Actor Heath Ledger is found dead

[Niamh]

I was called into my sister only a few moments ago. Someone had just posted on another forum that Heath Ledger was found dead. Here is some info.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/actor-heath-ledger-is-found-dead/
I am saddened by this as he was a very talented actor and i've been a fan of his since i was a little teeny bopper. I hope he rests in Peace.

[Shalot]

I just heard that a few minutes ago. He just died a couple of hours ago. They said it was cardiac arrest. What a shame. That is two young actors to pass away in the past two weeks.

[Niamh]

Some of the articles on the web are saying that it was a possible suicide, as there were tablets beside him when he was found.

[LadyWentworth]

I must admit that I am in complete shock over this. I don't know why, but I kind of am. You know, when I first read the title of this thread, it was almost like I couldn't remember who he was until I read what you'd posted. I swear I think it was a little bit of shock.

I have to admit that some of what is written in that article is odd. I won't get into details, but you have to question a bit of what is written there. I just wonder what the official cause of his death will be.

I really do feel bad, though. He was one of the few young actors in Hollywood that could actually act nowadays. I always felt he had an old-time style to his acting. Sad. It really is sad. I feel so bad for his daughter now.

[Niamh]

Yeah he was very talented. I have been looking forward to seeing him as the joker in the new batman movie.
The first time i ever saw him in anything was a programme on TV called Roar, which was by the same person who brought the world Zena Warrior Princess... Of course the show was a load of rubbish, supposed to be based in Ireland, but he was really cute and the only reason why i watched it. And he was brilliant in The Brothers Grimm...:( So sad. What a waste, and now his daughter is going to grow up and not know her dad.

[LadyWentworth]

I just turned on the TV to see if anyone happened to be talking about it. A bunch of the news channels are talking about it. I am not one to say leave the celebrities alone when it comes to paparazzi. It never mattered much to me if they were hounded, BUT I always said to leave them alone when it comes to death. No matter if it is the death of someone they know or their own death. Give them a little respect for just a little while. It is ridiculous how the photographers are hanging around outside the apartment building!

Yeah. I keep thinking now how sad it is for his little girl. I didn't know that she was 2 years old already.

[Bakiryu]

No! It can't be! My mother and I were such fans of him, since he looked exactly like Wayner! (my brother)

[papayahed]

That's a darn shame.

[Chava]

What's this? I'm feeling a very odd sensation. Almost like he passing of a distant friend.

[Shalot]

I just turned on the TV to see if anyone happened to be talking about it. A bunch of the news channels are talking about it. I am not one to say leave the celebrities alone when it comes to paparazzi. It never mattered much to me if they were hounded, BUT I always said to leave them alone when it comes to death. No matter if it is the death of someone they know or their own death. Give them a little respect for just a little while. It is ridiculous how the photographers are hanging around outside the apartment building!

Yeah. I keep thinking now how sad it is for his little girl. I didn't know that she was 2 years old already.

It's just terrible the things people will say. They have no respect for the dead. Last week, Brad Renfro died. He is a Tennessee native and I guess maybe not as well known as Heath, but his career looked promising when he was younger, and it was big news here when he died. The local news web sites had articles about his death and readers posted their comments. There was speculation that Brad may have overdosed as he had trouble with substances before, and people wrote the most terrible things and that is so disrespectful. I was appalled and I felt so sorry for his family in case they did read what some of those people wrote.

And I guess it will be the same for Heath Ledger.

[Tersely]

We're watching it in CNN now. They are already saying things then retracting them. Its such a shame, he had alot of talent.

[Niamh]

yeah he had an awful lot more talent than most people in the industry these days...:( very sad. His poor family.

[Shea]

:eek2: No! He was such a talented actor. I really enjoyed the roles he played. What a terrible loss!

[vheissu]

This is really sad...:(

[Shalot]

this is really sad. I didn't see this one coming -- at all.

I think his best performance was Brokeback Mountain. I also liked Candy. I never saw this one coming.

[dramasnot6]

It is so sad when someone young,with oppurtunity and talent, dies. He had a small child, too.
It came as such a shock.

[Domer121]

It was much like the death of Marilyn Monroe. They found that he had ODed on Sleeping Pills. Another Hollywood Tragedy..
R.I.P Heath Ledger

[Takeahnase]

My friend mentioned this to me this morning, I didn't quite believe her and thought she was either joking or had gotten him confused with someone else. So like many, I was terribly shocked when I learnt it was true as it was so completely unexpected, at such a young age too and just when he was reaching the peak of his acting. My heart goes out to his family, losing someone's hard enough but to add to that all the media attention and people's speculations about why it happened etc., it must be extremely difficult to deal with. It's also very sad that his daughter's now going to grow up without a father.

Puts things into perspective for a little while, that's for sure. One minute someone's here... the next they're gone.

[amalia1985]

It is terrible. A man with a great, open mind, a lover of freedom, a talented young heart, lost...

[B-Mental]

I think it was a beautiful life he had...and it is very sad, but think of the life of River Phoenix...or Pat Tillman...those are sad beautiful lives.

When I almost drowned in New Zealand, there was a man floating in the ocean for 30 days, and that was far, far scarier than my almost drowning...that man's movie will be awesome when it is written...

I might have to go purchase "10 things I Hate About You". B

[Niamh]

no you should get brothers grimm. He is excellent in it.

[Shea]

I was reading an article about it today. It really sounds like it was an accident. Here's an excerpt from the article on cnn.com


At the time of his death, Ledger had just finished playing the villain The Joker in "The Dark Knight," the latest installment in the Batman series. The film is to open in July.

The role disturbed him, according to The Associated Press. He called The Joker a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." Watch Ledger discuss taking on challenging roles »

"Last week, I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

He said prescription sleeping pills didn't help, according to AP.

I hate the fact that they had to correct earlier reports, like pills scattered all over, or that he was on the floor, or who's apartment it was. He deserved more respect.

[Niamh]

His family announced earlier that his death was accidental. He'd been suffering from insomnia and the pills were prescribed for that purpose. He also had Pneumonia at the time and the combination of lack of sleep, pneumonia and sleeping pills possible is the cause of his death.

[LadyWentworth]

It was crazy because the reports were so mixed up. I really didn't think he commited sucide. After all, why would he have kept the appointment scheduled with the masseuse? I heard all of the drug rumors and so on and so forth. Then, in the middle of it all, I heard about his insomnia and pneumonia. I figured then that was the the cause somehow. I could be wrong, but it sounds like the chance of that being the cause of his death makes the most sense.

I am a fan of "Batman". I was definitely going to see "The Dark Knight" this summer. I said to my mother yesterday that I am annoyed that there will be non-fans going now just because. Then somenody on TV actually said this film was going to be a hit but it will definitely do well now. Isn't that crazy? And somewhat morbid, I think. I am always so irritated by people when someone dies. Say some singer released an album. It may not do too well among people that are not his true fans. Yet, if the singer died, the album reaches #1. For some reason, everyone has an interest in him now. I really hope people don't go to the theater to see that film because he died. It is one thing for me to say that people are apt to do that. It was another thing to have this woman on TV say that some people will be seeing it for that reason. I don't know if I am making sense. I just know that bothers me when people do that sort of thing.

It is like all of the people and photographers hanging around yesterday to get a glimpse or photo of his body being taken out of the building. It just bothers me.

[1n50mn14]

<3<3<3- A Knight's Tale. The first movie I ever saw him in, and still my favourite.

[RobinHood3000]

I really liked him in Casanova. I'm going to miss him. :(

Also, something of interest: http://news.smh.com.au/ledgers-sleeping-pill-controversial/20080123-1nou.html

Let's be charitable to the poor man, eh? The whole "pills about the body" image makes me feel a little queasy, and it conjures too many unfair implications.

[Niamh]

the media really gets to me when it comes to things like this. I mean, the poor man is dead, can they not just write nice things about him so people remember him better, as opposed to fueling peoples minds with all this stuff about pills etc and making it look like there was something dodgy going on. People should in the future be thinking, "heath Ledger, he was that really talented actor from Oz who died really young. What a tradgic accident." instead of "Heath ledger, wasnt he the actor found dead in a hotel room surrounded by pills?"
The media make me sick.:flare: Cant they for once write nice things out of respect of his poor family and loved ones!!!!

[Shalot]

the media really gets to me when it comes to things like this. I mean, the poor man is dead, can they not just write nice things about him so people remember him better, as opposed to fueling peoples minds with all this stuff about pills etc and making it look like there was something dodgy going on. People should in the future be thinking, "heath Ledger, he was that really talented actor from Oz who died really young. What a tradgic accident." instead of "Heath ledger, wasnt he the actor found dead in a hotel room surrounded by pills?"
The media make me sick.:flare: Cant they for once write nice things out of respect of his poor family and loved ones!!!!

No the media can't be nice to anyone. Nice doesn't sell papers and magazines I guess. Remember how Michael Hutchences from INXS died? How he died shouldn't have been published. Now I can't get it out of my head - every time I see his name or picture I can't help but think about the way he died.