Main articles: The Dark Knight and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Ledger's death affected the marketing campaign for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008)[16][21] and also both the production and marketing of Terry Gilliam's forthcoming film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, with both directors intending to celebrate and pay tribute to his work in these films.[19][20][21][141] Although Gilliam temporarily suspended production on the latter film,[20] he expressed determination to "salvage" it, perhaps using computer-generated imagery (CGI), and plans to dedicate it to Ledger.[87][142][143] In February 2008, as a "memorial tribute to the man many have called one of the best actors of his generation," Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell signed on to take over Ledger's role, becoming multiple incarnations of his character, Tony, transformed in this "magical re-telling of the Faust story,"[144][145][146] and the three actors have donated their fees for the film to Ledger's and Williams' daughter.[147]
Speaking of editing The Dark Knight, on which Ledger had completed his work in October 2007, Nolan recalled, "It was tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day. ... But the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish."[141] All of Ledger's scenes appear as he completed them in the filming; in editing the film, Nolan added no "digital effects" to alter Ledger's actual performance posthumously.[148] Nolan dedicated the film in part to Ledger's memory, as well as to the memory of technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed during a car accident while preparing one of the film's stunts.[149]
Released in July 2008, The Dark Knight broke several box office records and received both popular and critical accolades, especially with regard to Ledger's performance as the Joker.[150] Even film critic David Denby, who does not praise the film overall in his pre-release review in The New Yorker, evaluates Ledger's work highly, describing his performance as both "sinister and frightening" and Ledger as "mesmerising in every scene", concluding: "His performance is a heroic, unsettling final act: this young actor looked into the abyss."[151] Attempting to dispel widespread speculations that Ledger's performance as the Joker had in any way led to his death (as Denby and others suggest), Ledger's costar and friend Christian Bale, who played opposite him as Batman, has stressed that, as an actor, Ledger greatly enjoyed meeting the challenges of creating that role, an experience that Ledger himself described as "the most fun I’ve ever had, or probably ever will have, playing a character."[16][152]
On 10 November 2008, he was nominated for two People's Choice Awards related to his work on the film, "Best Ensemble Cast" and "Best Onscreen Match-Up" (shared with Christian Bale); the online voting for those as-yet unannounced awards since closed, with the 35th anniversary awards ceremony airing on CBS on 7 January 2009.[153]
On 11 December 2008, it was announced that Ledger has been nominated for a posthumous Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight; the awards will be presented at the 66th Golden Globe Awards ceremony telecast on NBC on 11 January 2009.[10][11][12]
Along with other film critics, audience members, and many of Ledger's colleagues in the film community, his other costars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Caine have joined Bale in calling for and predicting a posthumous nomination for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in recognition of Ledger's achievement in The Dark Knight.[154] Nominations for the awards
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Press controversies
Press controversies
Ledger's relationship with the press in Australia was sometimes turbulent, and it led to his relocating to New York City.[79][80] In 2004 he strongly denied press reports alleging that "he spat at journalists on the Sydney set of the movie Candy," or that one of his relatives had done so later, outside Ledger's Sydney home.[79][80] On 13 January 2006, "Several members of the paparazzi retaliated ... squirting Ledger and Williams with water pistols on the red carpet at the Sydney premiere of Brokeback Mountain."[81][82]
After his performance on stage at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards, when he had giggled in presenting Brokeback Mountain as a nominee for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the Los Angeles Times referred to his presentation as an "apparent gay spoof."[83] Ledger called the Times later and explained that his levity resulted from stage fright, saying that he had been told that he would be presenting the award only minutes earlier; he stated: "I am so sorry and I apologise for my nervousness. I would be absolutely horrified if my stage fright was misinterpreted as a lack of respect for the film, the topic and for the amazing filmmakers."[84][85]
Ledger was quoted in January 2006 in Melbourne's Herald Sun as saying that he heard that West Virginia had banned Brokeback Mountain, which it had not; actually, a cinema in Utah had banned the film.[80] He had also referred mistakenly to West Virginia's having had lynchings as recently as the 1980s, but state scholars disputed his statement, observing that, whereas lynchings did occur in Alabama as recently as 1981, according to "the director of state archives and history" quoted in The Charleston Gazette, "The last documented lynching in West Virginia took place in Lewisburg in 1931."[86]
Ledger's relationship with the press in Australia was sometimes turbulent, and it led to his relocating to New York City.[79][80] In 2004 he strongly denied press reports alleging that "he spat at journalists on the Sydney set of the movie Candy," or that one of his relatives had done so later, outside Ledger's Sydney home.[79][80] On 13 January 2006, "Several members of the paparazzi retaliated ... squirting Ledger and Williams with water pistols on the red carpet at the Sydney premiere of Brokeback Mountain."[81][82]
After his performance on stage at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards, when he had giggled in presenting Brokeback Mountain as a nominee for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the Los Angeles Times referred to his presentation as an "apparent gay spoof."[83] Ledger called the Times later and explained that his levity resulted from stage fright, saying that he had been told that he would be presenting the award only minutes earlier; he stated: "I am so sorry and I apologise for my nervousness. I would be absolutely horrified if my stage fright was misinterpreted as a lack of respect for the film, the topic and for the amazing filmmakers."[84][85]
Ledger was quoted in January 2006 in Melbourne's Herald Sun as saying that he heard that West Virginia had banned Brokeback Mountain, which it had not; actually, a cinema in Utah had banned the film.[80] He had also referred mistakenly to West Virginia's having had lynchings as recently as the 1980s, but state scholars disputed his statement, observing that, whereas lynchings did occur in Alabama as recently as 1981, according to "the director of state archives and history" quoted in The Charleston Gazette, "The last documented lynching in West Virginia took place in Lewisburg in 1931."[86]
Family and personal life
Family and personal life
Heath Ledger was born on 4 April 1979, in Perth, Western Australia, the son of Sally Ledger Bell (née Ramshaw), a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing-car driver and mining engineer, whose family established and owned the Ledger Engineering Foundry.[24][25][26] The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust is named after his great-grandfather.[24] Ledger attended Mary's Mount Primary School, in Gooseberry Hill,[27][28] and later Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting experiences, starring in a school production as Peter Pan at age 10.[6][24] His parents separated when he was 10 and divorced when he was 11.[29] Ledger's older sister, Kate, an actress and later a publicist, with whom he was very close, inspired his acting on stage, and his love of Gene Kelly inspired his successful choreography leading to Guildford Grammar's 60-member team's "first all-boy victory" at the Rock Eisteddfod Challenge.[24][30][31][32] Heath's and Kate's other siblings include two half-sisters, Ashleigh Bell (b. 1989), his mother's daughter with her second husband and his stepfather Roger Bell, and Olivia Ledger (b. 1997), his father's daughter with second wife and his stepmother Emma Brown.[33]
Ledger was an avid chess player, winning Western Australia's junior chess championship at the age of 10.[34][35] As an adult, he often played with other chess enthusiasts at Washington Square Park.[36][37] Allan Scott's film adaptation of the chess-related 1983 novel The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis, which at the time of his death he was planning both to perform in and to direct, would have been Ledger's first feature film as a director.[4][38]
Among his most-notable romantic relationships, Ledger dated actress Heather Graham for several months in 2000 to 2001,[39] and he had a serious on-and-off-again long-term relationship with actress Naomi Watts, whom he met during the filming of Ned Kelly and with whom he lived at times from 2002 to 2004.[40][41] In the summer of 2004, he met and began dating actress Michelle Williams on the set of Brokeback Mountain, and their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on 28 October 2005 in New York City.[42] Matilda Rose's godparents are Ledger's Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and Williams' Dawson's Creek castmate Busy Philipps.[43][44] Problems with paparazzi in Australia prompted Ledger to sell his residence in Bronte, New South Wales and move to the United States, where he shared an apartment with Williams, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, from 2005 to 2007.[5][45][46][47][48] In September 2007, Williams' father, Larry Williams, confirmed to Sydney's Daily Telegraph that Ledger and Williams had ended their relationship.[49] After his break up with Williams, in late 2007 and early 2008, the tabloid press and other public media linked Ledger romantically with supermodels Helena Christensen and Gemma Ward and with former child star, actress Mary-Kate Olsen.[50][51][52][53]
Heath Ledger was born on 4 April 1979, in Perth, Western Australia, the son of Sally Ledger Bell (née Ramshaw), a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing-car driver and mining engineer, whose family established and owned the Ledger Engineering Foundry.[24][25][26] The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust is named after his great-grandfather.[24] Ledger attended Mary's Mount Primary School, in Gooseberry Hill,[27][28] and later Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting experiences, starring in a school production as Peter Pan at age 10.[6][24] His parents separated when he was 10 and divorced when he was 11.[29] Ledger's older sister, Kate, an actress and later a publicist, with whom he was very close, inspired his acting on stage, and his love of Gene Kelly inspired his successful choreography leading to Guildford Grammar's 60-member team's "first all-boy victory" at the Rock Eisteddfod Challenge.[24][30][31][32] Heath's and Kate's other siblings include two half-sisters, Ashleigh Bell (b. 1989), his mother's daughter with her second husband and his stepfather Roger Bell, and Olivia Ledger (b. 1997), his father's daughter with second wife and his stepmother Emma Brown.[33]
Ledger was an avid chess player, winning Western Australia's junior chess championship at the age of 10.[34][35] As an adult, he often played with other chess enthusiasts at Washington Square Park.[36][37] Allan Scott's film adaptation of the chess-related 1983 novel The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis, which at the time of his death he was planning both to perform in and to direct, would have been Ledger's first feature film as a director.[4][38]
Among his most-notable romantic relationships, Ledger dated actress Heather Graham for several months in 2000 to 2001,[39] and he had a serious on-and-off-again long-term relationship with actress Naomi Watts, whom he met during the filming of Ned Kelly and with whom he lived at times from 2002 to 2004.[40][41] In the summer of 2004, he met and began dating actress Michelle Williams on the set of Brokeback Mountain, and their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on 28 October 2005 in New York City.[42] Matilda Rose's godparents are Ledger's Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and Williams' Dawson's Creek castmate Busy Philipps.[43][44] Problems with paparazzi in Australia prompted Ledger to sell his residence in Bronte, New South Wales and move to the United States, where he shared an apartment with Williams, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, from 2005 to 2007.[5][45][46][47][48] In September 2007, Williams' father, Larry Williams, confirmed to Sydney's Daily Telegraph that Ledger and Williams had ended their relationship.[49] After his break up with Williams, in late 2007 and early 2008, the tabloid press and other public media linked Ledger romantically with supermodels Helena Christensen and Gemma Ward and with former child star, actress Mary-Kate Olsen.[50][51][52][53]
Bio
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Academy Award-nominated Australian television and film actor.
After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his movie career. His work includes nineteen films, most notably 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), Monster's Ball (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008).[1][2] In addition to his acting, he produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.[3][4]
For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor[5][6][1] as well as the 2006 Best Actor award from the BAFTA. Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film, I'm Not There which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of the iconic Dylan.[3][7] He has also been nominated for and won awards for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, including a Best Actor International award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously,[8][9] and, also posthumously, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.[10][11][12]
He died at the age of 28, "from an accidental overdose of prescription medications."[5][6][13][14][15] A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight.[16][17][18] At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, he had completed about half of his work performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's forthcoming film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.[16][19][20][21][22][23]
Contents [hide]
1 Family and personal life
2 Career
2.1 1990s
2.2 2000s
2.3 Directorial work
3 Press controversies
4 Sleep difficulties and other work-related health issues
5 Death
5.1 Memorial tributes and services
5.2 Autopsy and toxicological analysis
5.3 Federal investigation
5.4 Controversy over will
6 Posthumous films
7 Filmography
7.1 Television
7.2 Film
7.3 Music videos
8 See also
9 Notes
10 Additional resources
11 External links
After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his movie career. His work includes nineteen films, most notably 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), Monster's Ball (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008).[1][2] In addition to his acting, he produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.[3][4]
For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor[5][6][1] as well as the 2006 Best Actor award from the BAFTA. Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film, I'm Not There which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of the iconic Dylan.[3][7] He has also been nominated for and won awards for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, including a Best Actor International award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously,[8][9] and, also posthumously, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.[10][11][12]
He died at the age of 28, "from an accidental overdose of prescription medications."[5][6][13][14][15] A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight.[16][17][18] At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, he had completed about half of his work performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's forthcoming film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.[16][19][20][21][22][23]
Contents [hide]
1 Family and personal life
2 Career
2.1 1990s
2.2 2000s
2.3 Directorial work
3 Press controversies
4 Sleep difficulties and other work-related health issues
5 Death
5.1 Memorial tributes and services
5.2 Autopsy and toxicological analysis
5.3 Federal investigation
5.4 Controversy over will
6 Posthumous films
7 Filmography
7.1 Television
7.2 Film
7.3 Music videos
8 See also
9 Notes
10 Additional resources
11 External links
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