Heath Ledger biography
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. He was considered one of the most promising talents of his generation before his accidental death at age 28.
After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his movie career further, acting in 19 films, including such Film criticism and box-office successes as
10 Things I Hate About You (1999),
The Patriot (2000 film) (2000),
Monster's Ball (2000),
A Knight's Tale (2001),
Brokeback Mountain (2005), and
The Dark Knight (film) (2008). In addition to his work as an actor and as a producer and director of music videos, he also aspired to be a film director.
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
A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his widely-praised penultimate performance as the Joker (comics) in
The Dark Knight (film). At the time of his death, he had also completed about half of the work for his final performance, the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's forthcoming film
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Family and personal life
Heath Ledger was born on 4 April 1979, in Perth, Western Australia, the son of Sally Ledger Bell (married and maiden names Ramshaw), a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing-car driver and mining engineer, whose family established and owned the well-known Ledger Engineering Foundry. The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust is named after his great-grandfather. and later Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting experiences, starring in a school production as Peter Pan at age 10. 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. 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.
Ledger was an avid chess player, winning Western Australia's junior chess championship at the age of 10. As an adult, he often played with other chess enthusiasts at Washington Square Park. Allan Scott (Scottish screenwriter)'s film adaptation of the chess-related 1983 novel
The Queen's Gambit (novel), 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.
Among his most-notable romantic relationships, Ledger dated actress Heather Graham (actress) for several months in 2000 to 2001, 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 (2003 film) and with whom he lived at times from 2002 to 2004. In the summer of 2004, he met and began dating actress Michelle Williams (actress) on the set of
Brokeback Mountain, and their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on 28 October 2005 in New York City. Matilda Rose's godparents are Ledger's
Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and Williams'
Dawson's Creek castmate Busy Philipps. 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. In September 2007, Williams' father, Larry Williams (trader), confirmed to Sydney's
The Daily Telegraph (Australia) that Ledger and Williams had ended their relationship. After his break up with Williams, in late 2007 and early 2008, the tabloid press and other mass media linked Ledger romantically with supermodels Helena Christensen and Gemma Ward and with former child actor, actor Mary-Kate Olsen.
Career
1990s
After sitting for early graduation exams at 16, Ledger left school to pursue an acting career.
Ledger received "Best Actor of 2005" awards from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in
Brokeback Mountain, in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He also received a nomination for Golden Globe Best Actor in a Drama and a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for this performance, making him, at age 26, the List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees Youngest nominees 2 for a Best Actor Oscar. In
The New York Times review of the film, critic Stephen Holden writes: "Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make this anguished love story physically palpable. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn." In a review in
Rolling Stone, Peter Travers states: "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost."
After
Brokeback Mountain, Ledger costarred with fellow Australian Abbie Cornish in the 2006 Australian film
Candy (2006 film), an adaptation of the 1998 novel
Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, as young heroin addicts in love attempting to break free of their addiction, whose mentor is played by reknowned Australian actor Geoffrey Rush; for his performance as sometime poet Dan, Ledger was nominated for three "Best Actor" awards, including one of the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 2006, which both Cornish and Rush won in their categories. A couple of weeks after the release of
Candy, Ledger was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
As one of six actors embodying different aspects of the life of Bob Dylan in the 2007 film
I'm Not There, directed by Todd Haynes, Ledger "won praise for his portrayal of 'Robbie Clark,' a moody, counter-culture actor who represents the romanticist side of Dylan, but says accolades are never his motivation." Posthumously, on 23 February 2008, he shared the Independent Spirit Awards 2007 Robert Altman Award with the rest of the film's ensemble cast, its director, and its casting director. To prepare for the role, Ledger told
Empire (magazine), "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices — it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath — someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts"; after reiterating his view of the character as "just an absolute Antisocial personality disorder, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown," he added that Nolan had given him "free rein" to create the role, which he found "fun, because there are no real boundaries to what The Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke."
At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, Ledger had completed about half of his final film performance as Tony in
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Directorial work
Ledger had aspirations to become a film director and had made some music videos, which director Todd Haynes praised highly in his tribute to Ledger upon accepting the Independent Spirit Awards 2007 Robert Altman Award, which Ledger posthumously shared, on 23 February 2008. and for the single "Seduction Is Evil (She's Hot)".
Later that year, Ledger inaugurated a new record label, Masses Music, with singer Benjamin Chase Harper and also directed a music video for Harper's song "Morning Yearning".
At a news conference at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Ledger spoke of his desire to make a documentary film about the British singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who died in 1974, at the age of 26, from an overdose of an tricyclic antidepressant. Ledger created and acted in a music video set to Drake's recording of the singer's 1974 song about depression "Black Eyed Dog"–a title "inspired by Winston Churchill’s descriptive term for depression" (black dog); it was shown publicly only twice, first at the Bumbershoot Festival, in Seattle, Washington, held from 1 September to 3 September 2007; and secondly as part of "A Place To Be: A Celebration of Nick Drake", with its screening of
Their Place: Reflections On Nick Drake, "a series of short filmed homages to Nick Drake" (including Ledger's), sponsored by American Cinematheque, at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, in Hollywood, on 5 October 2007. After Ledger's death, his music video for "Black Eyed Dog" was shown on the internet and excerpted in news clips distributed via
YouTube.
He was also working with Scottish screenwriter and producer Allan Scott (Scottish screenwriter) on an adaptation of the 1983 novel
The Queen's Gambit (novel), by Walter Tevis; he was planning both to act in and to direct it, and it would have been his first feature film as a director.
Press controversies
Ledger's relationship with the press in Australia was sometimes turbulent, and it led to his relocating to New York City. In 2004 he strongly denied press reports alleging that "he spat at journalists on the Sydney set of the movie
Candy (2006 film)," or that one of his relatives had done so later, outside Ledger's Sydney home.
After his performance on stage at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards, when he had giggled in presenting
Brokeback Mountain as a nominee for Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the
Los Angeles Times referred to his presentation as an "apparent gay spoof." 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."
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.
Sleep difficulties and other work-related health issues
In their
The New York Times interview, published on 4 November 2007, Ledger told Sarah Lyall that his recently-completed roles in
I'm Not There (2007) and
The Dark Knight (film) (2008) had taken a toll on his ability to sleep: "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. ... I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." At that time, he told Lyall that he had taken two Ambien pills, after taking just one had not sufficed, and those left him in "a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing."
Death
At about 2:45 PM), on 22 January 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his Housekeeper (servant), Teresa Solomon, and his massage, Diana Wolozin, in his fourth-floor loft apartment at 421 Broome Street in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City.
Several actors made statements expressing their sorrow at Ledger's death, including Daniel Day-Lewis, who dedicated his Screen Actors Guild Award to Ledger, saying that he was inspired by Ledger's acting; Day-Lewis praised Ledger's performances in
Monster's Ball and
Brokeback Mountain, describing the latter as "unique, perfect."
On 1 February 2008, in her first public statement after Ledger's death, Michelle Williams expressed her heartbreak and described Ledger's spirit as surviving in their daughter.
After attending private memorial ceremonies in Los Angeles, Ledger's family members returned with his body to Perth, Western Australia.
On 9 February 2008, a memorial service attended by several hundred invited guests was held at Penrhos College, Perth, garnering considerable mass media attention; afterward Ledger's body was cremated at Fremantle Cemetery, followed by a private service attended by only 10 closest family members, with his ashes to be interred later in a family plot at Karrakatta Cemetery, next to two of his grandparents. Later that night, his family and friends gathered for a Wake (ceremony) on Cottesloe, Western Australia.
Autopsy and toxicological analysis
After two weeks of intense media speculation about possible causes of Ledger's death, on 6 February 2008, the Coroner released its conclusions, based on an initial autopsy of 23 January 2008, and a subsequent complete toxicology. The report concludes, in part, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of Combined Drug Intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine." Although the Associated Press and other mass media reported that "police estimate Ledger's time of death between 1 p.m. and 2:45 p.m." (on 22 January 2008), the Medical Examiner's Office announced that it would not be publicly disclosing the official estimated time of death. The official announcement of the cause and manner of Ledger's death heightened concerns about the growing problems of prescription drug abuse or misuse and Combined Drug Intoxication (CDI).
Federal investigation
Late in February 2008, a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation of medical professionals relating to Ledger's death exonerated two American medics, who practice in Los Angeles and Houston, of any wrongdoing, determining that "the doctors in question had prescribed Ledger other medications – not the pills that killed him."
On 4 August 2008, citing unnamed sources, Murray Weiss, of the
New York Post, first reported that Mary-Kate Olsen had "refused through her attorney, Michael C. Miller to be interviewed by federal investigators probing the accidental drug death of her close friend Heath Ledger ... without ... Immunity (legal) from prosecution," and that, when asked about the matter, Miller at first declined further comment. Later that day, after the police confirmed the gist of Weiss's account to the Associated Press, Miller issued a statement denying that Olsen supplied Ledger with the drugs causing his death and asserting that she did not know their source." In his statement, Miller said specifically: "Despite tabloid speculation, Mary-Kate Olsen had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them," emphasizing that mass media "descriptions attributed to an unidentified source are incomplete and inaccurate."
After a flurry of further mass media speculation, on 6 August 2008, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York City closed its investigation into Ledger's death without filing any charges and rendering Mootness its subpoena of Olsen. With the clearing of the two doctors and Olsen, and the closing of the investigation because the prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office "don't believe there's a viable target," it is still not known how Ledger obtained the oxycodone and hydrocodone in the Combined Drug Intoxication that killed him.
Controversy over will
After Heath Ledger's death, in response to some press reports about his will (law), filed in New York City on 28 February 2008, and his daughter's access to his financial legacy, his father, Kim Ledger, said that he considered the financial well-being of his granddaughter Matilda Rose the Ledger family's "absolute priority" and her mother, Michelle Williams (actress), "an integral part of our family," adding "They will be taken care of and that's how Heath would want it to be." Some relatives of Heath Ledger may be challenging the legal status of his will signed in 2003, prior to his involvement with Michelle Williams and the birth of their daughter and not updated to include them, which was filed in New York and divides half of his estate (law) between his parents and half among his siblings; they claim that there is a second, unsigned will, which leaves most of that estate to Matilda Rose. Williams' father, Larry Williams (trader), has also joined the controversy about Ledger's will as it was filed in New York City soon after his death.
On 31 March 2008, stimulating another controversy pertaining to Ledger's estate, Gemma Jones and Janet Fife-Yeomans published an "Exclusive" report, in
The Daily Telegraph (Australia), citing Ledger's uncle Haydn Ledger and other family members, who "believe the late actor may have fathered a secret love child" when he was 17, and stating that "If it is confirmed that Ledger is the girl's biological father, it could split his multi-million dollar estate between ... Matilda Rose ... and his secret love child." A few days later, reports citing telephone interviews with Ledger's uncles Haydn and Mike Ledger and the family of the other little girl, published in
OK! and
Us Weekly, "denied" those "claims", with Ledger's uncles and the little girl's mother and stepfather describing them as unfounded "rumors" distorted and exaggerated by the mass media.
On 15 July 2008, Fife-Yeomans reported further, via Australian
News Limited, that "While Ledger left everything to his parents and three sisters, it is understood they have legal advice that under West Australia law, Matilda Rose is entitled to the lion's share" of his estate; its executors, Kim Ledger's former business colleague Robert John Collins and Geraldton, Western Australia accountant William Mark Dyson, "have applied for probate in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in Perth, Western Australia, advertising "for 'creditors and other persons' having claims on the estate to lodge them by 11 August 2008 ... to ensure all debts are paid before the estate is distributed...." According to this report by Fife-Yeomans and earlier reports citing Ledger's uncles, Although Gilliam temporarily suspended production on the latter film, 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," and the three actors have donated their fees for the film to Ledger's and Williams' daughter.
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." 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.
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. Even film critic David Denby (film critic), 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." 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." 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 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination in recognition of Ledger's achievement in his penultimate film.
Posthumous awards
Ledger shared the Independent Spirit Awards 2007 Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director of the film
I'm Not There; it was presented at the ceremony for the Independent Spirit Awards 2007, on 23 February 2008, at which director Todd Haynes, in accepting the award, the other cast members, and other actors dedicated their awards to him, and presenters also honored him with tributes.
, music videos directed by Ledger.
- (2006) "Morning Yearning," song by Ben Harper, video directed by Ledger.
- (2007) "Black Eyed Dog," directed by and featuring Ledger. Short film set to 1974 song about depression written by Nick Drake
- (2007) "King Rat (song)" by Modest Mouse, directed by Terry Gilliam and featuring Ledger (incomplete)
Television
{s
- - 2005 – Academy Award for Best Actor,
Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- Australian Film Institute Awards
- - 1999 – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role,
Two Hands (1999 film) (Nominated)
- - 2003 – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role,
Ned Kelly (2003 film) (Nominated)
- - 2006 – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role,
Candy (2006 film) (Nominated)
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts
- - 2006 – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role,
Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- Film Critics Circle of Australia
- - 2006 – Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 2006,
Candy (2006 film) (Nominated)
- Golden Globe Awards
- - 2006 – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama,
Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- Independent Spirit Awards
- - 2007 – Independent Spirit Awards 2007 Robert Altman Award,
I'm Not There (Won) – shared posthumously with rest of ensemble cast, director, and casting director at ceremony, telecast on 23 February 2008.
- - 2006 – Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor,
Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- Inside Film Awards
- - 2006 – Queensland Events Corporation IF Award for Best Actor,
Candy (2006 film) (Nominated)
- Las Vegas Film Critics Society
- - 2005 – Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor,
Brokeback Mountain (Won)
- MTV Movie Awards
- - 2006 – Best Kiss,
Brokeback Mountain (Won) – shared with Jake Gyllenhaal
- - 2002 – Best Kiss,
A Knight's Tale (film) (Nominated) – shared with Shannyn Sossamon
- - 2002 – Best Musical Sequence
A Knight's Tale (film) (Nominated) – shared with Shannyn Sossamon
- - 2000 – Best Musical Sequence
10 Things I Hate About You (Nominated)
- New York Film Critics Circle Award
- - 2005 – New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor,
Brokeback Mountain (Won)
- Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
- - 2005 – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor,
Brokeback Mountain (Won)
- San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
- - 2005 – San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor,
Brokeback Mountain (Won)
- Screen Actors Guild Awards
- - 2005 – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture,
Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- - 2005 – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Winners and Nominees,
Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)