Viewpoint Extra: Heath Ledger 1979-2008

As a follow up to the obituary I wrote, I notice that the Dark Knight website, the one for the new movie to be released this summer in which Heath plays The Joker, has been replaced by a simple page. A touching and fitting tribute to a real actor, who worked for the joy of acting, rather than for any twisted notion of fame. He will be greatly missed by us all.

Heath Ledger 1979-2008

Heath Ledger was perhaps best known for his starring roles in two films. The first was the role that first brought him to public attention, Sir William Thatcher in the 2001 film A Knight's Tale. It featured among its soundtrack, a cover version of the old Queen track, We Are The Champions by Robbie Williams, which no doubt helped propel a film which had no strong star names to sell it on.

The other role, was the one that garnered him an oscar nomination. Ennis Del Mar in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, the film who garnered a ton of noteriety when it was revealed that it was about two gay cowboys.

Ironically, a lot of people I know were looking forward to his next big performance, that of The Joker in the follow up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. Pictures had already begun to circulate showing him in the Joker make up and a real buzz was growing about this role. It was very likely that his performance in that film would have catapulted him from superstardom to megastardom.

IMDB has him listed as being cast in a film called The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is the next film from Python member Terry Gilliam. Whether he will appear in that film now remains to seen.

According to the press reports I have seen, it is believed that his death may be drug related. It also could be suicide, which given the information made available so far, is a possibility. We won't know for sure for a while yet. Heath Ledger, born in Perth, Western Australia, was just 28.

R. I. P.