The Tragic Life of Heath Ledger
The Tragic Life of Heath Ledger
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Let us tell you why we’re so serious about this icon. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking closely at The Tragic Life of Heath Ledger. For this video essay, we’ll be detailing the short life of Australian actor Heath Ledger, from his humble beginnings to his critical success to his untimely death.
Life in Australia and Early Acting Career
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Heath Ledger came into this world on April 4th, 1979 in Perth, Australia to parents Sally and Kim Ledger, a French teacher and mining engineer, respectively. Along with his sister Kate, he was allegedly named after one of the lead characters in Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” his literary counterpart Heathcliff also suffering a tragic fate. Though talented and promising in various sports like field hockey, Ledger shifted his focus to acting at a young age to cope with the divorce of his parents. His first role came at age ten when he played the lead in a production of “Peter Pan,” and it wouldn’t be much longer before he went professional. At the age of sixteen, Ledger wrote his graduation exams early so he and his friend Trevor DiCarlo could travel cross-country to Sydney to pursue an acting career. There, he landed a main role on the teen drama “Sweat” and a recurring one on the long-running soap opera “Home and Away.” However, it was his time on the quickly canceled fantasy series “Roar,” alongside future stars Vera Farmiga and Keri Russell, that exposed him to the kind of audiences he’d need to establish long-lasting popularity. While on the show, Ledger began dating co-star Lisa Zane, and despite her being eighteen years his senior, a then 19 year old Ledger relocated to Los Angeles.
Mainstream Success
Once in America, Ledger soon found himself something of a heartthrob, starring in the teen comedy “10 Things I Hate About You” alongside Julia Stiles. This in turn would open the door for even bigger movies like Roland Emmerich’s “The Patriot” and the now-cult classic “A Knight’s Tale.” Despite achieving leading-man status, Ledger wasn’t one to revel in his newfound fame. He was often described as being a very humble and shy person, and these qualities didn’t entirely lend themselves to that of a megastar persona. Always one to remain private, Ledger found himself clashing with the press in 2004 when it was reported that either he or a family member had spat at journalists around the filming of the movie “Candy.” Ledger denied this, however he continually found himself uncomfortable and nervous when making public appearances be he on talk shows or presenting awards. In a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone, Ledger stated that he “wanted to take the blond out of [his] career, kill the direction it was going.” Turns out he’d get his wish, if only for a little while, as roles in the likes of “Ned Kelly” and “Lords of Dogtown” would rough him up the way he wanted. However, he was back on the map in 2005 following his critically lauded turn in the then-controversial “Brokeback Mountain,” from which he garnered his first Academy Award nomination.
Health Issues and Personal Life
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Not only would his career flourish from his time working on the romantic drama, but so would his love life, as he began dating co-star Michelle Williams in 2004. In October of 2005, just a few months before the film’s release, the two welcomed a daughter in the form of Matilda Rose. To complete the “Brokeback” connections, their co-star Jake Gyllenhaal was immediately named a godparent alongside Williams’s fellow “Dawson’s Creek” alum Busy Philipps. Soon thereafter, Ledger sold his home in New South Wales to live with Williams in their house in Brooklyn, though the couple would later split in September of 2007. During their time together, Ledger was reported to suffer from severe insomnia, sometimes getting as little as two hours of sleep per night. Williams would later confirm this after his death, describing his mind as “turning, turning, turning – always turning.” With sleeping medications such as Ambien proving ineffective, Ledger attributed the cause being his most recent roles in “I’m Not There” and “The Dark Knight,” claiming they’d taken something of a toll on him. If certain news outlets are to be believed, however, sleeping medications were the least of his worries, as he was reported to be abusing heavier drugs like heroin and cocaine as well. There was some speculation that Ledger’s drug use resulted in Williams asking him to move out of their Brooklyn apartment following his refusal to receive treatment, though those claims were later refuted by Ledger’s publicist.
Death & Investigation
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Tragedy struck on January 22, 2008, when Ledger’s housekeeper and his masseuse discovered the actor unconscious in his Manhattan apartment. A call was quickly made to Ledger’s close friend Mary-Kate Olsen, who sent over a private security guard, however his masseuse then dialed 9-1-1 to report that he was not breathing. Attempts were made by paramedics to revive him, however Ledger was declared dead at the scene roughly thirty minutes after being found. Needless to say, news of Ledger’s death at the age of twenty-eight shocked the world at large, and speculation into the cause quickly began circulating. An autopsy and toxicology report released some two weeks later asserted that Ledger suffered what was likely an accidental overdose of six separate medications, which in addition to insomnia could have been prescribed to combat afflictions such as pain and anxiety. With many looking to find culpability in Ledger possessing those drugs, an investigation was promptly launched. Roughly one month later, the DEA exonerated two American physicians who had “prescribed Ledger other medications – not the pills that killed him.” Olsen was reportedly investigated in regard to the medications, however she refused to be interviewed without immunity from prosecution, and statements released by her attorney claimed she knew nothing of how Ledger obtained the medications that led to his death. Without further viable leads, the investigation was officially closed in August of 2008.
Posthumous Releases
With “The Dark Knight” already set to be the summer of 2008’s biggest blockbuster, the passing of Heath Ledger only amplified anticipation of the release that much more. Though many fans were initially dubious of Ledger’s casting as the Joker, subsequent trailers and the finished film itself fully turned around their impressions to the point that his interpretation is now often cited as the gold standard take of the character. While the movie as a whole was widely praised, Ledger in particular was singled out as having stolen each and every scene he was in with his unnerving and mesmerizing turn. Though many speculate just what role Ledger’s death played in the film’s reception – and we’ll never really know – this was followed by the bestowing of numerous posthumous awards, including the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Though his turn in “The Dark Knight” is commonly called his finest, his last was yet to come as his unexpected passing halted the production of Terry Gilliam’s fantasy film “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.” With much of Ledger’s work left incomplete, Gilliam rewrote the script whereby his character would change forms upon traveling to different realms, where he would be played by the likes of Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. The film was thus salvaged, and released in the fall of 2009, with Ledger’s replacements each donating their pay to his daughter Matilda Rose. Though we were ultimately able to appreciate Heath Ledger’s final film appearances, it is evident that his finest roles as an actor could have been very well ahead of him. That said, we think we speak for everyone when we say we were thankful to have him for the short time we had him in this world.
