cafeteria, through the door on the left, a 17-year-old boy who went by the initials "t.j." was shooting to

kill. he'd put ten rounds in his gun and six letters across his shirt-- "killer," it said. >> frank hall: i saw a young man firing into a crowd. i just stood up, shoved my table out of the way and started after him. >> pelley: it's tough even now for frank hall to speak of it. but with the support of his wife, he told us what happened when he charged at the boy with the gun. >> hall: he raises his weapon at me, i jumped behind a pepsi machine. i hear another fire. >> pelley: that bullet missed hall, so he kept chasing the student down the corridor. >> hall: and he sees me and he takes off down the hallway, so i chase after him again screaming, yelling. kid's still running. and i get to within like six, seven, eight feet of him, and there was a young man at the end of the hallway right in front of the doors, nick walczak, and t.j. shoots him in the back. >> nick walczak: i was shot once in the spine. that paralyzed me. and that's when i went down. >> pelley: what do you remember seeing or hearing of coach hall in those moments?

>> walczak: he said, as he's running by me, he said "hang tight. i'll be back." >> pelley: pursued by hall, the shooter ran without loading the second magazine that he carried with ten more rounds. >> hall: then, i chased t.j. out the doors and i lose him in the parking lot and... 47 seconds-- from the first shot till he exited the doors, 47 seconds. >> pelley: hall ran back to the cafeteria, where daniel parmertor, demetrius hewlin, and russell king were not going to survive. >> hall: you just knew that it wasn't going to end well. so i just asked god to be in this place with us and to be with them. i went around and i tried to comfort them the best i could, and demetrius had a long tear on his face and i wiped it, and tried to make danny and russell as comfortable as i could. they were still breathing. they were trying to fight.

what was only a couple minutes seemed like forever waiting for the paramedics and law enforcement. it was tough. >> pelley: but those boys needed somebody to be with them. >> hall: yeah. you know, i'm... i'm so thankful, very thankful that i could be there. >> pelley: the emergency plan, in essence, is to get all the kids out of the hallways, get them all into rooms, lock those rooms and shelter in place? >> armelli: correct. >> pelley: frank didn't do that? >> armelli: he didn't. he acted as a father, you know, he acted as someone that was those kids' parents while they're away from home. >> pelley: there's nothing in the plan that says, "assistant football coach chases gunman through the school." >> hall: you just think about getting him out of your room,

you know, get him out of your area. >> pelley: and you did that. you got him out of the cafeteria. but you kept going. >> hall: i just reacted that day. i just... i just... you know, he was hurting our kids, and that's all i did. i just reacted. >> nate mueller: as soon as you're staring down the barrel of a gun, you just take off. >> pelley: death missed nate mueller by less than an inch. a bullet tore through the top of his ear. >> mueller: and for him to be a teacher, and to put himself in harm's way to chase him out of the building for kids that were just students in his cafeteria is amazing. >> pelley: he never thought of you as just students. >> mueller: no. >> walczak: no, we were his family. >> pelley: and you know that now. >> walczak: oh, yeah. oh, yeah. >> pelley: it wasn't long after the gunman bolted out through that door that he was found in the woods by the police.

he gave himself up without incident, pled guilty, and has been sentenced to life without parole. he has never given a reason or a motive for the shooting. at sentencing, the judge wondered whether he did it to make a name for himself, so the community asked us to keep his name and his face out of this, and we have. when it was over, hall texted "i'm okay" to his wife, ashley, but she didn't know what he'd done until he came home. >> ashley hall: he said he was sorry that he had put himself in that situation and that, you know, he realized that he could've been shot, and that would've left us without a husband and without a father. >> dad... >> pelley: there was a lot to leave behind. ashley works for the county, placing kids in foster care, and the halls have adopted four of

those kids-- christian, quincy, and the twins mark and shawn. sheltering kids is a way of life for the halls, which is why he can't understand how school shootings have become a fact of life. >> frank hall: we need to change. we got to stop this from happening. i mean, i remember when columbine happened. everybody in the world knew what columbine was. i mean, i can't sit here and tell you every school that's had a school shooting now. we need to find ways to secure our schools better. we need to make a stand right now that our schools need to be the most important thing we have in this country-- not wall street, not capitol hill, our schools. we need to determine that in our minds and heart, that our school and our children need to be the most important thing we have. that's the bottom line. ♪ ♪ >> pelley: three days after the shooting, the students reclaimed the most important thing they had, chardon high school. >> armelli: frank chasing the

shooter out of the building allowed us to not say we were victims. it allowed us to fight the evil. we were not going to let that evil take over. and frank, by his show of courage, allowed all of us to fight. they came down arm in arm-- 1,100 kids-- marched right down the center of the street, and coming back into that school and taking over it was our first step in our recovery. >> frank hall: i don't know why this happened. i only wish i could have done more. i'm not a hero, just a football coach and a study hall teacher. >> pelley: a hero in a tragedy never feels heroic. every hug, every "thank you" that frank hall endured took him back to the boys in the cafeteria. >> frank hall: you know they'll never have another birthday. >> pelley: frank, no one could ask you to do more than you did. >> frank hall: yeah, i know. it's just hard, you just want so

bad to be able to take them home. sometimes, i get mad about it, i get angry. you know, scott, i wish you weren't here. i wish i was never on tv. i'd give anything for this not to be happening right now. >> pelley: coach hall returned to chardon, but he was tormented by the memories. ten months later, when the shooting happened at sandy hook elementary, he couldn't finish the day. it wasn't long after that when hall did something that surprised and saddened many. he left chardon high school. he had heard about some kids in the county next door who needed him more. ashtabula county had not made the cut for "best place to raise a family"-- 31% of the kids here live in poverty. the high school had won only two football games in three years. the head coach quit.

and that's how frank hall made a comeback. >> frank hall: green, go straight. get it down. go. hey, great kick. nice job. act like gentleman, play hard, right? >> yes, sir. >> tyree meeks: he changed everything around here. >> pelley: tyree meeks and damondre haywood are on hall's new team at lakeside high. >> meeks: he told us he's not only going to make us great football players, but he's going to make us men. >> pelley: sounds to me like, with coach hall, it's not all about xs and os and blocking and tackling. >> meeks: oh, no. no. >> frank hall: done a great job, from your effort on the practice, people, to your effort in the classroom to your respect of the school and the teachers. >> pelley: when a player smarted off to one of the teachers, hall made it a problem for everyone on the team, a reflex of character. >> meeks: each and every single last football player had to go and apologize to that teacher, just because it's that important. it's like... >> pelley: wait, the... the players who didn't talk back to the teacher also had to go and apologize? >> meeks: yeah, yeah. >> pelley: what was the point of that? >> meeks: it's just based upon, like, if one of us messes up, we

all mess up, like family, you know. >> damondre haywood: it's to show that we've changed. because, you know, last year, before coach hall came here, the football players, they were getting in trouble all the time, and he wanted to really make sure that the teachers knew that it was a big change. so we all went down there and apologized to her for how our brother acted towards her. >> pelley: and so, there was a big change on the field. they won their first game, then two more. this last season was building toward their final contest, an away game back at chardon high. it had been eight months since coach hall had left. we were with you at the ballgame with chardon. couldn't help but notice when you walked out by yourself to collect your thoughts. and i wonder what you were thinking in that moment? >> frank hall: i was being thankful-- all the blessings

that i have, you know, four healthy boys, a beautiful wife. i was very thankful for my players, for those kids at chardon, for this community. thankful. >> announcer: coach, welcome back. and thank you. >> pelley: an opposing coach... >> we love coach hall. >> pelley: ...never gets a welcome like this. ( cheers and applause ) hall didn't win the game. his old team at chardon was better that night, 49 to 21. but it was the homecoming that mattered more. >> frank hall: love you, buddy. how you been? how you guys doing? >> pelley: at the end, two teams rallied around one coach, a regular guy of extraordinary character. >> frank hall: i'm so proud right now of each and every one of you. serve your family, take care of your family, serve them, you understand me? >> yes, sir! >> frank hall: all right. love you.

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go long. insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. >> simon: wolfgang beltracchi is a name you may never have heard before. very few people have. but his paintings have brought him millions and millions of dollars in a career that spanned nearly 40 years. they have made their way into museums, galleries, and private

collections all over the world. what makes him a story for us is that all his paintings are fakes. and what makes him an unusual forger is that he didn't copy the paintings of great artists, but created new works which he imagined the artist might have painted or which might have gotten lost. connoisseurs and dealers acknowledge that beltracchi is the most successful art forger of our time, perhaps of all time-- brilliant, not only as a painter, but as a con man of epic proportions. are you the best forger in the world? >> wolfgang beltracchi: maybe, yeah. in the moment. ( laughs ) >> simon: he agreed to meet with us in cologne recently, and took us to a small wooden bridge outside his home. he volunteered to show us how he works. he was forging a max ernst, the german surrealist of the early 20th century. beltracchi was painting on this wooden bridge because ernst had

done much of his work on a wooden floor. what do you think this max ernst would be worth? >> beltracchi: this one? >> simon: yeah. >> beltracchi: $5 million, i think. >> simon: $5 million. and you can do it in three days? >> beltracchi: yeah, oh, yes, yes, sure, or quicker. >> simon: beltracchi estimates he has done 25 max ernsts. he is not copying an existing work; he's painting something he thinks ernst might have done if he'd had the time or felt like it. so you would be doing a cezanne that cezanne never painted, but that you thought he might have wanted to paint. >> beltracchi: yes, exactly. >> simon: so, in a sense, every beltracchi painting is an original. he just lied about who painted it. he says he has forged a hundred artists and can do just about anyone. could you do a rembrandt? >> beltracchi: yeah, sure. ( laughs ) >> simon: could you do a leonardo? >> beltracchi: yeah, yeah, sure.

>> simon: who couldn't you do? >> beltracchi: maybe bellini. ( laughs ) bellini's really difficult. >> simon: he has sold his forgeries, of course, but says he can still see some of them because they're on public display. have you seen your paintings, your forgeries, hanging in museums? >> beltracchi: yeah. all the museum, you know. i think i am one of the most exhibited painters in museums of the world. >> simon: you are one of the world? >> beltracchi: yeah, yeah. >> simon: that's quite an accomplishment. >> beltracchi: yeah. >> simon: you might have seen his stuff in new york's metropolitan museum, or in the hermitage in lausanne, to name just a couple. you can also see them in the homes of the 1%. actor steve martin bought this one. beltracchi's forgeries have also made it into art books listing the best paintings of the 20th century, and have been sold in many of the world's top auction houses.

i have seen beltracchi forgeries on the cover of christie's catalogues. >> jeff taylor: yes, yes. >> simon: that's pretty good, isn't it? >> taylor: it is really good, it is really good. >> simon: jeff taylor teaches arts management at purchase college. he says, though there is no shortage of gifted forgers, beltracchi holds the title. he has made more money than any other art forger ever. >> taylor: he combined all the nefarious techniques of everybody who came before him, and made very important innovations in exactly what is essential. >> simon: you have called him an evil genius? >> taylor: yes. >> simon: so aside from being a very talented painter, he was also a very accomplished con man? >> taylor: absolutely one of the best. >> simon: he started making a few bucks in the game when he was quite young, but his career really took off when he married helene, a perfect co- conspirator, in 1993.

you were really the bonnie and clyde of the art world, weren't you? >> beltracchi: yes, bonnie and clyde, yeah-- without weapons, only with pencils. >> simon: but you were a pair, you did everything together. >> helene: yeah. >> beltracchi: everything together, yes, yes. >> simon: they invented a story that fooled them all. helene said her grandfather hid his art collection at his country estate in germany before the war to protect it from the nazis. when he died, she said, she inherited it. but there was nothing to inherit, because there had never been a collection. every one of the works had been painted by wolfgang beltracchi. >> helene: when i said it's a collection of my grandfather, it was okay. >> simon: it was okay, but it wasn't true. >> helene: no, it wasn't true. but the others never asked me more. >> simon: because it was a good story. >> helene: yeah. >> simon: and you were a good actress in telling the story. >> helene: maybe. ( laughs )

>> simon: she and wolfgang even created fake labels from a real german dealer, which they put on the backs of paintings, staining them with coffee and tea to make them look old. they toured flea markets like this one to find canvases from the right periods. tell me what we're doing here. tell me what we're looking for. >> beltracchi: we're looking for a painting like that, because we need something that is 1919, 1910. see, that's a french one. >> simon: you can get that completely clean? >> beltracchi: yeah, yeah, completely clean, yeah. >> simon: they sent paint pigments to labs to make sure they had been available at the time the artist had painted. you were really perfectionists, weren't you? >> beltracchi: yeah, yeah, sure. >> simon: and hearing you talk, you were really good criminals. >> beltracchi: yeah, yeah. >> helene: yeah. >> beltracchi: yeah, it's true. ( laughs ) >> simon: to back up their story, they found an old box camera like this one, dressed helene up to look like her grandmother, hung up some

forgeries behind her, and took some bogus photos on pre-war paper. >> taylor: to make it look like an old photograph, which is, in the art world, in the documentation aspect, is golden. archival photographs are sort of the... the el dorado. >> simon: now, when you see something like that, do you say "you've got to hand it to him?" >> taylor: yes, yes, you do. >> simon: he was off and running. >> taylor: he was off and running. >> simon: running to luxurious estates they bought in germany and in france, vineyard included. they gave parties gatsby would have loved and they traveled the world in style, by land or by sea. bonnie and clyde had taste. >> beltracchi: this is... was my boat, yeah. >> simon: i don't think you're translating correctly. this isn't a boat, it's a yacht. beltracchi was riding high and thought he would stay up there forever. he was turning out forgeries like this max ernst which went for $7 million.

but then in 2010, he got busted by this tube of white paint. the dutch manufacturer didn't include on the tube that it contained traces of a pigment called titanium white. that form of titanium white wasn't available when ernst would have painted these works, and beltracchi's high ride was over. jamie martin, one of the world's top forensic art analysts, uses science to help determine whether or not a painting is genuine. we asked him to examine this beltracchi forgery for us. >> jamie martin: his fakes are among the best fakes i've seen in my career. very convincing, very well done. >> simon: and what you're saying is that, basically, he got away with it for 40 years because nobody was examining them properly? >> martin: nobody was examining them closely enough. >> simon: he showed us what he does, how he uses a stereo- microscope to study every

millimeter of a painting's surface, and to select and remove samples. you actually take little pieces off of the painting? >> martin: we take very little pieces. we take only the minimum amount that's required, smaller than the width of a human hair. >> simon: he uses what is called raman spectroscopy, which can help detect historically inaccurate pigments. that's what cut beltracchi's career short. he was sentenced to six years in a german prison; his wife, helene, to four. but the chaos they wrought has not been undone. now, galleries and auction houses who vouched for his forgeries have been sued by the collectors who bought them. you have... in fact, you've really upset the art world, haven't you? >> beltracchi: yeah, sure. they all hate me, these experts now. >> simon: do you think the experts are just incompetent, or that they are also frauds, that they pretend to know more than they know?

>> beltracchi: no, no. nearly all the experts we have met, we met, they were serious, really serious. their only problem was that i was too good for them. yes, that was their problem, that's all. >> simon: and with all the legal problems they now have, many experts are very hesitant to use their expertise. >> taylor: i think they're terrified. i think that beltracchi particularly put them in a very nervous position. >> simon: so being an art expert today is a risky business? >> taylor: it's so risky that a lot of authentication boards have shut down. there's just simply too much legal peril out there. its one of the reasons why a lot of experts will not give their opinions. >> simon: many foundations representing major artists like andy warhol, keith haring, and

willem de kooning are refusing to authenticate works brought to them at all. francis o'connor is the world's top jackson pollock expert. he says he can spot a fake pollock in a second, but these days he is keeping his opinions to himself. what if i were to come to you and say, "this has been presented to me as a pollock." >> francis o'connor: someone comes to me about once a week. i just let it go by. >> simon: let it go by? >> o'connor: in other words, ignore it. >> simon: i'm not quite sure i understand. if i come to you and i say, "hey, this has been presented to me as a pollock," and you can see right away that it isn't, you're not going to tell me, "this is not a pollock"? >> o'connor: i would be very hesitant to give any opinion at that point, because of the legal situation. >> simon: where do i go to see whether my painting is a real pollock or not? >> o'connor: there is nowhere to go.

>> simon: when collectors do have suspicions about their paintings, one of the few places they can go is jamie martin's lab. ballpark figure-- if you've examined, say, 100 paintings, how many of them are fakes? >> martin: i would say probably 98% are fake. >> simon: no kidding. >> martin: that's just the numbers. >> simon: at his trial in 2011, prosecutors said beltracchi had created 36 fakes, which were sold for $46 million. but art historians believe, and beltracchi told us, that there may be more than 300 of his fakes all over the world. german police have uncovered 60 so far, and the numbers keep climbing. do you think we'll be uncovering fake beltracchis for years to come? >> taylor: absolutely. there's going to be many more out there. but one thing we know about fake art works is, short of having them burned or destroyed, they have a strange way of finding their way back onto the market,

generation after generation. >> simon: and no one disputes that they are awfully good, beautiful. this $7 million dollar fake max ernst is being shipped back to new york. its owner decided to keep it, even after it had been exposed as a fake. he said it's one of the best max ernsts he's ever seen. beltracchi spent a year and a half in this grim penitentiary, but is now allowed to spend many days at home, where he is launching a new career. beltracchi is painting again, and is signing his works "beltracchi." he needs to get his name out there, which is probably why he agreed to talk to us. he's lost everything and is now facing multiple lawsuits totaling $27 million. did you ever think that you would wind up in prison? >> beltracchi: no. >> simon: at what point did you realize, "uh-oh, i'm in trouble, this is over"? >> beltracchi: when i was there in prison.

( laughs ) >> simon: not before then. >> beltracchi: not really, no. >> simon: do you think you did anything wrong? >> beltracchi: yes, i use the wrong titanium white, yeah. what can your fidelity green line do for you? just take a closer look. it works how you want to work -- on your own... or with a fidelity investment professional, helping you find new ways to plan for retirement and save on taxes where you can so you can invest in the life that you want today. tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. call or come in today for a free one-on-one review. to take skincare to the next level, you're ready for roc®. roc® multi correxion has an exclusive 5 in 1 formula. it's clinically proven to hydrate dryness, illuminate dullness, lift sagging,

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,, anncr: at jennie-o we heard of a place in iowa where every thursday people ride 10 miles for tacos. we thought we'd show up and surprise them

with a better kind of taco made with jennie-o ground turkey cooked thoroughly to 165. i feed my kids turkey tacos over regular tacos any day. i think they are light and they are just fresh tasting. yeah. when i eat well, i feel well. anncr: it's time for a better taco. the tacos tonight were pretty much perfect. make the switch. look for jennie-o ground turkey in a store near you. >> cooper: liam neeson, at 61 years old, has become one of the highest paid movie stars in hollywood. you may remember him as oskar schindler in steven spielberg's movie "schindler's list," or in dozens of other classical dramatic roles. but today, he's best known as one of the most sought-after action stars in the movie business. neeson's success is bittersweet. five years ago, his wife, the actress natasha richardson, fell

while skiing and died from a traumatic brain injury. he's said very little about her death, until tonight. we decided to start this story about neeson where he was born, in ballymena, a simple town, just outside belfast, northern ireland. >> liam neeson: there's my house down there-- our house, i should say. >> cooper: which one? that one right there? >> neeson: yeah. it's funny, they look so quaint now, these houses. >> cooper: so, when you were growing up here, was it... was it working class? >> neeson: very working class, yeah. hard working people. protestant and catholic. doesn't suffer fools gladly. could see right through you. >> cooper: and you're still the same way. >> neeson: i hope so. >> cooper: not many ballymena boys dreamed of becoming an actor, but liam neeson was drawn to the stage in grammar school. >> neeson: this is the stage where i first performed. i think i was 11 or 12 years of age. and i joined it because there was a gorgeous... there's always

a gorgeous girl. ( laughs ) >> cooper: that's what was at the root of it? >> neeson: yeah, yeah. who had skin of alabaster, kid you not. >> cooper: really? >> neeson: lips, cherry red. she was 11 years of age. >> cooper: do you remember that feeling of being on the stage for the first time? >> neeson: i sure do. i'll never forget it. and i know where i was standing. right over there. and it was, like, "oh, my god, this is great." >> cooper: neeson saw acting as an escape. he went to belfast where he auditioned for the director of the lyric theatre. at the time, belfast was a dangerous place because of clashes between protestants and catholics over british rule. >> neeson: i called up. and they were actually looking for someone over six feet. >> cooper: so that was one of the first questions they asked you, "how tall are you?" >> neeson: yeah. ( laughs ) and i said, "i'm 6'4"." and she says, "be up here next thursday." ( laughs ) so i came up and did an audition. a very crude but passionate, desperate audition for her. and she says, "why do you want

to do it?" i said something like, "if i don't do it, i'll curl up and die." >> cooper: did you mean it? >> neeson: i did, kind of. it was a way out. >> cooper: he won his first movie role at 28, cast as a knight of the round table with helen mirren in the 1981 film "excalibur." >> neeson: i fell in love with helen mirren. oh, my god. can you imagine riding horses in shiny suits of armor, having sword fights and stuff, and you're falling in love with helen mirren? it doesn't get any better than that. >> cooper: mirren helped get him an agent, and his talent, good looks, and sexual magnetism won him hollywood's attention. over the years, he got small roles in big films, but he didn't get worldwide recognition until he was cast in "schindler's list" by director steven spielberg. >> neeson: their fingers polish the insides of shell metal casings. how else am i to polish the

inside of a 45-millimeter shell casing? you tell me. you tell me. >> cooper: he said that he wasn't looking for a movie star, but he was looking for somebody who women would... >> neeson: yes? >> cooper: ...that had a presence but that women would fall for. >> neeson: he didn't tell me that. but i think he certainly wanted someone without any cinematic baggage. >> cooper: liam neeson was nominated for an academy award for his role, but we were surprised to learn he isn't satisfied with his performance. >> neeson: this car, what good would have bought this car... >> neeson: i thought the film was quite extraordinary, except for myself. ( laughs ) >> cooper: really? >> neeson: yeah. >> cooper: are you always that critical of yourself? >> neeson: i was of that one. >> cooper: what did you not like about yourself though? >> neeson: i didn't own the part. i just... it wasn't... i didn't see enough of me in there. >> cooper: neeson says he does see himself in the action movies he's been making the past few years, though at times he seems almost embarrassed by his

success as an action star. >> neeson: i'm 61 years of age, man, you know? going around, fighting these guys, i feel a wee bit embarrassed, you know? and, of course, there's always a part of mind you think, "oh, i wish i was 37 years of age again," you know. >> i will find you, and i will kill you. >> cooper: he was 56 when "taken," the first action thriller he starred in, came out. it cost just $25 million to make, and earned more than $250 million at the box office. he was as surprised as anyone that it became a hit. >> neeson: i was convinced it was straight to video so it would go under the radar. >> cooper: why did you think it would go straight to video? >> neeson: it just seemed such a simple little story, i thought. there was nothing complex about it. it is a guy going... determined to find his daughter. "oh, yeah, okay. oh, look, he finds her." ( laughs ) and he kills all these guys.

>> cooper: in his newest action film, "non-stop," neeson plays an air marshal fighting terrorists aboard a plane. it's a physically demanding role, one few actors his age can pull off. neeson works hard to stay in shape, well aware there are only so many years left to make the big money of an action star. reports are, for "taken 3," you're going to make upwards of $50 million. you're laughing. >> neeson: yeah. ( laughs ) >> cooper: so, you're a working class guy from... you know, from northern ireland. does that feel real to you? >> neeson: no, it's kind of... it's... that's fantasy time, you know? it is. but it's great, you know, and it's... "it's not going to last," you know, so i'm milking it a little bit, you know? not in an ego way, but i'm just like... i'm saying, "okay, i... i'm comfortable with this."

>> cooper: the first "taken" film came out just two months before neeson's wife, natasha richardson, died. >> neeson: we got married here in this house, yeah, 20 years ago. >> cooper: at their farm house in upstate new york, he agreed to talk with us about natasha's death. they'd worked together on broadway in eugene o'neill's classic play "anna christie" in 1993. >> neeson: she was a radiant beauty, yeah, cascading hair, i remember. there was... that was very, very attractive. i'd never had that kind of an explosive chemistry situation with an actor or actress. >> cooper: you actually felt it on stage? >> neeson: yeah, she and i were like astaire and rogers. we had just this wonderful kind of... dance, free dance on stage every night, you know? >> natasha richardson: and i must say i don't care for your language. men i know don't pull that rough stuff when ladies are around. >> neeson: ladies... >> cooper: natasha was the daughter of british actress vanessa redgrave.

she continued her acting career while raising their two boys, michael and daniel, who were just 13 and 12 when she died. >> neeson: and she cared for everybody. she has a motherly instinct. and she'd make dinners for everyone and just looked... looked after us all, you know? >> cooper: i heard you can find the cloud in... even in a silver lining. >> neeson: yeah. >> cooper: and she was sort of... she would see the silver lining. >> neeson: yeah. i would always see the glass half empty. >> cooper: you do? >> neeson: she would see it half full. >> cooper: in march 2009, natasha was on a ski vacation in quebec, canada, with her oldest son, michael. she was coming down a beginners' slope on mont tremblant when she fell and hit her head. she wasn't wearing a helmet. an ambulance was called, but she reportedly turned down medical attention and was escorted to her hotel room by her ski instructor and a member of the ski patrol. neeson was in toronto filming a movie when she called him. >> neeson: i spoke to her and she said, "oh, darling, i've taken a tumble in the snow." that's how she described it.

>> cooper: do you think she had any idea about what could go wrong? >> neeson: no, of course not. who would, you know? >> cooper: what natasha didn't know was she was experiencing what doctors call the "lucid interval," a period when someone with a traumatic brain injury appears normal but blood is building in the brain, causing pressure which can be fatal. a second ambulance was called and natasha was taken to the local hospital, arriving more than three hours after the fall. neeson received a call from his assistant. >> neeson: and joanna said, "look, you better get up there straightaway." and then, i flew up immediately. when i was in the air, the pilot was told, "listen, divert your flight to montreal because she's going to be taken to the... the big hospital in montreal." i got a taxi to this hospital and this doctor, he looked all of 17, showed me her x-ray. and you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to see what was happening, you know? it was like a cartoon, you know, the brain's squashed up against the side of the... the skull, and it's... as the blood tries

to get a release, you know? >> cooper: was she conscious then? >> neeson: i was told she was brain dead. and seeing this x-ray, it was like, "wow," you know. but obviously, she was on life support and stuff. and i went in to her and told her i loved her, said, "sweetie, you're not coming back from this. you've banged your head. it's... i don't know if you can hear me, but that's... this is what's gone down. and we're bringing you back to new york. all your family and friends will come." and that was more or less it, you know? >> cooper: but at that point, you didn't think that there was any hope? >> neeson: she and i had made a pact-- if any of us got into a vegetative state that we'd pull the plug, you know? so, when i saw her and saw all

these tubes and stuff, that was my immediate thought, was, "okay, these... these tubes have to go. she's gone." but donated three of her organs, so she's keeping three people alive at the moment-- yeah, her heart, her kidneys, and her liver. >> cooper: that must give you a good feeling. >> neeson: it's terrific. yeah. it's terrific. and i think she would be very thrilled and pleased by that, too, actually. >> cooper: did it seem real to you? >> neeson: it was never real. it still kind of isn't. there's... there's periods now in our new york residence when i hear the door opening-- especially the first couple of years-- she would always drop the keys in the... on the table, say, "hello?" so anytime i hear that door opening, i still think i'm going to hear her, you know. and then it's... grief's like... it hits you. it's like a wave. you just get this profound feeling of... instability. you feel like a three-legged table. just suddenly, you just... the earth isn't stable anymore.

and then, it passes and becomes more infrequent, but i still get it sometimes. >> cooper: what is it like to suddenly be a single parent raising two teenagers? >> neeson: listen, i'm okay, you know. it could have been a hell of a lot worse. i'm name dropping for a second. bono is a pal and he came around to have a dinner. and i remember he was sitting beside michael, and just out of the blue, he said, "what age are you, michael?" he said... michael said, "13." and he said, "yeah, that's the age i was when i lost my mum." that was it. and it... i could have kissed him for it. he was, like, saying, "you know, i lost my mom at this age and i'm doing okay. and you will do okay, too," you know. >> cooper: he went back to work just days after natasha's funeral, and he's worked nearly non-stop ever since. >> neeson: i'm not good with... without work. i just don't... i wallow too much, you know?

and i... i just didn't want to... especially for my boys, to be... seem to be wallowing in sadness or depression or... >> cooper: having a schedule, having... having some place to go, having... >> neeson: having a schedule, yeah, yeah. >> cooper: that helps? >> neeson: that helps a great deal. >> cooper: he's made more than 20 movies since natasha's death. what do you think she would make of your... >> neeson: what, "taken 5"...? >> cooper: well, no... ( laughter ) >> neeson: ...that i'm about to do? >> cooper: no, your action... your... your status now. i mean, the money you're making, the... the clout you probably have in hollywood. >> neeson: she'd be very... she'd be very chuffed at that. she would... yeah, she would. >> cooper: "chuffed" is a good thing? >> neeson: chuffed is a good thing, yeah. >> cooper: she'd be tickled by it? >> neeson: she'd be tickled. thank you, yeah. >> liam neeson speaks with anderson cooper about facing grief and living with it. go to 60minutesovertime.com. sponsored by viagra. [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you've learned a thing or two.

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