December 17, 2003 -- The badly burned 10-year-old niece of Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden died yesterday - two days after the little girl's 6-year-old brother perished in a blaze that swept their Queens apartment.
Rebecca Harden, 37, the youngsters' mother - and the actress' former sister-in-law - was in very critical condition yesterday at Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens.
A burning candle touched off the fire in a couch at their apartment in a three-story brick row house at 19-18 21st Road in Astoria on Sunday, killing Sander Harden.
The boy died of smoke inhalation, city Medical Examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said yesterday.
Audrey Harden was taken to the New York Hospital burn center, where she lost her fight for life.
The house's owners have been issued three violations, said Buildings Department spokeswoman Ilyse Fink.
They face the possibility of thousands of dollars in fines. Records dating to 1937 indicate the building had three legal apartments, one on the first floor and two on the second.
But "we found two additional illegal apartments in the basement, and the attic was illegally converted to bedrooms used in conjunction with the apartment at the second-floor rear," Fink said.
The Hardens lived in that rear "duplex" - and firefighters found all three in the attic area.
Rebecca and her son were found in a bathroom and Audrey was near a window.
Neighbors said Sander and his sister had been happily playing outside in the snow and then went back inside just before the fire began.
At 4:56 p.m. their mother came running down the stairs and told neighbors to call 911 and then raced back upstairs.
Rebecca Harden's ex-husband, Thaddeus Harden, is Marcia Harden's brother. By coincidence, the actress' husband is named Thaddaeus.
The couple has a 5-year-old daughter, Eulala.
Harden, who is currently starring in "Mona Lisa Smile," won a 2001 Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for "Pollock."
