Yesterday afternoon the world learned of Heath Ledger's untimely death. Both old and new media gossiped, rumor-mongered, and pitched their circus tents outside of his building on Broome Street the moment word spread. Sadly, most of his close friends and relatives, including his parents, heard about the tragedy through the newswire.
The young actor was embraced as a fairly new resident of New York (first in Brooklyn, then in Manhattan). The NY Times recalls that when he moved to Brooklyn “Ledger, who’s had a rocky relationship with the paparazzi in Australia, has found Brooklyn’s residents to be a good deal mellower." He was even touted, mostly in jest, by some locals as being part of a "New Victorian" movement, most knew of him by his trade: actor.
He was first noticed by many in the 1999 teen romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, starring alongside Julia Stiles. He was cast in the movie around the same time he moved to the States from Australia, and he soon sky-rocketed to the A-list, perhaps truly breaking-out in 2005's Brokeback Mountain. It was while making that film that he and Michelle Williams became close, and on October 28th, 2005 their daughter Matilda Rose was born. The two were engaged, but reportedly never married, and after spending a couple of years in their townhouse in Brooklyn they separated and moved out in September of last year.
Last year also saw the release of another highly anticipated film that Ledger was a part of, I'm Not There, portraying one version of Bob Dylan in the biopic. And lastly, this year movie fans have been hotly anticipating his latest release, The Dark Knight, in which he plays The Joker in the follow-up to Batman Begins. As most promos for the film (due out in July) have been centered on Ledger's character, there are now big questions as to how the film will be marketed. The Dark Knight will be the last work of the young talent; he was currently still shooting The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Heath Ledger was 28 years old. His autopsy is being performed today. And as BWE's Alex Blagg stated, "A man died, as we all will. So have some class, show some respect, and please, by the gods of decency and dignity, exercise a little restraint."
Photo by Ed Lachman; from I'm Not There
