Heath Ledger
(1979-2008)

Heath Ledger as Ennis del Mar in 'Brokeback Mountain'
Copyright © per Brokeback Mountain Official WWW site

The tragic death of actor Heath Ledger on January 22nd in New York City, at the ridiculously young age of 28, has echoes of film legend James Dean's equally untimely death over 50 years ago. Gradually building a glorious career, Heath's role as the Joker in the summer 2008 release 'Dark Knight' was reckoned to be his greatest performance yet. He was in the middle of filming for the Terry Gilliam film, 'The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus'.

Born in Perth, Western Australia, on April 4th, 1979, Heath Ledger was christened Heathcliff Andrew Ledger, after the male character in Emily Bronte's classic novel, 'Wuthering Heights' (sister Kate was named after the Cathy character of the same novel).

Heath's acting career began at the age of 10, when he played Peter Pan in a school production. He went on to appear in long-running Aussie soap 'Home And Away', and started to get rave notices for his performance in 2001 movie, 'A Knight's Tale'. However, it was as gay cowboy Ennis del Mar in 'Brokeback Mountain' in 2005, which put him in the upper echelon of young film stars, and gained him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Causes of Death
Police revealed that they had found prescription medication in Heath's bathroom, and said they didn't suspect foul play, but that there were "no obvious signs" of suicide either.

Quotes

Family Statement
"We, Heath's family, confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda, who was found in a peaceful sleep in his New York apartment by his housekeeper at 3:30pm (New York Time). We would like to thank our friends and everyone around the world for their kind wishes at this time. Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life, but few had the pleasure to truly know him. He was a down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and unselfish individual who was an extreme inspiration to many. Please now respect our family's need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
"It was with great sadness that I have learned of the passing of Heath Ledger... It is tragic that we have lost one of our nation's finest actors in the prime of his life."

Former partner Michelle Williams was said to be "devastated".

- Paul Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com.

In Memory of Heath Ledger
By Natalie Williams, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Were you broken?
Lost to the winds of time?
Fair of hair, fair of heart?
Were you torn apart, torn and broken, torn ashamed?
Dying sleeping, dying dreaming, dying painless,
and yet in pain?
Were you slain?
Slain, and what did you gain?
Curls of winter, summer and spring,
did you lose everything?
And all the seasons and new beginnings
that were lost and came to pass?
Did your time end too fast?
Did you awaken, when morning was breaking,
and as midday turned to afternoon?
You died too soon....

© Copyright Natalie Williams, January 23rd 2008.

Natalie Williams

Natalie Williams Biography

Natalie Williams is of African/Irish ethnicity and was born in 1981 in Harare, Zimbabwe and lived a life immersed in creative activity, from music, singing training, creative writing, school newspaper production and editing and acting. She won an Honours Eisteddfod award for the poem ‘The Thicket and The Musgrove’ at the age of 9, with various other poems/stories printed in local newspapers and magazines. Writing is her passion, finding inspiration by dark fantasy, story telling and poetry, developing ideas formed by simplicity and warmed to readiness with imagination.

Her inspirations at a young age came from Tolkien, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, poetry by Walter de la Mare and Edgar Allan Poe. Finding herself immersed in a world where bad/good combined seem to form a new reality has provided her with inspirations for some of her most prized pieces of work; published poet, aspiring novelist and fictional writer.

For more information; please see Natalie Williams’ website on www.natalie-williams.com or to contact nataliewilliams-gypsybutterfly@hotmail.co.uk

Heath Ledger Filmography
(most recent films listed first)

The Dark Knight (2008) Character - The Joker
I'm Not There. (2007) Character - Robbie Clark
Candy (2006) Character - Dan
Casanova (2005) Character - Casanova
Brokeback Mountain (2005) Character - Ennis Del Mar
The Brothers Grimm (2005) Character - Jacob Grimm
Lords of Dogtown (2005) Character - Skip
The Order (2003) Character - Alex Bernier
Ned Kelly (2003) Character - Ned Kelly
The Four Feathers (2002) Character - Harry Faversham
Monster's Ball (2001) Character - Sonny Grotowski
A Knight's Tale (2001) Character - Sir William Thatcher / Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland
The Patriot (2000) Character - Gabriel Martin
Roar (TV Series) (1997-2000) Character - Conor
Two Hands (1999) Character - Jimmy
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) Character - Patrick Verona
Home and Away (TV Series) (1997) Character - Scott Irwin
Paws (1997) Character - Oberon
Blackrock (1997) Character - Toby Ackland
Sweat (TV Series) (1996) Character - Snowy Bowles
Ship to Shore (TV Series) (1993) Character - Cyclist (unknown episodes)
Clowning Around (1992)