Heath Ledger Found Dead

GhostMachine · January 22, 2008, 02:02:52 PM

From the NY Times website:

The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment building at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, according to the New York City police. Mr. Ledger was 28.
At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived at Apartment 5A in the building for an appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of Mr. Ledger's bedroom. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger unconscious. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities. The police said they did not suspect foul play and said they found pills near body.
Mr. Ledger, a native of Perth, Australia, won acclaim for his role as a co-star in "Brokeback Mountain", a 2005 film. The film, based on a short story by Annie Proulx about two cowboys who fall in love, won critical acclaim. Reviewing the film in The New York Times, the critic Stephen Holden wrote, "Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn."
Calls by The New York Times to Mara Buxbaum, a publicist for Mr. Ledger, and Steve Alexander, the actor's agent, were not immediately returned this afternoon.

________________________________________________
Part in bold highlighted by me: possible suicide?

Surprised the article doesn't mention the Dark Knight.....

the_ultimate_evil · January 22, 2008, 02:05:34 PM

holy crap, what the hell :(

Pyroclasm · January 22, 2008, 02:14:02 PM

This makes me very sad.
I am of fan of his work, and was really looking forward to seeing him do more. :icon_frown:
RIP Heath Ledger

BentonGrey · January 22, 2008, 02:24:43 PM

I was never especially a fan of his, but his talent did surprise me more than once. These are sad tidings, especially if he himself is responsible.

Glitch Girl · January 22, 2008, 02:30:51 PM

I just heard. From what I understand the pills found by the body were sleeping pills. No word left if this was suicide or what.

A real shame. I thought he had talent beyond just good looks. There are so few of those around now.

style · January 22, 2008, 02:39:17 PM

Sad News!!! I just seen this I wasn't to keen on him playing the Joker but when I heard his voice as the Joker I was amazed. This is terrible!

Uncle Yuan · January 22, 2008, 02:41:04 PM

What's also rather odd is that he did not have a reputation as an out-of-control party freak. I mean, no one would be particularly shocked if this was anyone of a half dozen starlets of either gender, but this seems a bit out of character for him.

Figure Fan · January 22, 2008, 03:00:31 PM

My brother called me and told me the bad news. This is so sudden. Too sudden. :(

Damnit.

the_ultimate_evil · January 22, 2008, 03:04:05 PM

Quote from: Uncle Yuan on January 22, 2008, 02:41:04 PM
What's also rather odd is that he did not have a reputation as an out-of-control party freak. I mean, no one would be particularly shocked if this was anyone of a half dozen starlets of either gender, but this seems a bit out of character for him.

people are saying its to do with him splitting up with the mother of his child and such

Carravaggio · January 22, 2008, 03:05:01 PM

This is like Brandon Lee all over again. I just logged into MSN and t his was the first thing I saw...what a depressing way to start the day. I hope it was at least painless.

TheMarvell · January 22, 2008, 03:07:29 PM

I just heard the news. This really, really sucks. :(

What are they going to do with The Dark Knight now? Did they finish filming it or what? Poor Heath...

Pyroclasm · January 22, 2008, 03:21:35 PM

Quote from: TheMarvell on January 22, 2008, 03:07:29 PM
I just heard the news. This really, really sucks. :(

What are they going to do with The Dark Knight now? Did they finish filming it or what? Poor Heath...

From the news report I just heard, they indicated he had finished working on The Dark Knight.

Previsionary · January 22, 2008, 03:23:43 PM

to add onto pyro, last I heard/read, Dark Knight was in post production and Heath was working on a new movie already.

To add to this sad news, Heath is the second actor under 30 to pass away this month. :S

Panther_Gunn · January 22, 2008, 03:33:46 PM

I saw something about this on Shortpacked! (the blog part), and thought it was some kind of bad joke. A google search quickly confirmed it was not. While not really a fan of his work, it is indeed sad news.

Mr. Hamrick · January 22, 2008, 03:36:04 PM

wow. i got a text message about it from a friend while i was in the middle of a business call. both me and the person i was speaking with both rushed to the computer to verify this.

we're both shocked.

zuludelta · January 22, 2008, 03:43:34 PM

I guess it says something about our jaded, media-saturated culture (or maybe just myself) when the first thought I had upon hearing this was "jeez, another movie publicity stunt done in bad taste"

thanoson · January 22, 2008, 03:50:08 PM

Who was the other under 30 actor that died?

Figure Fan · January 22, 2008, 03:51:16 PM

Quote from: zuludelta on January 22, 2008, 03:43:34 PM
I guess it says something about our jaded, media-saturated culture (or maybe just myself) when the first thought I had upon hearing this was "jeez, another movie publicity stunt done in bad taste"

Yes! That is what I said to my brother!

I feel horrible for his daughter. Also, when the Dark Knight is released its going to be a sad occasion.

Previsionary · January 22, 2008, 04:06:22 PM

Quote from: thanoson on January 22, 2008, 03:50:08 PM
Who was the other under 30 actor that died?

Brad Renfro. He died on the 15th and apparently his funeral was yesterday.

lugaru · January 22, 2008, 04:23:52 PM

Quote from: the_ultimate_evil on January 22, 2008, 02:05:34 PM
holy crap, what the hell :(

That pretty much sums my own out loud reaction to the news.

Ares_God_of_War · January 22, 2008, 04:33:45 PM

This makes me sad as well. I loved the movie a Knights tale and I hope they add something in Batman for him :(

MJB · January 22, 2008, 05:04:40 PM

Can't say that I was a fan. The only movie I've seen with Heath was "The Patriot" and that wasn't great.

Sad news.

-MJB

Jakew · January 22, 2008, 05:09:09 PM

Ledger was taking sleeping pills after completing I'm Not There, in which he played one of the many incarnations of singer Bob Dylan.

He 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 Times.

"I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour, the paper said.

GogglesPizanno · January 22, 2008, 05:24:14 PM

I was a shocked as anyone and I will miss him as an actor, but then someone brought up to me all the deaths that have occured just this month in Iraq on all sides (this doesn't even go into the stuff going on in Africa), and that we have just sort of shoved that stuff into the background like yesterdays news and I suddenly felt really guilty. I realize that people have an emotional connection to people and characters in the public eye, as they are people that all of us have a sort of shared connection with (even if it is mostly imagined), but I suddenly realized how much more of a reaction there was to this as opposed to some suicide bomber killing kids at a school in Baghdad.

It was one of those instances where I get caught up in my own little pop culture world and forgot that bad, sad stuff is happening right now all over the world to lots of innocent normal people, they just don't happen to be in the public eye.

Its bad when anyone dies, and I'm not trying to turn this into a political statement or make some kind of judgment as I am as guilty as anyone, but it sorta highlights the fact that we as a culture tend to put so much emphasis and time and coverage on the "shocking" celebrity things while at the same time (be it either consciously or unconsciously) tend to overlook the real things going on in the world. I'm as sad for his family and friends as I am for anyone who suffers such a loss, but I'm afraid that by tomorrow I'm gonna see more tragic stories about Mr. Ledger than I am gonna see all week about the other things going on in the world that affect more people in a more real way...

Just sayin.

Previsionary · January 22, 2008, 05:31:42 PM

I agree with you goggles...but I won't go into my thoughts about the media since this thread isn't about that.

Besides, you'll probably be bombarded with britney spears/Amy Winehouse news first

Revenant · January 22, 2008, 08:17:10 PM

Such sad news... I was shocked. Rest in peace Heath.

Protomorph · January 22, 2008, 08:18:32 PM

I heard about this a few hours ago. It sucks.

GrizzlyBearTalon · January 22, 2008, 08:20:09 PM

Wow, man what a shock.

The Hitman · January 22, 2008, 08:23:02 PM

Heard about this at work today. A customer came in and bought all of his movies we had in stock, and told me about Ledger. From what I've heard, his death was accidental, not suicide. Bummer.

Volsung · January 23, 2008, 01:42:56 AM

I'm shocked. His daughter is not 3 years old and I'm older than him.
I really discovered him in Brokeback Mountain, and I missed I'm Not There.
My girlfriend is a Ledger fan, she's downhearted :(