Heath Ledger, 28, found dead in his apartment.

wbarnhill

wbarnhill

Final Approach
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
7,901
Location
Greenwood, SC
Display Name
Display name:
iEXTERMINATE
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/actor-heath-ledger-is-found-dead/index.html?hp

At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived at Apartment 5A in the building, at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, 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 naked and unconscious on a bed, with pills scattered around his body. They shook him, but he did not respond.
Click to expand...

Edit: NY Times states:
The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment in Manhattan inhabited by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, according to the New York City police.
Click to expand...

Whatever that means.
 
Last edited:
This seems too convenient. I'm calling conspiracy on this. "On the bed with pills around his body"?
 
He flamed out and landed short.

I still don't know who this guy is or why I read this thread.
 
Right now, the producers of the next Batman movie and the insurance company with the completion bonds on it are very happy it just finished filming.

Ledger is gonna be the next Joker.
 
I'm puzzled. If this was a suicide, his acting during interviews was just as good as that on the movie set.
 
Brokeback Mountain - one of the two main guys

Monsters Ball - Billy Bob Thornton's character's son, who shoots himself mid-way through the movie

The Patriot- Mel Gibson's character's rebellious eldest son

A Knights Tale- The male lead in the movie

Sad to hear, he was a good actor but had been dogged with a lot of negative lifestyle changes lately, basically run out of Australia by the paparazzi, somewhat-recently estranged from his wife.
 
Last edited:
alaskaflyer said:
What can I say, I'm a movie guy :dunno:
Click to expand...

I can honestly say I've never heard of the guy. But then again the last time I walked into a theater was to watch Grumpy Old Men.
I just have no interest in spending $10 to watch self centered, egotistical people on a large screen with kids screaming all around.
But then, that's just me.
 
kevin47881 said:
I can honestly say I've never heard of the guy. But then again the last time I walked into a theater was to watch Grumpy Old Men.
I just have no interest in spending $10 to watch self centered, egotistical people on a large screen with kids screaming all around.
But then, that's just me.
Click to expand...
Next time I come up, maybe we should go look for a Cici's Pizza. :D
 
kevin47881 said:
I can honestly say I've never heard of the guy. But then again the last time I walked into a theater was to watch Grumpy Old Men.
I just have no interest in spending $10 to watch self centered, egotistical people on a large screen with kids screaming all around.
But then, that's just me.
Click to expand...

Yah, that's just you.
 
I was shocked. I LOVED "A Knights Tale" and thought Heath was a fine actor.

He was also an IDIOT if he killed himself.
 
Count me among those who said "who?" and "I should care about this because....?" when I heard about it. But I'm am a bit of a news junkie, so I can't help following the story because it's shoved in my face. It's actually been a riot. Here is how the reports have come out, all spoken with the GREATEST of certainty:

Heath Ledger, 28, was found by his housekeeper/masseuse in an apartment owned/rented out/inhabited by himself/Mary Kate Olson/a landlord. He was surrounded by pills/pills and bottles of alcohol/other unspecified drugs. He has a child by (whoever--didn't catch her name) who he was dating/married to. He was despondent/didn't care about their breakup last year/recently.

Well, I guess you could argue that "last year" and "recently" could be construed as the same thing, since last year was only 3 weeks ago. Anyway, the whole thing has reminded me of reporting on a plane crash. Everyone acting like they know what they're talking about but stories wildly conflicting.

Judy
 
Last edited:
judypilot said:
... Everyone acting like they know what they're talking about but stories wildly conflicting.
Click to expand...

And the few minutes of the Today Show I caught. Ledger said playing a mentally deranged serial killer "Joker" was hard to recover from.

To show I really am pre-hip: There will be more than one TV yenius who does a story on the spate of Hollywood comic book superhero tragedies tying Ledger's Joker in with George Reeves and Chris Reeve as Superman. That's less of a stretch than some stories they've done.
 
Last edited:
mikea said:
Ledger said playing a mentally deranged serial killer "Joker" was hard to recover from.
Click to expand...

His statement? What a bunch of crap! Although on a micro-scale in comparison, I've spent many 90+ day periods studying - portraying gangsters, music professor, mental asylum patients, and many other varying -- often misfit -- characters. Being "into" the character is, of course, the requirement; however, there's no reason that a player's own personality/individuality shall change based upon a role played. The comment is nothing short of Hollywood hype.

HR
 
Lawreston said:
His statement? What a bunch of crap! Although on a micro-scale in comparison, I've spent many 90+ day periods studying - portraying gangsters, music professor, mental asylum patients, and many other varying -- often misfit -- characters. Being "into" the character is, of course, the requirement; however, there's no reason that a player's own personality/individuality shall change based upon a role played. The comment is nothing short of Hollywood hype.
Click to expand...
With the possible exception of Leonard Nimoy's Spock.

Note I said, possible, as Leonard Nimoy sort of has a screw loose anyway.
 
Lawreston said:
His statement? What a bunch of crap! Although on a micro-scale in comparison, I've spent many 90+ day periods studying - portraying gangsters, music professor, mental asylum patients, and many other varying -- often misfit -- characters. Being "into" the character is, of course, the requirement; however, there's no reason that a player's own personality/individuality shall change based upon a role played. The comment is nothing short of Hollywood hype.

HR
Click to expand...

Different performers approach their roles differently. Daniel Day Lewis stays in character for the duration of his shoot, and does a great deal of research on each of his roles. Trouble getting out of character is not as implausible as it sounds.

However, the Joker was never suicidal, and didn't do pills. He used Smilex gas, but never on himself. Thus if Ledger was having difficulty leavinga character behind, it was the wrong character.
 
Ken Ibold said:
With the possible exception of Leonard Nimoy's Spock.

Note I said, possible, as Leonard Nimoy sort of has a screw loose anyway.
Click to expand...

I remember during the first season of ST:TOS Nimoy went on Tonight with Johnny Carson, in makeup and costume as Spock Johnny kept calling him, "Leonard" and Spock said, "Leonard? Who is this Leonard?" Johnny is confused and frustrated. At this time nobody but us geeks knew what this weird guy with pointy ears was, or anything about Star Trek.

They go to commercial. Back. Now it's just Leonard. As I remember it he even took off the uniform and ears and was in normal Hollywood actor garb. It might have been later in the show. At some point when Johnny asked, he said, "Yes. You do get into the character like that."

I wonder if that's on Carson's Classics. Checking...not on YouTube.
 
Lawreston said:
His statement? What a bunch of crap! Although on a micro-scale in comparison, I've spent many 90+ day periods studying - portraying gangsters, music professor, mental asylum patients, and many other varying -- often misfit -- characters. Being "into" the character is, of course, the requirement; however, there's no reason that a player's own personality/individuality shall change based upon a role played. The comment is nothing short of Hollywood hype.

HR
Click to expand...
Doesn't it tend to go the other way? I tend to see more off-camera characteristics of an actor becoming a part of the character they play.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top