Sweet Jane 61 Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, naked in bed with sleeping pills nearby, police said. The Australian-born actor was 28. It wasn't immediately clear if Ledger had committed suicide. He had an appointment for a massage at a residence in the tony neighborhood of SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m. A large crowd of paparazzi and gawkers gathered outside the building on an upscale block. Ledger's body was still inside, and several police officers guarded the door. The medical examiner's office planned an autopsy Wednesday, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said. While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year. Ledger most recently appeared in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress. Ledger had finished filming his role as the Joker this year in "The Dark Knight," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins." He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball." He also played a heroin addict in the 2006 Australian film "Candy." Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004. Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat." After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and co-starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew." Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like. "It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, 'You're crazy,' my parents were like, 'Come on, you have to eat.'" His movie career caught on anyway, culminating with his Academy Award nomination opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback." "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's performance as the Joker would be wildly different than Jack Nicholson's memorable turn in 1989's "Batman." "It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic." This is sad, sad news. I am shocked and just sitting here wondering why this might of happened, he was such a wonderful talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 I've never consciously watched a movie with him and I've never been interested in him, but I'm quite shocked... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonJonSurfer Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Watch "A Knight's Tale". I really love that movie and it is relatively unknown (obscure?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skybluesky Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 The saddest part is that he left behind a two year old daughter who will never know him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLizard Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 What a shame, such a loss of talent, and his career was about to enter its most interesting phase. And he had a daughter... wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Watch "A Knight's Tale". I really love that movie and it is relatively unknown (obscure?) it is? well, I like it too... and there aren't many medieval-themed movies with such a soundtrack (Queen, Bowie, AC/DC, etc) and I, too, was quite surprised when I heard of the news this morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvish Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 The saddest part is that he left behind a two year old daughter who will never know him. This is, indeed, the saddest part Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earth-Angel Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 That is really sad I heard about it this morning. He seemed like one of the few actors who hasn't been to rehab/a womaniser/drugged up. And so sad for the little one and his wife left behind. I read he was found on the floor at the foot of his bed, but there was no evidence of overdosing or anything more than his prescribed medication on the scene. Sometimes these things just happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Shocking and sad. Like Sue said, you never heard of him getting drunk or going to rehab, so this was unexpected. My condolences go out to his family, especially his little girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_s_1987 Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 At 28 years of age, he was already possibly the most accomplished Western Australian actor ever. Who knows what else he could have achieved. Very sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Jane 61 Posted January 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Tribute I found this on youtube, I have been watching a few tributes and this one is one of the best I have seen. I am a big fan and have seen most of his movies, he was an amazing talent who captured whatever role he was playing and pulled you in. I feel deep sadness over his death and my heart goes out to his little girl and all of his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Hundreds of thousands of people die every day from wars, famine, and ravaging diseases - and it makes me wonder how this one death takes precedent above all else in the news media. I could see this being the headliner in a movie magazine, but not in the national press. That's what I find shocking about this incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Jane 61 Posted January 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 And I don't think that anyone who posted in this thread thinks that people dying everyday isn't important. Heath Ledger was an actor who touched many people all over the world and his death was a shock and sad. I was a fan of his long before Brokeback Mountain, but when I saw that movie and how beautiful the story was and his acting in the film was amazing, I realized what a great talent he was, and looked forward to more of his work. Did his death deserve national attention, yes as does every other person in the entertainment world that has died. They touch our lives and we care, nothing wrong with that, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 I didn't mention any member in this thread. I said it's shocking how one person's death takes precedent over much larger conflicts. His death received a lot of misdirected attention. Heck, even in the world of art, it's excessive to dedicate days and days and days of news coverage to a modestly-talented performer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_s_1987 Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 I don't see how that can even be considered a problem when compared with how much news coverage Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and the like are getting. They aren't even dead yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Jane 61 Posted January 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 A person died who many people thought was talented, nothing wrong with feeling sad about it, nothing at all. Too much media attention, yes, let the man rest in peace now. Guess I fall into that shallow category since I read, huh?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonJonSurfer Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Just as a general rule, if a young, famous person dies mysteriously..in New York City....the media will be on it for months....it's in all the supermarket rags already....oh yeah, mix in an Olson twin, a massage, and strange cell phone calls and you can add additional legs to this beast...it won't go away for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Just as a general rule, if a young, famous person dies mysteriously..in New York City....the media will be on it for months....it's in all the supermarket rags already....oh yeah, mix in an Olson twin, a massage, and strange cell phone calls and you can add additional legs to this beast...it won't go away for a long time. That's the thing. If anything, I think the news media did a great disservice to the man's loved ones by wheeling out all the unnecessary personal details. I mean, some reporters were talking about "waiting for the coroner's report" and I was thinking, "How bleedingly morbid can you be?" Was it foul play? If not, then let him rest in PEACE. Show clips of his movies not the same video footage of him in a body bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonJonSurfer Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 "all the news that fits the print" is the modern motto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenacious_Peaches Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 This is what Star Jones had to say about the situation last week. I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with her. "Since we learned of actor Heath Ledger's untimely death on Tuesday afternoon, the basic fact is that until additional tests have been conducted, the autopsy is incomplete and inconclusive as to why this 28-year-old man died. That's what we know. Let's get to what we don't know: his death was a tragic accident, or something to the contrary. Until we know for sure, I think the media should just shut their mouths and stop all the speculation that's been running rampant. This man has a two-year-old daughter. His family is going through the worst time in their lives. Their hearts are broken, they're numb, they can't understand what's going on right now. Michelle Williams is trying to figure out how to explain to their little girl that she will never see her daddy again. It's heartbreaking, tragic, and it's being used to fuel our never ceasing desire to eavesdrop on the lives of others. Please let them grieve in privacy and dignity for a few days at least for goodness sake. As far as I'm aware, Heath Ledger never did anything but conduct himself in the most respectful and charismatic way. He gave us exactly what we asked of him -- good entertainment and our $12 worth when we sat our butts in the seats of a movie theater. He made his living in the entertainment business, but he purposely chose not to make his life that way. He was by all accounts a normal guy in every way, a regular dad who was often photographed walking down the streets of Manhattan or Brooklyn with his daughter, Matilda. The scene outside his apartment on the night Ledger died made me sick to my stomach. People gawking and waiting around for a body bag to be removed. I have been at similar scenes in my work as an assistant district attorney. And let me tell you, if you don't have to be there, you wouldn't want to be. It's morbid. Someone who was loved is in that bag... and trust me it takes more than a minute to get used to that. And when actress Michelle Williams and her daughter arrived home in Brooklyn, the scene was just as bad. Instead of being allowed to enter her home in privacy, she had to endure the flashbulbs of the paparazzi waiting to snap the money shot. How she explained that to her child through her grief is something I hope never to experience. Might I suggest that we in the media, instead of reporting on the dead based on gossip, rumor, innuendo and anonymous sources, choose to honor this man's memory based on his talent and the good taste we all should be exercising. My heart goes out to the family of Heath Ledger." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miamisammy29 Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Hey, Star Jones said something intelligent and unbiased?! Now, THAT calls for more media attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Joe Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 Star Jones? Star Jones? She also feels we should refer to OJ as innocent if I'm not mistaken. Star F _ _ _in' Jones?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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