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 wasnt that he could copy a rembrandt or a cezanne; its that he imagined paintings they might have done, even shot fake photographs to document them. See that woman in front of those paintings . Shes his wife and partner in crime. Cooper you may know liam neeson for his oscarnominated role in schindlers list. But at the improbable age of 61, hes become one of hollywoods highest paid action stars. Reports are, for taken 3, youre going to make upwards of 50 million. Youre laughing. Yeah. laughs pelley tonight, neeson reveals why his hardearned success is bittersweet, and the grief he feels over the death of his wife, natasha richardson. Griefs like. It hits you. Its like a wave. Im steve kroft. Im lesley stahl. Im morley safer. Im bob simon. Im Anderson Cooper. Im scott pelley. Those stories tonight on 60 minutes. Im beth. And im michelle. And we own the paper cottage. Its 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 didnt get into business to spend time managing receipts, thats 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. So i got the new nokia lumia icon. Its got 1080p video, three times zoom, and a twentymegapixel sensor. Its got the brightest display, so i can see what im shooting even outdoors, and 4 mics that capture incredible sound. Plus, it has apps like vine and free cloud storage. My new lumia icon is so great, even our wipeouts look amazing. Honestly, i want to see you be brave 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, ill 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 thats huge to be considerate. Thats what its 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 dont 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. Hes the type youd 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. Theres 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, theyd 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. 911. What is your emergency . This is Chardon High School calling. We need assistance right now. Theres a student with a gun. Pelley at 7 35, the call came from the principals office. There, teacher tim armelli heard shots down the hall. Tim armelli you knew that the shooting was what it was. Youre. Your heads telling you theres shots; your hearts not believing it. You. You freeze for a moment. You dont think youre 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 17yearold boy who went by the initials t. J. Was shooting to kill. Hed 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 its 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. Kids 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 thats when i went down. Pelley what do you remember seeing or hearing of coach hall in those moments . Walczak he said, as hes running by me, he said hang tight. Ill 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 wasnt 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, im. Im 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 didnt do that . Armelli he didnt. He acted as a father, you know, he acted as someone that was those kids parents while theyre away from home. Pelley theres 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 thats all i did. I just reacted. Nate mueller as soon as youre 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 harms 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 wasnt 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 im okay to his wife, ashley, but she didnt know what hed 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 couldve been shot, and that wouldve 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 cant 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 cant sit here and tell you every school thats 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. Thats 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 dont know why this happened. I only wish i could have done more. Im 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 theyll never have another birthday. Pelley frank, no one could ask you to do more than you did. Frank hall yeah, i know. Its 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 werent here. I wish i was never on tv. Id 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 couldnt finish the day. It wasnt 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 thats 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 halls new team at lakeside high. Meeks he told us hes not only going to make us great Football Players, but hes going to make us men. Pelley sounds to me like, with coach hall, its 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 its that important. Its like. Pelley wait, the. The players who didnt talk back to the teacher also had to go and apologize . Meeks yeah, yeah. Pelley what was the point of that . Meeks its just based upon, like, if one of us messes up, we all mess up, like family, you know. Damondre haywood its to show that weve 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. Couldnt 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 didnt 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 im 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. Cbs money watch updates sponsored by glor good evening. Netflix has agreed to pay comcast to make sure its content streams without interruption. Samsung today introduced two new smart watches with a tyson operating system, not android. And prepaid debit cards have been approved for use in nevada slot machines. Im jeff glor, cbs news. [ cellphone dings ] [ nephew ] hi heath. I cant wait to see you win gold bye. [ male announcer ] there when you need it. At t. The nations most reliable 4g lte network. [ male announcer ] over time, youve come to realize. Its less of a race. And more of a journey. So carry on. With an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan. Insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. 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 didnt 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; hes painting something he thinks ernst might have done if hed 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 couldnt you do . Beltracchi maybe bellini. laughs bellinis really difficult. Simon he has sold his forgeries, of course, but says he can still see some of them because theyre 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 thats quite an accomplishment. Beltracchi yeah. Simon you might have seen his stuff in new yorks 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. Beltracchis forgeries have also made it into art books listing the best paintings of the 20th century, and have been sold in many of the worlds top auction houses. I have seen beltracchi forgeries on the cover of christies catalogues. Jeff taylor yes, yes. Simon thats pretty good, isnt 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, werent 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 its a collection of my grandfather, it was okay. Simon it was okay, but it wasnt true. Helene no, it wasnt 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 were doing here. Tell me what were looking for. Beltracchi were looking for a painting like that, because we need something that is 1919, 1910. See, thats 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, werent you . Beltracchi yeah, yeah, sure. Simon and hearing you talk, you were really good criminals. Beltracchi yeah, yeah. Helene yeah. Beltracchi yeah, its 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 prewar 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 youve 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 dont think youre translating correctly. This isnt a boat, its 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 didnt include on the tube that it contained traces of a pigment called titanium white. That form of titanium white wasnt available when ernst would have painted these works, and beltracchis high ride was over. Jamie martin, one of the worlds 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 ive seen in my career. Very convincing, very well done. Simon and what youre 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 paintings 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 thats required, smaller than the width of a human hair. Simon he uses what is called raman spectroscopy, which can help detect historically inaccurate pigments. Thats what cut beltracchis 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, youve really upset the art world, havent 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, thats all. Simon and with all the legal problems they now have, many experts are very hesitant to use their expertise. Taylor i think theyre 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 its so risky that a lot of authentication boards have shut down. Theres 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 oconnor is the worlds 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 oconnor someone comes to me about once a week. I just let it go by. Simon let it go by . Oconnor in other words, ignore it. Simon im 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 isnt, youre not going to tell me, this is not a pollock . Oconnor 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 . Oconnor there is nowhere to go. Simon when collectors do have suspicions about their paintings, one of the few places they can go is Jamie Martins lab. Ballpark figure if youve examined, say, 100 paintings, how many of them are fakes . Martin i would say probably 98 are fake. Simon no kidding. Martin thats 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 well be uncovering fake beltracchis for years to come . Taylor absolutely. Theres 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 its one of the best max ernsts hes 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. Hes 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, uhoh, im 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 oneonone review. To take skincare to the next level, youre ready for roc®. Roc® multi correxion has an exclusive 5 in 1 formula. Its clinically proven to hydrate dryness, illuminate dullness, lift sagging, diminish the look of dark spots, and smooth the appearance of wrinkles. Together these 5 elements create ageless looking skin. Roc® multi correxion 5 in 1. Its High Performance skincare™ only from roc®. With an ultrathin coating and fast absorbing advil ion core™ technology, it stops pain before it gets worse. Nothing works faster. New fast acting advil. Look for it in the white box. Of fast is good and faster is better. Good thing walgreens gets you in and out in no time. So you get the relief you need with new fast acting advil. At the corner of happy and healthy. [poof ] [beep] [clicks mouse] nice office. How you doing . Good. Automatic discounts the moment you sign up. , anncr at jennieo we heard of a place in iowa where every thursday people ride 10 miles for tacos. We thought wed show up and surprise them with a better kind of taco made with jennieo 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 its time for a better taco. The tacos tonight were pretty much perfect. Make the switch. Look for jennieo 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 Spielbergs movie schindlers list, or in dozens of other classical dramatic roles. But today, hes best known as one of the most soughtafter action stars in the movie business. Neesons success is bittersweet. Five years ago, his wife, the actress natasha richardson, fell while skiing and died from a traumatic brain injury. Hes 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 theres my house down there our house, i should say. Cooper which one . That one right there . Neeson yeah. Its 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. Doesnt suffer fools gladly. Could see right through you. Cooper and youre 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. Theres always a gorgeous girl. laughs cooper thats 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. Ill 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, im 64. 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 dont do it, ill 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 youre falling in love with helen mirren . It doesnt get any better than that. Cooper mirren helped get him an agent, and his talent, good looks, and sexual magnetism won him hollywoods attention. Over the years, he got small roles in big films, but he didnt get worldwide recognition until he was cast in schindlers 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 45millimeter shell casing . You tell me. You tell me. Cooper he said that he wasnt 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 didnt 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 isnt 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 didnt own the part. I just. It wasnt. I didnt see enough of me in there. Cooper neeson says he does see himself in the action movies hes been making the past few years, though at times he seems almost embarrassed by his success as an action star. Neeson im 61 years of age, man, you know . Going around, fighting these guys, i feel a wee bit embarrassed, you know . And, of course, theres 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, nonstop, neeson plays an air marshal fighting terrorists aboard a plane. Its 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, youre going to make upwards of 50 million. Youre laughing. Neeson yeah. laughs cooper so, youre a working class guy from. You know, from northern ireland. Does that feel real to you . Neeson no, its kind of. Its. Thats fantasy time, you know . It is. But its great, you know, and its. Its not going to last, you know, so im milking it a little bit, you know . Not in an ego way, but im just like. Im saying, okay, i. Im comfortable with this. Cooper the first taken film came out just two months before neesons 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 natashas death. Theyd worked together on broadway in Eugene Oneills classic play Anna Christie in 1993. Neeson she was a radiant beauty, yeah, cascading hair, i remember. There was. That was very, very attractive. Id 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 dont care for your language. Men i know dont 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 shed 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 wasnt 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, ive taken a tumble in the snow. Thats 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 didnt 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 shes 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 xray. And you didnt need to be a Rocket Scientist to see what was happening, you know . It was like a cartoon, you know, the brains squashed up against the side of the. The skull, and its. 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 xray, 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, youre not coming back from this. Youve banged your head. Its. I dont know if you can hear me, but thats. This is whats gone down. And were 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 didnt think that there was any hope . Neeson she and i had made a pact if any of us got into a vegetative state that wed 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. Shes gone. But donated three of her organs, so shes keeping three people alive at the moment yeah, her heart, her kidneys, and her liver. Cooper that must give you a good feeling. Neeson its terrific. Yeah. Its 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 isnt. Theres. Theres 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 im going to hear her, you know. And then its. Griefs like. It hits you. Its like a wave. You just get this profound feeling of. Instability. You feel like a threelegged table. Just suddenly, you just. The earth isnt 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, im okay, you know. It could have been a hell of a lot worse. Im 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, thats 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 im doing okay. And you will do okay, too, you know. Cooper he went back to work just days after natashas funeral, and hes worked nearly nonstop ever since. Neeson im not good with. Without work. I just dont. I wallow too much, you know . And i. I just didnt 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 hes made more than 20 movies since natashas death. What do you think she would make of your. Neeson what, taken 5. . Cooper well, no. laughter neeson . That im about to do . Cooper no, your action. Your. Your status now. I mean, the money youre making, the. The clout you probably have in hollywood. Neeson shed be very. Shed be very chuffed at that. She would. Yeah, she would. Cooper chuffed is a good thing . Neeson chuffed is a good thing, yeah. Cooper shed be tickled by it . Neeson shed 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 ] youve reached the age where youve learned a thing or two. [ metal clanks ] this is the age of knowing what youre made of. So why let erectile dysfunction get in your way . [ gears whirring ] talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. To avoid longterm injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. Stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. [ cellphone beeps ] this is the age of taking action. Viagra. Talk to your doctor. This is the age of taking action. Ameriprise asked people a simple question can you keep your lifestyle in retirement . I dont want to think about the alternative. I dont even know how to answer that. I mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. I try not to worry, but you worry. What happens when your paychecks stop . Because everyone has retirement questions. Ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. To get the real answers you need. Start building your confident retirement today. [ male announcer ] spring is calling. Get 10 off all instock composite decking at lowes. Pelley in the mail this week, comments on our story about the overbudget, behind schedule, troubleprone f35 joint Strike Fighter plane. Some viewers found David Martins report not tough enough on the program. Although there were some token questions about the necessity of the multibillion dollar f35, the piece was very much a puff piece for u. S. Military industrial overkill. The storys list of the f35s flaws alarmed other writers. This may be the edsel of the military only difference ford ate the edsel losses. We taxpayers are eating the f35 boondoggle. Why are we building 2,400 of these weapons . Im scott pelley. Well be back next week with another edition of 60 minutes. Tomorrow, be sure to watch cbs this morning, and ill see you on the cbs evening news. Aflac aflac got em. Yeah, hes clean, boss. Now listen to me, duck. I have an associate that met with, uh, an unfortunate accident. While hes been incapacitated, somebodys been paying him cash. Now, is this your doing . Aflac . Now, if i met with some such accident, would aflac pay me . Nice. This is your stop. [ male announcer ] find out what aflac can do for you and your family. Aflac . [ male announcer ]. At aflac. Com. For you and your family. Aflac . Im bethand im michelle. And we own the paper cottage. Its 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 didnt get into business to spend time managing receipts, thats 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. Phil the solid gold sound of bruin marching band has been heard here in california 90 years. An today, this is the start of an of the nture for 11 most memorable teams who are their amazingrite race history. Jet and cord brothers from klahoma. Cord, dont hit that. Oh, my gravy, i cant tell you. The last time we did the i got married the day before we took off