Australian actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his downtown Manhattan residence today, drugs are presumed to have played a role in his death. Ledger starred in the recently completed “Batman: The Dark Knight“, he plays the villain the Joker. It is not known at this time if his death will postpone the movie’s scheduled release.
A police spokesman said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the apartment. The housekeeper went to tell Ledger the masseuse had arrived and found him dead Tuesday afternoon.
Ledger is probably best known for his Oscar nominated role in “Brokeback Mountain“. He was only 28.
Posted on January 22nd, 2008 by Leo
Filed under: Lucid Thoughts
Tragic death of a great Australian actor.
Read about that too…shocking considering he was so young.
It was so sudden, I thought it was a joke on the front of Digg when I came across it.
It came by total surprise this morning when my home page (Australian Newspaper) loaded … needless to say being an Australian myself and still having lots of connections back there, this has been the only talk for the day. Such a waste.
Really sad. And the way all the blogs were reporting on it (often incorrectly) just made the whole thing even more disturbing and upsetting.
This is definitely a weird one. Young actor with a hot new movie coming out. Pills strewn about his apartment. Sounds like a movie plot almost.
What I found so weird about this sad incident was the fact that there were no early indications that anything was wrong. Celebrities usually are subject to rumors or paparazzi photos depicting them in bad situations (i.e., in/out of rehab, drunken/drugged nights out, etc.). There were no signs that things were really bad in Ledger’s life especially after making The Dark Knight, easily the most anticipated film of the year.
Well, there was thtat thing about him stinking up the subway. Poor hygiene might have been an early indicator that something is messed up?
When I was coming out of a movie I saw the poster that you have pictured above and it really caught me off guard. His death adds a whole new level of darkness to the movie.
This might be an unpopular opinion but I don’t understand why so many people get caught up with how sad and tragic it is when a celebrity dies. Don’t get me wrong, every death is sad and tragic, but I don’t feel the death of a celebrity should be sensationalized any more than the death of an average citizen.
I see where you’re coming from you jer . . . uhm, Derek.
I agree that it’s tragic whenever someone’s life is suddenly cut short. I think it’s when young celebrities, who have so much of the success and admiration that we aspire for, die so suddenly and without warning. They are also in the public spotlight where there is much more of the sadness and mourning that would normally only be reserved to close friends and family.
Lol…
You’re absolutely correct that much of it is due to the simple nature of someone being in the public spotlight.
As a recent example, there was a local newscaster in Chicago that died in a snowmobile accident where the person driving the snowmobile was intoxicated – no word on whether the newscaster was also intoxicated. A death like this could have been avoided if not for poor decision making yet this story made all of the news and everyone is expressing so much sadness and grief.
Then I think of how many children pass away from cancer or some other illness that pass without any expression of sadness or grief. Yes, this is typically reserved for close friends and family because the general public doesn’t know these children – but we don’t know the celebrities either.
I guess it is just the nature of being a celebrity that people feel they have a connection.
May he Rest in Peace.
and hopefully the new movie coming out soon does good
[...] the feature film “Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” (the film stars the recently deceased Heath Ledger) today but could not make it due to my commitment to “TDESS”, but casting accepted an [...]