R.I.P. Heath Ledger

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SJD
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R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by SJD »

This surprised me when I heard about it.When I finally saw it on the news I was shocked and just said "for real?!?". He was a great actor, didn't get to seeing Brokeback yet. Saw him a lot good films and Lords of Dogtown stands out. I do know that he's going to be in Batman as Joker, and that he played it as equally dark evil as Jack Nicholson but a different joker. This is just surprising, shame.



[img]http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Pr ... 091906.jpg[/img]

Heath Ledger: 1979 - 2008
Source: The Associated Press January 22, 2008


Heath Ledger was found dead in his Lower Manhattan apartment on Tuesday. He was 28. The Australian-born actor was nominated for an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. In 2005, he met Michelle Williams during the filming of the drama. The two had lived in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda, but split up last year.

There was no obvious indication that Ledger had committed suicide, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.

Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the SoHo apartment, Browne said. The massage therapist and a housekeeper found his naked body in the bed at about 3:30 p.m. They tried to revive him, but he was already dead.

"We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident," Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement Tuesday night. "This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family's privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known."

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

Ledger appears as The Joker in Warner Bros.' highly-anticipated summer 2008 comic book adaptation, The Dark Knight. Alan Horn, President and COO of Warner Bros. and Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group made the following 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."
[hr] This quote comes from a self description of one of the greatest wrestlers there is,[BR] Bret " The Hitman " Hart, and it very well is what Mr. Richard Pryor is to stand-up...

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walrusjk
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Re: R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by walrusjk »

SJD,
I was shocked when I heard about this. Popped himself off by accident surely at 28! I'm not one to preach but drugs and alcohol have fucked with my life and so many others. Some survive and have it frick with them to various degrees and some miss their next day. I feel so bad for him and his family. Addiction is a horrible thing unless you can find a way to get a grip which is not easy.
SJD
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Re: R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by SJD »

walrusjk,

It is a real damn shame. I keep thinking 'for real?!? are they for sure?!?'I thought he'd be gettin' a lot of oscars' later. I forgot to to mention 'The Brothers Grimm'. A really enjoyed that movie and he's good in that.



[/i]Police probe actor Heath Ledger’s death
Actor was found in NYC apartment; no obvious indication of suicide evident[/i]


Breaking news
MSNBC News Services
updated 8:56 p.m. MT, Tues., Jan. 22, 2008

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger, the talented 28-year-old actor who gravitated toward dark, brooding roles that defied his leading-man looks, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment, face-down and naked at the foot of his bed with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said.

There was no obvious indication that the Australian-born Ledger had committed suicide, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

Ledger’s publicist, Mara Buxbaum, issued a statement this Tuesday night, saying, “We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident. This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family’s privacy.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if Ledger had committed suicide. He had an appointment for a massage at the residence in the tony neighborhood of SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him unconscious at 3:26 p.m.

According to The New York Times, his body was moved to the floor, and after receiving no response from the actor after shaking him, the masseuse and housekeeper called authorities.

“We are investigating the possibility of an overdose,” Browne said. “There were pills within the vicinity of the bed.”

Police do not suspect a crime, The Times reported.

A source told msnbc.com's Courtney Hazlett that Ledger had been turning down roles lately.

The Times initially reported that Ledger was found in an apartment owned by actress Mary-Kate Olsen, but a spokesperson for the actress, who is at the Sundance Film Festival, later told the Times the apartment was not Olsen's.

A large crowd of paparazzi and gawkers began gathering Tuesday evening outside the building on the upscale block, where several police officers guarded the door. According to The Times, city workers rolled Ledger’s body, encased in a black body bag, out of the building on a stretcher.

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks.

He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in “Brokeback Mountain,” where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, now 2-year-old Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

He once said he was ready to die because he could live on in his child.

“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,” Ledger told In Touch Weekly in November.

It was a shocking and unforeseen conclusion for one of Hollywood’s bright young stars. Though his leading-man looks propelled him to early stardom in films like “10 Things I Hate About You” and “A Knight’s Tale,” his career took a notable turn toward dramatic and brooding roles with 2001’s “Monster’s Ball.”

“I had such great hope for him,” said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger’s vengeful father in “The Patriot,” in a statement from the actor’s publicist. “He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”

In the Australian city of Perth, where Ledger was born and raised, his father called the actor’s death “tragic, untimely and accidental.”

“He was (a) down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual, extremely inspirational to many,” Kim Ledger said, reading from a prepared statement. “Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life.”

Ledger eschewed Hollywood glitz in favor of a bohemian life in Brooklyn, where he was one of the borough’s most famous residents. “Brokeback” would be his breakthrough role, establishing him as one of his generation’s finest talents and an actor willing to take risks.

Ledger began to gravitate more toward independent fare, including Lasse Hallstrom’s “Casanova” and Terry Gilliam’s “The Brothers Grimm,” both released in 2005. His 2006 film “Candy” now seems destined to have an especially haunting quality: In a particularly realistic performance, Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish.

But Ledger’s most recent choices were arguably the boldest yet: He co-starred in “I’m Not There,” in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn’t be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Ledger’s version of the Batman villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be less comical and more depraved and dark.

Curiosity to see Ledger’s final performance will likely further stoke interest in the summer blockbuster. “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger’s performance as the Joker would be wildly different than Jack Nicholson’s memorable turn in 1989’s “Batman.”

“It was a very great challenge for Heath,” Nolan said. “He’s extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic.”

Ledger 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 newspaper. “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.

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he used to shop at a home and children’s store. Michelle Vella, an employee there, said she had frequently seen Ledger with his daughter — carrying the toddler on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

“It’s so sad. They were really close,” Vella said. “He’s a very down-to-earth guy and an amazing father.”

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on “The Lords of Dogtown,” a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, “Seat.”

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and costarred opposite Julia Stiles in “10 Things I Hate About You.” Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn’t like.

“It wasn’t a hard decision for me,” Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. “It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, ‘You’re crazy,’ my parents were like, ‘Come on, you have to eat.”’
[hr] This quote comes from a self description of one of the greatest wrestlers there is,[BR] Bret " The Hitman " Hart, and it very well is what Mr. Richard Pryor is to stand-up...

" The Best There Is...
The Best There Was...
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tamra
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Re: R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by tamra »

SJD,

this was shocking. the story broke locally within an hour of his death. so you weren't sure if it was a mistake that someone rushed to announce.

many prayers for his family, esp. his daughter. and she is the spitting image of Heath Ledger.
---
huh? what? who? damn, I'm always the last to know.
EddieHill
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Re: R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by EddieHill »

SJD, It makes one think of why he came to America when he hade it made from being down under in the first place. I hope when they get done cutting on his body that they will send his remains to his homeland to be buried. Under normal circumstances one would say lay him in the casket face down so everyone can broke back him one more time before they bury him. Unfortunatly this is a terrible tragedy and we may have lost another one to drug over dose and it is not a laughing matter. May God Bless him and his family and let us pray that people stop overdosing themselves and book more vacations.
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bingolong
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Re: R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by bingolong »

EddieHill,
Ike, Lil Dude from the Client, Anna Nicole and her son....now this
I went to Zimbabwe. I know how white people feel in America now; relaxed! Cause when I heard the police car I knew they weren't coming after me! 
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hellifiknow
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Re: R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by hellifiknow »

bingolong,
it looks like you and me are the only two people on earth that mourn the death of Ike Turner.

R.I.P. Heath Ledger...and a very sincere thank you for making it so people quit dressing like cowboys.

"boy, go get me something to beat your ass with" RP
SJD
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Re: R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Post by SJD »

[Font size=4 face=a color=black]Accidental Overdose Killed Heath Ledger[/font]

By AMY WESTFELDT and STEPHANIE NANO


NEW YORK (AP) — The actor Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose of six different drugs — painkillers and sedatives — the medical examiner said Wednesday, leading doctors to warn of the dangers of mixing prescription drugs.

The 28-year-old film star died "of acute intoxication" from the combination of two strong painkillers, two anti-anxiety medicines and two sleeping aids, according to the medical examiner's office.

Among the drugs found in his body were oxycodone, a painkiller sold as OxyContin and used in other pain relievers such as Percodan and Percocet. Others included drugs sold as anti-anxiety pills Valium and Xanax, which are sedatives.

The medical examiner and police wouldn't identify the medications Ledger had in his apartment when his body was discovered on Jan. 22, nor would they discuss who had prescribed them. It also wasn't known why he had the drugs; he said in a newspaper interview last year that he needed sleeping pills after two stressful acting jobs.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating how Ledger got the medications. It's common for investigators to review prescriptions when so many drugs are involved in an overdose death, said spokesman Rusty Payne.

Doctors not connected with the case said it would be unlikely for one doctor to order all the drugs. However, they said it's not unusual for people to be prescribed both painkillers and sedatives, and overdoses are not uncommon.

"This is not rock star wretched excess," said Cindy Kuhn, a pharmacology professor at Duke University. "This is a situation that could happen to plenty of people with prescriptions for these kind of drugs."

Kuhn said some of the drugs are long-lasting and Ledger could have taken them over a period of several days. The medical examiner's office wouldn't say what concentrations of each drug were found in Ledger's blood.

"What you're looking at here is the cumulative effects of these medications together," said the spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove.

Police had said they found six bottles of anti-anxiety medicines, sleeping pills and other medicine in his Manhattan apartment after the Oscar-nominated actor was discovered dead in his bed last month.

"This was not a deliberate attempt to kill himself. This was an accident," said Lawrence Kobilinsky, head of forensic science at John Jay College in New York. He had no role in the investigation. "He just took too many drugs having similar effects on the central nervous system."

Experts said the combination of sedatives and the other medicines likely combined to suppress his brain function and his breathing. They said that Ledger probably had been prescribed the medicine by a number of different doctors, because several of them were from the same class of drugs and used to treat similar symptoms.

"It doesn't make sense" that one doctor would prescribe all those, said Dr. William Lee, an internal medicine specialist at the University of Texas-Southwestern in Dallas. "It's more likely that he got them from different prescribers."

Jane Prosser, a medical toxicologist from New York University School of Medicine, said patients can often end up with similar medications prescribed by different doctors, who are unaware of what they're already taking.

Three of the six prescription drugs found in Ledger's apartment had been filled in Europe, where the actor was recently filming, police said.

"If you see one doctor for one thing and you see another doctor for another thing, neither the physician nor the patient may realize they're getting two similar medications," Prosser said.

"Patients should be aware that this happens on a regular basis and it doesn't just happen to celebrities."

Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, didn't immediately respond to questions about the drugs that had been prescribed to the actor before his death. She released a statement Wednesday from Ledger's father, Kim.

"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 medical examiner cited oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine as causing the actor's death. There was no mention of alcohol or illegal drugs.

Oxycodone, marketed as OxyContin, is used in other painkillers such as Percodan and Percocet; hydrocodone is used in a number of painkillers, including Vicodin.

Diazepam and alprazolam are the generic names for the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax, temazepam is a sleep aid sold as Restoril, and doxylamine is an antihistamine used in over-the-counter sleep aids and cold medicines.

Ledger's masseuse found him unresponsive after she arrived for an appointment at his rented apartment. She called 911 after first repeatedly calling actress Mary Kate Olsen. Ledger had moved into the apartment last fall after he broke up with actress Michelle Williams, the mother of his 2-year-old daughter Matilda.

Ledger, nominated for an Oscar for his role as cowboy Ennis del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," had returned to New York from London, where he had been making a Terry Gilliam film, days before his death. He told The New York Times in November that his most recent completed roles in the Batman movie "The Dark Knight" and Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" had taken a toll and caused him to lose sleep.

"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 had taken two Ambien pills, which only gave him an hour of sleep.

Ledger's family returned to the actor's hometown of Perth, Australia, on Tuesday to prepare for his funeral. Arrangements were private.

"To most of the world, Heath was an actor of immeasurable talent and promise," Ledger's father said on Wednesday. "We knew Heath as a loving father, as our devoted son, and as a loyal and generous brother and friend."

Williams, Ledger's former girlfriend and "Brokeback Mountain" co-star, arrived in Perth for the actor's funeral with their young daughter, Australian media reported. The ceremony, details of which are being kept secret by Ledger's family, is expected within days.

On Wednesday, Williams, dressed in black and carrying the 2-year-old, arrived in Perth from New York, News Ltd. newspapers reported.

Ledger's parents and other close relatives arrived Tuesday in Perth after spending nearly two weeks in the U.S. immediately following his death. There was no indication that Ledger's remains have arrived in Australia, and there was no sign of activity at the family's plot in Karrakatta Cemetery on Wednesday.
[hr] This quote comes from a self description of one of the greatest wrestlers there is,[BR] Bret " The Hitman " Hart, and it very well is what Mr. Richard Pryor is to stand-up...

" The Best There Is...
The Best There Was...
and The Best There Ever Will Be!"
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