Actor Heath Ledger is found dead

[Walter Cronkite]

Australian-born actor Heath Ledger, 28, the co-star of the Oscar-winning movie "Brokeback Mountain," was found dead in his New York residence on Tuesday, police said.

"Heath Ledger was found dead at 3:26 pm this afternoon," a police spokesperson said, saying he was found in his residence in the posh district of Soho. "We don't know the cause of the death."

The entertainment website TMZ said Heath was discovered by a maid in his bed in his Manhattan apartment, adding that "law enforcement sources ... believe it was not a crime."

The New York Times said Ledger was discovered by the housekeeper and a masseuse who arrived in the afternoon for an appointment.

They knocked on the door, but "when no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed. They shook him, but he did not respond," the Times said.

The newspaper quoted officials as saying pills were found near the body, but gave no further details.

Ledger, who was nominated for a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of a gay cowboy in the 2005 film "Brokeback Mountain," had separated from his former fiancee Michelle Williams in September. The pair has a two-year-old daughter.

The film's director Ang Lee had hailed Ledger's performance as a "miracle" of acting, reminiscent of a young Marlon Brando.

Ledger lost the Oscar for best actor that year to Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his portrayal of author Truman Capote in "Capote," but "Brokeback Mountain" won three Academy Awards, including for best director.

His shocking demise is not only a terrible loss for his daughter Matilda, his Perth-based family and his many fans, it also throws into disarray two movies. He was in production with the next instalment in the Batman series, The Dark Knight, in which he was starring opposite Christian Bale as a macabre joker.

Early photos from the set suggest Ledger was taking the series into a new darker chapter.

Also on Ledger's slate was the new Terry Gilliam film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, about a travelling theatre company. It was due to start filming in London shortly.

Ledger was one of Australia's true international acting stars. His American breakthrough role came with the teen hit 10 Things I Hate About You, but real global respect came with his Oscar nominated turn in the moving gay cowboy drama Brokeback Mountain.

He met his now ex-partner Michelle Williams on the set of the film. The pair had a baby, Matilda, but broke of their engagement and split recently.

Gossip has since linked him with troubled young actor and party girl Lindsay Lohan.

Ledger had a troubled relationship with the media in his home town of Sydney. Paparazzi photographers squirted Ledger and Williams with water pistols at the premiere of Brokeback Mountain.

He later angrily denied reports he had spat on the photographers.

"It was just silly and unnecessary. It really hurt our feelings and it hurt my feelings to suddenly have a quick title above my name now, that we're a gang of spitters,'' he told the Herald Sun later.

But he said he regretted flicking the finger at photographers.

"Pulling finger signs at photographers, it's not representing who I am, it's representing the panic that occurs when you turn around and there's a camera staring in at you. You see red, or I do.

"I'm a young guy and I've grown up with this in the younger years when you're more passionate and protective and you're more explosive during that time of your life and it felt like a natural reaction for me.

"I didn't feel that I was rebelling against anything. Obviously it's not the most polite way of dealing with things, but I didn't feel they were being polite. I forget that when I do that I'm not pulling a finger sign at a guy holding a camera, I'm pulling a finger sign in a newspaper that everyone reads.''

Ledger later sold his Sydney dream house, claiming the paparazzi had driven him out, and moved to Brooklyn in New York where he lived with Williams and Matilda before the split.

Ledger can be seen in cinemas now in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There.

Source: AP

[Sodomy]

Rumor has it Heath Ledger overdosed on pain pills.

He had a Broke Back...

[Dead AIM]

[Gambit]

DUMBASS




Yeah, I said it, DUMBASS!!!

This isn't his first display of outright dumbassery, either. After being established in Hollywood with doubtless scores of top-notch poon being thrown his way, he goes and knocks up this dude:



Michelle Williams (or Mikey, as I like to call him) looks like the mother from The Lost Boys was artificially inseminated by sperm from Alfred E. Neumann and Howdy Doody.

I don't want to hear all this "tragedy" horseshiat. If you are:

1) 28 years old
2) Millionaire
3) Movie star
4) Father of young child
5) P*ssy magnet
6) Playing Joker vs. Bale's Batman

and you die from a drug overdose, you are the quintessential dumbass and should never be spoken of again. But no, he's going to get a f*cking 24-hour, non-stop, Anna-Nicole style news cycle that would make Seung-Hui Cho jealous enough to subscribe to TiVo in hell so he has something to jerk off to for eternity.

Every parent ought to tell their kids, "See? That's what happens when you're an overpriveledged dumbshiat. That's not someone to be respected or remembered favorably".

And of course here come the f*cking grief counselors and everyone wanting to "save" everyone else. Just do us all a favor and let these two follow Heath's example:

[The Real]

[The Question]

The only person I feel sorry for is Ledger's daughter.

That being said...

[Walter Cronkite]

Jack Nicholson on drugs death of Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger: 'I warned him'

The news of Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger's death in a New York apartment has caused shockwaves around the world, but it didn't come as a surprise to one Hollywood star.

A revealing – if ambiguous - comment made by Jack Nicholson hints he was aware Ledger was battling personal demons.

The acting veteran, who played the Batman's most famous Joker, said in London last night: "I warned him.”

Shock: Hollywood star Heath Ledger (right) cut a tragic figure in his last days on set of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in London over the weekend. Left: the last picture of the star, also taken on set

The comment came as it emerged that police had recovered a $20 note with traces of narcotic residue from the apartment.

A source told CBS 2 that several drug packets containing an unknown substance had also been found.

It is not clear whether any of the items belonged to Ledger or were used by him.

The 28-year-old's family rejected speculation that he committed suicide earlier today.

An initial autopsy carried out by the New York City Medical Examiner was "inconclusive", according to U.S. reports.

The official investigation was launched after a police spokesperson confirmed that presciption anxiety drugs Valim and Zoloft as well as sleeping medication Ambien were found in the vicinity of the actor's body.

In Perth, his home town, Ledger's father Kim read out a statement in which he insisted the death was an accident.

Surrounded by his ex-wife Sally and their sobbing daughter Kate, he said: “We confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda.”

He went on to describe his son as "a down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and selfless individual who was extremely inspirational to many."

Kim continued: "Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life that few had the pleasure of truly knowing him."
It has been revealed Ledger made a friend promise to call and “wake me up” hours before his death.

Film director Shekhar Kapur said Ledger had asked him to call the next morning during a conversation on the eve of the tragedy.

Kapur, who directed Ledger in The Four Feathers, telephoned him on Monday after arriving in New York from London.

Last days: Heath, in east London on 6 January, filming a Terry Gilliam fantasy adventure with model Lily Cole

“I last spoke to him the night before he died. He said he could not see me that night but really wanted to meet me the next day. He made me promise that I would call him in the morning and wake him up. I tried. Little did I know that his soul had already left his body,” he said.

He added: “He was one of the most gentle, most honest, most caring, and most compassionate persons I had met.”

The actor was found dead at a SoHo, Manhattan residence, where he had been staying on a temporary basis.

Sources told Mail Online today that Ledger had been battling substance abuse problems - including an addiction to heroin - for some time.

"He had a stint in rehab last year when he was treated for heroin," a source told The Daily Mail, adding that Ledger was increasingly introverted at the time of his death.

There are claims the strain of playing the Joker in the new Batman film may have proved too much for the star – in a recent interview, he told how the role of a “murderous psychopath” had left him “sleepless and exhausted”. He is also said to have recently suffered pneumonia.

He was only sleeping around two hours a night, with reports speculating his reliance on sleeping pills led to his "accidental overdose".

A housekeeper at Ledger's New York City apartment made the shocking discovery of his body face down on a bed at 3.20pm local time on Tuesday afternoon.

Minutes earlier, the housekeeper had opened the door to a masseuse, who had an appointment with the actor.

The Hollywood website TMZ.com reported that Ledger was in cardiac arrest when emergency services arrived on the scene.

The actor's body was moved to the floor but subsequent attempts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead at 3.35pm, at the scene.

Scene: Officers removed the actor's body three hours after he was found dead in his apartment

His remains were removed by police in a body bag from the apartment three hours after his death.

Ledger's ex-fiancée Michelle Williams and their two year old daughter Matilda flew from a film set in Sweden to their home in Brooklyn following the tragedy.

“You can't begin to imagine the state she's in,” an executive on the film told the Mail Online.

Her father Larry Williams said: “It has just broken everybody's heart in my family. I think Tennyson got it right in the poem he described someone as having died at a young age but burning the candles at both ends. And oh what a beautiful flame he made. That was Heath.”

He said Ledger was devoted to the couple's daughter.

"The saddest thing is his daughter whom he just loved dearly. The Tennyson poem is just so true. His years were few but he left a beautiful legacy."

Heartbroken: In a statement, Heath's family, including father Kim and mother Sally with his sister Kate outside their home in Perth today, described the star as 'generous, kind-hearted and life-loving'

An insider disclosed that the Oscar nominated star had been battling substance abuse problems during the later part of his life.

Perth-born Ledger took his break-up with Williams last September very badly, according to the source.

"Heath was shattered by his split from Michelle," the source told Mail Online, adding: "He became a recluse. He barely slept he was dealing with terrible mood swings."

Ledger spent the past several months mourning the loss of his relationship with Williams and friends say he had become an introvert, who was headed in a downward spiral.

"Heath totally wanted to be on his own these past few months since he and Michelle split in September," says a source. "She was very much in love with him, but the fact he continued to dabble in drugs kept their relationship from being one she could rely on.

Father: Heath with his two-year-old daughter Matilda

"He adored his daughter Matilda, and when Michelle called it quits, he missed Matilda so much that he was thrown into a deep dark depression. "Heath was living in New York to be close to his daughter. But he hardly ever ventured out anymore.

"His close friend and Brokeback co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal has been worried about him for months. And he knew Heath was sinking further into a depression. Jake is Matilda's godfather, and he and Heath had become really close since they did the film Brokeback together.

"Jake wanted Heath to get help, but he refused, and now it looks as though he may have died of a drug overdose.

"Michelle will be devastated by the news, because she always hoped he would get help and they could manage to work out their relationship for the sake of their daughter.

Ex love: After meeting on the set of Brokeback Mountain, Heath and Michelle Williams had a daughter Matilda

"Now poor little Matty is left without a father, and Heath has died a senseless death.

"He had so much to live for and he was so talented. He was working on a new film, and he had everything in life to live for. Now, tragically, he has thrown it all away at just 28."

Industry observers spoke last night of the increasingly "unhinged" way that Ledger has carried himself professionally and personally in recent months.

"It's easy to think an actor is just dressing bizarrely and acting weird on the red carpet to try to drum up some interest in themselves. But a picture is fast emerging, through discussions with his friends and work associates, that Heath has really been very out of it for months.

Taking on The Joker: Ledger's next film is upcoming Batman sequel The Dark Knight with Maggie Gyllenhaal (pictured right)

Ledger arrived dressed "as if he was homeless", said a source.

"It looked as if he was if he was trying to make some kind of point. He drifted around the party not talking to anyone for half an hour and then just walked off into the night like a lost soul. It was most odd.

"He and Richard Gere were both special guests at the party. But Heath was just like a ghost. It was obvious something awful had happened to him."

In an interview last November, Ledger spoke of the joy of fatherhood;

"Having a child changes every aspect of your life – for the better, of course. The sacrifices are large, but what you get in return is even bigger than the sacrifices you make.

"I feel, in a sense, ready to die because you are living on in your child."

Chief among his celebrity confidants during the final stages of his life was fellow Australian Naomi Watts, who dated Ledger for two years after meeting on the set of Ned Kelly.

Ledger was currently in the middle of filming the Terry Gilliam movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at the time of his death. Last weekend, he was photographed dressed as a clown on set in London.

The fantasy-adventure film about a travelling theatre troupe was scheduled for release next year.

Born in Perth, Western Australia, to race car driver Kim Ledger and French teacher Sally Bell, the actor left school at age 16 to pursue his acting career in Sydney.

After making his TV debut in children's TV series Clowning Around at the age of 13, Ledger made his first big screen outing in Australian drama Blackrock.

Ledger's breakout Hollywood role came in 1999 teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, alongside Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

After high-profile roles opposite Mel Gibson in The Patriot and Halle Berry in Monster's Ball, Ledger was firmly established as a leading man in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

Ledger was Oscar-nominated for his acclaimed performance as gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, but missed out to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Academy Award for Capote.

He can currently be seen in cinemas playing Bob Dylan in I'm Not There alongside Cate Blanchett and Richard Gere.

His performance as The Joker in Batman sequel The Dark Knight has already received a good reception from test audiences. The movie is expected to be a blockbuster when it is released this summer.

Warner Bros. Pictures Group, who produced the Batman movie, has issued a statement: "The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news. The entertainment community has lost an enormous talent.

"Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person. Our hearts go out to his family and friends."

As well as his film career, Ledger also had a love for music and started a record company with American musician Ben Harper.

Ledger's demise comes just a week after the sudden death of another young Hollywood star, 25-year-old Brad Renfro. It is believed Renfro died of a suspected drug overdose.

Despite his high-profile relationships with Williams, Watts and Heather Graham, Ledger hated the media attention that came with his fame and had often hit the headlines for altercations with the paparazzi.

As well as his parents and daughter Matilda, Ledger is also survived by his sister Katherine, and half-sisters Olivia Ledger and Ashleigh Bell.

Heath Ledger's filmography

The Dark Knight (2008}

I'm Not There (2007)

Candy (2006)

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Lords of Dogtown (2005)

Ned Kelly (2003)

The Four Feathers (2002)

Monster's Ball (2001)

A Knight's Tale (2001)

The Patriot (2000)

Two Hands (1999)

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Paws (1997)

Blackrock (1997)

Clowning Around (1992)

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...e_id=1773&ct=5

[Walter Cronkite]

Kansas Baptist Church Intends to Picket Heath Ledger's Funeral Because He Played Gay Character

A radical Baptist church in Kansas known for picketing the funerals of soldiers who perished in Iraq said it intends to protest Heath Ledger's memorial service with signs claiming the actor died and is in Hell because he played a gay character in “Brokeback Mountain.”

Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka said that she and other members will picket Ledger’s United States memorial services, not those held in his native Australia.

“You cannot live in defiance of God,” she said. “He got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it’s OK to be gay.”

A press release circulated by the church references Leviticus 18:22 in the Bible, which states that “thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

“Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there,” the Westboro Baptist announcement says.

Started 1955, the Topeka, Kan.-based church has conducted over 34,000 peaceful demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle, according to their Web site, GodHates***s.com.

The organization runs various Web sites, including GodHatesAmerica.com and others that condemn lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Muslims, Roman Catholics and Jews as well as certain nationalities, according to Wikipedia.

The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the church as a hate group and the organization is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League, according to its Wikipedia entry.

Phelps-Roper said the church group will also be picketing the Academy Awards this year.

Both the printed release and Phelps-Roper’s verbal diatribe about Ledger were rife with homophobic slurs. She said that those who call her and other members of Westboro Baptist Church bigots must also think God is a bigot.

“God hates ***s,” she said. “The wrath of God has been revealed before the eyes of this nation with the death of Heath Ledger. … This nation worships the dead almost as much as they worship their filthy sex acts. America is doomed.”

Source: Fox News

[Kellie-Girl]

^^Why do people use God for an excuse to be a narrow minded bigot?

[Stallion]

These people need to burn in Hell

These people need to burn in Hell

[BayAreaSkill]

These people disgust me.

I was listening to Howard Stern yesterday, and he talked about this picketing ordeal. He said he called up the head chick there and told her how pathetic of a human being she was.

I totally agree. Honestly, I hope someone kills all these people before they have a chance to arrive at the funeral, or at the very least there is security measures to keep them away from the procession.

As someone mentioned, you can't use God as an excuse to sink to such a low level. Ledger's family will be there mourning, and if anyone should be picketing, it is the rest of us against these fucking losers for giving PEOPLE a bad name.

[Walter Cronkite]

Actor Heath Ledger is found dead

Actor Heath Ledger, 28, died January 22 at an apartment in Lower Manhattan.

Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose of prescription medications including painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills, the New York City medical examiner's office said Wednesday.

"Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine," the office said in a short statement.

"We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications."

Hydrocodone and oxycodone are painkillers. Diazepam is an anti-anxiety drug commonly sold under the brand name Valium; alprazolam is also an anti-anxiety drug sold under such names as Xanax. Temazepam, sold under such names as Restoril and Euhypnos, is a sleeping agent. Doxylamine, an antihistamine, can be obtained over the counter as a sleep aid.

Ledger died January 22 at an apartment in Lower Manhattan. The Oscar-nominated Australian actor, best known for his role as a stoic, closeted cowboy in the 2005 film "Brokeback Mountain," was 28. Watch why Ledger's death probably was ruled accidental »

Police reported finding several prescription medications in the room but no illegal drugs.

CNN has learned the Drug Enforcement Administration has requested the toxicology and prescription records related to Ledger's death. The DEA requested the records Wednesday from the New York Police Department and the medical examiner's office after the release of the report detailing the cause of death, according to a law enforcement source who asked not to be identified by name or agency because the request concerns an active investigation.

The DEA confirmed it will look into anything suspicious concerning Ledger's death. "We will investigate any leads in respect to this," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said while declining to provide any specifics. "In any case, we look to see whether prescription drugs were illegally obtained or whether it was through proper channels."

An autopsy done on the actor January 23 was inconclusive. Interactive: A look back at Heath Ledger's life »

In a statement released through Ledger's publicist, Ledger's father, Kim, said Wednesday: "While no medications were taken in excess, we learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy. Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage."

The family added, "Families rarely experience the uplifting, warm and massive outpouring of grief and support as have we, from every corner of the planet. This has deeply and profoundly touched our hearts and lives. We are eternally grateful." Read the full statement

Ledger had talked about his difficulty sleeping after back-to-back roles as a Bob Dylan figure in "I'm Not There" and the Joker in "The Dark Knight," part of the "Batman" series that is due out this summer.

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times in November. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

In the hours leading up to Ledger's death two weeks ago, a housekeeper, identified as Teresa Solomon, arrived at the apartment about 12:30 p.m., a police source with knowledge of the investigation said.

She saw Ledger lying on a bed face down with a sheet pulled up around his shoulders and heard him snoring, the source said.

Masseuse Diana Wolozin arrived at the apartment about 2:45 p.m. to give Ledger a massage, according to the police source. About 15 minutes later, when he had not come out of the bedroom and the door remained closed, she went in, saw him lying in bed and set up a massage table.

She shook Ledger, but he did not respond, so she used his cell phone to call actress Mary-Kate Olsen, a friend of Ledger's, in California, the source said.

Wolozin told Olsen that Ledger was unconscious, according to the police source.

Olsen reportedly told her that she would call private security people in New York.

At 3:26 p.m., Wolozin called 911 and told authorities Ledger was not breathing. While on the phone with dispatchers, Wolozin tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Ledger, but he was unresponsive.

Emergency personnel arrived seven minutes later, according to the police source, at about the same time as a private security person summoned by Olsen.

The medical technicians performed CPR on Ledger and used a cardiac defibrillator, but their efforts were in vain and he was pronounced dead at 3:36 p.m. By then, two other private security people summoned by Olsen had arrived as well as police.

His former fiancée, actress Michelle Williams, has asked the public to respect the need for her, the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Matilda, and others "to grieve privately."

"My heart is broken," Williams said in a statement issued last week via her publicist. "I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father. All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day. His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up in the best memories of him."

Condolences poured in from Ledger's friends and co-stars.

"He was a wonderful guy, he was a wonderful actor, he had a wonderful future ahead of him, and I liked him," said actor Eric Roberts, who worked with Ledger in "The Dark Knight."

Colleagues on Terry Gilliam's film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which Ledger had been shooting in England, said the actor apparently had been suffering from a respiratory ailment in the days before he died.

Christopher Plummer told Entertainment Weekly that Ledger had a "terrible, lingering bug in London, and he couldn't sleep at all. We all -- I thought he'd probably got walking pneumonia."

Ledger's first American film was the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You" in 1999. He passed up several scripts before taking a role in the Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot" in 2000 and "A Knight's Tale" in 2001. He also played a supporting role in "Monster's Ball."

But Ledger was perhaps best known for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," Ang Lee's film about two cowboys who had a secret romantic relationship. The role earned Ledger a best actor Oscar nomination.

Source: CNN.com