'Parent Trap' cast pay tribute to 'elegant' Natasha Richardson during virtual reunion

The cast of classic family comedy The Parent Trap paid tribute to late star Natasha Richardson during a virtual reunion.

The beloved 1998 film starred Lindsay Lohan in her breakout role as twin girls who meet at a summer camp and realise their parents separated shortly after they were born and kept them a secret from each other.

Dennis Quaid played the girls’ father while Richardson, who died aged 45 in 2009 after suffering head injuries in a skiing accident, played their mother.

Quaid, 66, and Lohan, 34, joined The Parent Trap’s director, writer and their co-stars for a charity virtual reunion.

Lohan paid tribute to her on-screen mother and said: “Natasha had such an elegance and grace and she was so maternal to me.”

An emotional Quaid described Richardson as “just somebody so giving and so glad to be there and transmitted that joy. It made everything that much better”.

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Elaine Hendrix starred in The Parent Trap as the much-despised Meredith Blake, who hates children and plans to marry Quaid’s character for his money.

She said Richardson would “swoon” on set while discussing her husband, the actor Liam Neeson, and their sons Michael and Daniel.

Hendrix said: “She would come into the hair and makeup trailer and she would literally swoon over talking about Liam and her kids. She would call him ‘my Liam’.

“And she really seemed to have it all, which to me made what happened even more heartbreaking.”

The Parent Trap was both a critical and commercial success and made a star out of Lohan, who was 12 when the film was released.

Charles Shyer, the film’s writer, revealed several child stars – some of whom went on to be Hollywood actors – auditioned for the role but during her screen test with Quaid it quickly became apparent Lohan was right for the part.

He said: “I would say within two or three minutes, we both knew she had the part. You couldn’t beat her, she was just amazing.”

The Parent Trap director Nancy Meyers said Lohan had a star quality that belied her age.

She said: “Putting aside how adorable she looked, she had that quality that just sort of leapt up at you and pulled you in.

“And I think, to be a movie star, to be the lead of the movie, you need to have that connection with the camera that’s very present.”

The Parent Trap virtual reunion was hosted by TV journalist Katie Couric in aid of World Central Kitchen.

The Parent Trap is streaming on Disney+.