Heath Ledger Has Died!!

[SlayerLV]

From Eonline

On a day like this two years ago, Heath Ledger was an Oscar nominee. On Tuesday, the 28-year-old leading man was found dead in his Manhattan home.

Police said that drugs were found on scene and may have played a role in his death.

Ledger, whose tutelage as a Hollywood star came as he worked alongside the likes of Mel Gibson and Billy Bob Thornton, is a star in this coming summer's new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Ledger plays the Joker to Christian Bale's Caped Crusader.

In 2006, Ledger earned what would be his first and last Oscar nomination for playing the emotionally tormented gay rancher in Ang Lee's breakthrough drama, Brokeback Mountain.

Other key credits included: Monster's Ball; The Patriot; and, his breakout hit, 10 Things I Hate About You.

With Brokeback costar Michelle Williams, the Australian-born Ledger was the father of a daughter. Ledger and Williams ended their romantic relationship last year.


*This is such a shock to me!! I love Heath as an actor and I just don't understand how this could happen, I mean he has the new Batman movie coming out in July and he has a daughter. As more news comes out please post it here.

[naturallybuffbuff]

Oh nooo. Poorr HeathBar

[buffyfannumerouno]

This is such tragic news. He was such an amazing actor. I was really looking forward to seeing him in more after the new Batman movie.

[Thorn Of Deucalion]

Sad new ....

[sunnydale]

I was so shocked to hear this. He was such a talented actor. I remember seeing him for the first time in '10 Things I Hate About You.' Such a sad loss

[Jess]

So sad I feel bad for his daughter, she'll never get to know him.

I heard that the drugs that were found near his bed were sleeping pills. It could have been a different problem other than drugs. I just don't see him as the type to be involved in that.

I still can't believe he's gone. I love his movies. My favorites being A Knight's Tale & Casanova.

RIP Heath

-Jess

[SlayerLV]

Here's the newest from Aol.com

No Obvious Indication of Suicide, Police Say; Acclaimed Actor Was 28
By TOM HAYS, AP
Posted: 2008-01-22 23:00:03
Filed Under: Star Obituaries, Movie News
NEW YORK (Jan. 22) - Heath Ledger, the talented 28-year-old actor who gravitated toward dark, brooding roles that defied his leading-man looks, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment, facedown at the foot of his bed with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said.
There was no obvious indication that the Australian-born Ledger had committed suicide, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the SoHo apartment that is believed to be the home of the "Brokeback Mountain" actor, Browne said. The massage therapist and a housekeeper found his naked body at about 3:30 p.m. They tried to revive him, but he was already dead.

"We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident," Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement Tuesday night. "This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family's privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known."

Outside the building on an upscale street, paparazzi and gawkers gathered, and several police officers put up barricades to control the crowd of about 300. Onlookers craned their necks as officers brought out a black bodybag on a gurney, took it across the sidewalk and put it into a medical examiner's office van.

As the door opened, bystanders snapped pictures with camera phones, rolled video and said, "He's coming out!"

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was an award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on big-money parts. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain." During filming, he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, now 2-year-old Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

"I feel good about dying because I feel alive through her," Ledger said of his daughter in a recent interview with WJW FOX in Cleveland.
It was a shocking and unforeseen conclusion for one of Hollywood's bright young stars. Though his leading man looks propelled him to early stardom in films like "10 Things I Hate About You" and "A Knight's Tale," his career took a notable turn toward dramatic and brooding roles with 2001's "Monster's Ball."

"I had such great hope for him," said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's vengeful father in "The Patriot," in a statement. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

In the Australian city of Perth, where Ledger was born and raised, his father called the actor's death "tragic, untimely and accidental."

"He was (a) down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual, extremely inspirational to many," Kim Ledger said, reading from a prepared statement. "Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life."

Ledger eschewed Hollywood glitz in favor of a bohemian life in Brooklyn, where he became one of the borough's most famous residents. "Brokeback" would be his breakthrough role, establishing him as one of his generation's finest talents and an actor willing to take risks.
Ledger began to gravitate more toward independent fare, including Lasse Hallstrom's "Casanova" and Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm," both released in 2005. His 2006 film "Candy" now seems destined to have an especially haunting quality: In a particularly realistic performance, Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish.

But Ledger's most recent choices were arguably the boldest yet: He costarred 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.

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn't be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson's Joker. Ledger's version of the "Batman" villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be more depraved and dark.

Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's.

"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."
Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the newspaper. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which worked for only an hour, the paper said.

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he used to shop at a home and children's store. Michelle Vella, an employee there, said she had frequently seen Ledger with his daughter — carrying the toddler on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

"It's so sad. They were really close," Vella said. "He's a very down-to-earth guy and an amazing father."

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 to a mining engineer and a French teacher and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 in 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 starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You." 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.'"

Associated Press Writer Sara Kugler contributed to this report.


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

And the newest from Eonline

Many of those approached to comment on the sudden death of Heath Ledger were too distraught to speak. But all are in agreement on the magnitude of the loss.

Perhaps avoiding the obvious questions awaiting her, Naomi Watts has canceled all her press appearances for Wednesday at the Sundance Film Festival, where her dark comedy Funny Games is slated to premiere at midnight.

She and Ledger met on the set of Ned Kelly in 2002 and dated for nearly two years. The late actor accompanied her to the Academy Awards in 2004, when she was up for Best Actress for 21 Grams.

A rep for Michelle Williams, Ledger's ex-fiancée and mother of his two-year-old daughter, Matilda, declined immediate comment.

"We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident," Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement Tuesday night. "This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family's privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known."

Grief will no doubt be expressed in different ways as the details surrounding Ledger's death continue to unfold.

Ledger, who was known more as a teen heartthrob before his breakout, Oscar-nominated turn in Brokeback Mountain three years ago, was found dead Tuesday morning in his New York apartment. The cause of death is unknown, but police are speculating that drugs were involved because sleeping pills were found near the body. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

"The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news," Warner Bros. execs Alan Horn and Jeffery Robinov said of the 28-year-old Aussie, who had recently wrapped the studio's Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, and was already winning raves for his reincarnation of the Joker.

"The entertainment community has lost an enormous talent. Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person. Our hearts go out to his family and friends."

I'm Not There director Todd Haynes, who helmed Ledger's performance as one of six incarnations of Bob Dylan in the unconventional biopic, called his death "an unimaginable tragedy.

"Heath was a true artist, a deeply sensitive man, an explorer, gifted and wise beyond his years. There is no finer person on this earth,” the filmmaker said in a statement.

James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features and a producer on Brokeback Mountain, got to know the actor during the filming of Ang Lee's at-first controversial—and then merely critically acclaimed—romance epic.

"Heath Ledger was a courageous actor, and a great soul," Schamus said in a statement. "He gave us the gift of sharing his fearless and beautiful love—of his craft, and of all who worked with him—for which all of us will be eternally grateful."

Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan shared similar thoughts about Ledger's acting prowess earlier this month, saying the young thespian wasn't afraid to fully immerse himself in a challenging role.

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said of Ledger's role as the Joker, the modern-day incarnation of which was originated by Jack Nicholson in 1989. "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."

And the role apparently took its toll on Ledger, whose character the actor described as a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the New York Times in November. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said that he took two Ambien to sleep, but that they only worked for about an hour.

"I had such great hope for him," Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's father in the Revolutionary War drama The Patriot, said in a statement to E! News. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family."

Shortly after news of Ledger's death broke, hundreds of people swarmed around the SoHo apartment building where he lived, both people from the neighborhood and fans who immediately hopped on the subway to visit the scene.

[Browncoat]

I must say i was shocked to hear this (unlike hearing about brad renfro's death last week). He was so young. He would have been one of the great actors of our time. What a pity- plus his poor kid.

edit: can i just add how sick it is that people took photos of his body being wheeled out. Why do we need to see that?

[Jess]

I totally agree with you Laura. I saw the video of his body being wheeled out on Nightline tonight. It was really uncalled for and it really made me upset (both angry and emotional). That's such a shame that they did that. Give him some respect, or is that too much to ask of the media?

[ba|1]

*Moderator Note* This should be at the Enquire

I couldnt belive it when I was reading it on MSN news this morning...

I found that video on youtube... and im kinda shocked about all those cameras started flashing when his body was rolled out....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdn_ZWqHJ9w

I really hope there wont come any more drugs rumors.. may he rest in peace

[Afer]

This is such sad, devastating news. So young.
My thoughts go out to his loved ones.
Gone, but certainly not forgotten.

[VampSpike]

I couldn't and still can't believe this has happened.
So sad.

[Rogue]

Very sad. I remember him being in the TV series "Roar."

Yes, the media are like rabid wolves when it comes to getting the latest scoop. It would be interesting if there was some kind of law enacted that prevented paparazzi from getting within a certain distance of celebrities. Because common decency sure is out the window.

[prophecygirl]

I can't believe its happened either.

He's such a brilliant actor.

[Fireball]

This is such sad news, R.I.P Heath.

He will never be forgotten, he was an amazing actor, such sad sad news.

R.I.P

[SlayerLV]

Jan 23, 2008 6:36:29 GMT -5 ba|1 said:

*Moderator Note* This should be at the Enquire

I know this should be in the enquire section but I feel as if this is too big of news not to go on the main page of entertainment.

[jommy4eva]

i saw this and got sad. he was such an grreat actor. and i heard that christians are going to protest on his funeral because of his part in brokeback mountain.

[Jess]

That's terrible if they do that. I'm a Christian and I see nothing wrong with playing the role of a gay man in a movie. That is such crap. They should let him be. If they do that they should be ashamed of themselves.

[ba|1]

Jan 23, 2008 22:55:49 GMT -5 SlayerLV said:

Jan 23, 2008 6:36:29 GMT -5 ba|1 said:

*Moderator Note* This should be at the Enquire

I know this should be in the enquire section but I feel as if this is too big of news not to go on the main page of entertainment.

*Moderator Note* I see and youre right , but the problem is I cant move/lock/take care of any of those threads are posted on this section...and the Enquire is the *new* place where this stuff belongs.. so please for future (talking to everyone) post there...

I really cant belive that the going to protest oh his funeral because he was actor in that movie... Thats just not right...
It only teaches you the only thing you should belive in is yourself

[Jess]

^I did post this topic in the Enquire section, but SlayerLV posted this one 3 minutes sooner than I did. We must have been writing it at the same time because I didn't see her topic until after I posted mine.