From MSNBC:
Heath Ledger found dead in NYC apartment
28-year-old actor was nominated for Oscar for ‘Brokeback Mountain’
Breaking news
MSNBC News Services
updated 4 minutes ago
NEW YORK - A New York Police Department spokesman says the actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at a downtown Manhattan residence.

According to TMZ.com, Ledger, 28, was found dead in his bed in one of his residences in Soho by his housekeeper at 3:35 p.m. ET Tuesday.

The actor has a two-year-old daughter with former fiancee Michelle Williams. Ledger was set to play the Joker in the upcoming Batman film "The Dark Knight." He received an Academy Award nomination for his work in "Brokeback Mountain."

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive

Holy crap.
:confused: :cry:

Yeah,I was stunned!

Yeah we're all blown away here at my work too....

Wow, that's a shock.

Don't want to sound shallow, but how's that going to affect the release of [/]The Dark Knight[/i]?

The LA Times is treating it as a drug-related death. I hope they're wrong, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

What a terrible waste if that turns out to be the case.

Terribly sad, especially as his performance in the upcoming Batman movie might have propelled him into the big league.
It all brings to mind the death of River Phoenix, another hugely talented young actor who could have become a great one...

Yeah we're all blown away here at my work too....

No pun intended I'm sure.

DAMN!! He was a great actor at least I tought so.. What a shame...

The LA Times is treating it as a drug-related death. I hope they're wrong, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

What a terrible waste if that turns out to be the case.

Found naked on the bed with pills scattered around. I say it's a good chance it was drug related.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Ledger

Dang! That's very tragic. I agree with Miniature Sun, Ledger was on the cusp of the big leagues.

I was really, really looking forward to his take on the Joker-still am. That's such a shame and completely out of left field.

Now they're saying it may have been suicide.

Wow, that's a shock.

Don't want to sound shallow, but how's that going to affect the release of [/]The Dark Knight[/i]?Well, equally wanting not to sound shallow, but since the movie is to be released a few months from now, I'd guess that at least principal photography was done, if not all the filming.

Terribly sad news.

Qapla'

SSB

Yeah right. What a Joker!

Yet another actor with the wrong hobby.
I don't think I've ever seen him in anything. But easy for the movie to match up a guy in whiteface, and it's a guaranteed hit now.

I take it there there'll be no sequel. I guess he's off to that great arkham asylum in the sky. [that's right. I went there.]

Yet another actor with the wrong hobby.CNN reported that Ledger was not known to be a drug user. However, he had told several people recently that he was having trouble sleeping recently because he was "disturbed" by playing The Joker, a psychopath with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and because of his hectic traveling schedule. He was reported to have tried Ambien (a prescription sleep aid) which he said didn't work, but the pills found in the apartment are believed to be over-the-counter sleeping pills, not Ambien. When all is said and done, I'm guessing the official C.O.D. will be listed as accidental overdose.

Apparently he was being treated for pneumonia too, so it might not be as unseemly as it initially appeared. Sad either way.

Well, equally wanting not to sound shallow, but since the movie is to be released a few months from now, I'd guess that at least principal photography was done, if not all the filming.

Terribly sad news.

Qapla'

SSB

E! News says "Shooting on The Dark Knight, the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, is complete. The movie is due out July 18."

It's going to be bittersweet seeing this film. I'll miss the guy. He was headed for the majors no doubt.

Aw, crap.

Very, very sorry to hear about this. The most current evidence seems to point toward an accidental overdose.

Umm...

Who?

I had never heard of this guy until the news report.
Why is it such a shock if he wasn't a big star?
What was he in?
Where is he from/what was he known for?

Umm...

Who?

I had never heard of this guy until the news report.
Why is it such a shock if he wasn't a big star?
What was he in?
Where is he from/what was he known for?
well among other things, he was nominated for an oscar for brokeback mountain.
i'm really amazed that you havent heard anything on the hype surrounding him playing the joker in the next batman movie.

Umm...

Who?

I had never heard of this guy until the news report.
Why is it such a shock if he wasn't a big star?
What was he in?
Where is he from/what was he known for?

Actually some one doesn't have to be a big star for people to be shocked by their death.
I have seen plenty of lesser known actors deaths make folks shocked.

Perhaps razor is confused by the name HEALTH in the thread topic. Although I have heard of him I cant recall seeing any movies he was in. It appears to be accidental at this time.

Ah crap!
A Knight's Tale is one of my favorite films. I always stop when i turn the dial and find it's on.

Plus I read where his part in Batman is finished, so it won't impact the release but it will cast a shadow on watching the film.

Once again the ugly shadow of Method Acting rears its head.

Heath, dude, you were just play-acting, no reason to let it ruin your life!

Perhaps razor is confused by the name HEALTH in the thread topic. Although I have heard of him I cant recall seeing any movies he was in. It appears to be accidental at this time.
i think youre confusing me with captfrank... talk about identity crisis!

Wow...I didn't even notice the Health misspelling

And I can't edit it. CRAP!

I never saw Brokeback Mountain and I'm not a fan of this actor. But, I hate to hear stories about people killing themselves. It's a selfish thing to do and it messes up your friend's and family's psychologically. Suicide is not an honorable way to leave this planet like dying as a soldier is. Most actors that have made it to the big screen usually plenty of money coming out of their ears, so they really don't have a reason to complain. I've met plenty of actors that are waiting on tables that would love to have the opportunity that this guy had in his career.

Umm...

Who?

I had never heard of this guy until the news report.
Why is it such a shock if he wasn't a big star?
What was he in?
Where is he from/what was he known for?

His claim to fame was 1/2 of the "Brokeback Mountain" couple. :devil:

also in The Patriot , and Knight's Tale . upcoming as the Joker in the new Batman flick .
hb

I never saw Brokeback Mountain and I'm not a fan of this actor. But, I hate to hear stories about people killing themselves. It's a selfish thing to do and it messes up your friend's and family's psychologically. Suicide is not an honorable way to leave this planet like dying as a soldier is. Most actors that have made it to the big screen usually plenty of money coming out of their ears, so they really don't have a reason to complain. I've met plenty of actors that are waiting on tables that would love to have the opportunity that this guy had in his career.

I haven't heard any indications that Mr. Ledger committed suicide. Indications seem to be that his death was accidental.

Yes, roland, all indications are an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. He'd been having trouble sleeping for some time, and apparently overmedicated.

I had the same trouble about 10 years ago, and lemme tell ya, when it's the 3rd week in a row with only a few hours sleep per night, your judgement about how many Ambien to pop goes south.

Agree with JohnP completely. If you've never suffered from imsomnia, then you really can't be in a position to judge. I've gone through two bouts of sleeplessness. I treated the first, which was about 15 years ago, with sleeping pills and let me tell you those things are hideous. They knock you out completely and yeah, you sleep, but you don't rest. What's worse is that you begin to believe you can't fall asleep without them. After a couple of weeks of those pills I decided going without sleep was the lesser evil so I stopped taking them. While I wasn't the most functioning human being, eventually that went away and was able to sleep through the night.

The second time imsomnia hit, about 7 years ago, I decided to ride it out. It lasted about two months and those were brutal. In the middle of night you can't tell what's right from wrong.

He was also in "The Brothers Grimm", which I thought was pretty cool, and had a smaller part in "Lords of Dogtown" a great movie about the evolution of skateboarding.

Not sure why a few people feel the need to bash the guy.

His claim to fame was 1/2 of the "Brokeback Mountain" couple. :devil:

Nyuk, Nyuk. I hear there's going to be fight under the water tower during 8th Grade recess!

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Tests on a $20 bill found at the Lower Manhattan apartment where "Brokeback Mountain" actor Heath Ledger died yielded no drug residue, New York Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

The bill was collected to see whether it had been used to snort illegal drugs because of the way it was folded, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said earlier.

The Academy Award-nominated actor was found dead Tuesday. He was 28.

An autopsy Wednesday morning was inconclusive, and a cause-of-death determination will take 10 to 14 days, a medical examiner's spokeswoman said.

"There were no illegal drugs found"in the apartment, Kelly said on Wednesday. He said there were prescription drugs, in their bottles, not strewn around as previously reported.

Two law enforcement officials who asked not to be named said six types of prescription drugs, including an antihistamine and pills to treat anxiety and insomnia, were found in the apartment, according to The Associated Press.

A publicist for Ledger told CNN Thursday that the actor was suffering from the flu and had been prescribed antibiotics during recent filming for "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" in London.

New details are emerging about the moments before and after Ledger's death.

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_TL.gif
The masseuse who discovered Ledger's body at the apartment at 421 Broome St. in SoHo called actress Mary-Kate Olsen, a friend of Ledger's, twice before calling 911, a police source with knowledge of the investigation said.


A housekeeper, identified by the source as Teresa Solomon, arrived at the apartment about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, the police source said.

She went into Ledger's bedroom to change a light bulb in an adjoining bathroom about 1 p.m., saw him on the bed face down with a sheet pulled up around his shoulders and heard him snoring, the source said.

Masseuse Diana Wolozin arrived at the apartment about 2:45 p.m. to give Ledger a massage, according to the police source. About 15 minutes later, when he had not come out of the bedroom and the door remained closed, she went in, saw him lying in bed, and set up a massage table nearby.

She shook Ledger, but he did not respond, so she used his cell phone to call Olsen in California, knowing Olsen was a friend of Ledger's, the source said.

Wolozin told Olsen that Ledger was unconscious, according to the NYPD source.

Olsen told her she would call private security people in New York. After getting off the phone, Wolozin tried to wake Ledger again, then called Olsen back to tell her she believed the situation was an emergency and was calling 911.
In the 911 call, at 3:26 p.m., Wolozin told authorities Ledger was not breathing. While on the phone with dispatchers, Wolozin tried to perform CPR on Ledger, but he was unresponsive.

Emergency personnel arrived seven minutes later, according to the police source, at about the same time as a private security person summoned by Olsen.

The medical technicians performed CPR on Ledger and used a cardiac defibrillator, but their efforts were in vain and he was pronounced dead at 3:36 p.m. By then, two other private security people summoned by Olsen had arrived, as well as police.

Olsen is not the apartment's owner, as had been reported, her publicist told CNN.

Ledger's body was taken to the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in Manhattan, the mortuary confirmed to CNN. No funeral arrangements have been made public.

Ledger's family on Wednesday called his death "very tragic, untimely and accidental."

Ledger's former fiancee, actress Michelle Williams, returned with their 2-year-old daughter, Matilda, to her Brooklyn home Wednesday night. She has been filming a movie in Sweden.

Condolences poured in from Ledger's friends and co-stars.

"He was a wonderful guy, he was a wonderful actor, he had a wonderful future ahead of him, and I liked him," actor Eric Roberts said Wednesday on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Roberts worked with Ledger in "The Dark Knight," the latest installment in the Batman series. The film is to open in July.

The role as arch villain The Joker disturbed Ledger, according to The Associated Press. He called the character a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"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.

Ledger was born in Perth, Australia, and named Heathcliff Andrew after the main characters of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights." He began acting at a local theater as a child.

Ledger's first American film was the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You" in 1999, and he immediately attracted attention from Hollywood. He passed up several scripts before taking a role in the Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot" in 2000 and "A Knight's Tale" in 2001. He also played a supporting role in "Monster's Ball," among other films.

But Ledger was perhaps best known for his 2005 portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," about two cowboys who had a secret romantic relationship. The role earned him an Oscar nomination.

Asked how he felt about filming love scenes with another man, Ledger said he and his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal simply focused on their roles.

"We can't say that we weren't nervous about it," Ledger told Oprah Winfrey in 2006. "But once the first take was over, it's like, 'OK. So what? It's kissing another human being. How are we going to finish this scene? Let's get on with it and let's get out of here.' "

In light of Ledger's death, President Bush on Wednesday postponed an event surrounding the launch of a public-service ad campaign warning against the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

"We thought it would be better to postpone the event rather than run the risk of anyone thinking that we were being opportunistic in highlighting the issue," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Nyuk, Nyuk. I hear there's going to be fight under the water tower during 8th Grade recess!

Yea, but those in grade school will miss it. I'll let you know what happened.

The role as arch villain The Joker disturbed Ledger, according to The Associated Press. He called the character a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"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."



I guess someone should have told him he was playing a part. He must have been a method actor.

Yes, roland, all indications are an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. He'd been having trouble sleeping for some time, and apparently overmedicated.

I had the same trouble about 10 years ago, and lemme tell ya, when it's the 3rd week in a row with only a few hours sleep per night, your judgement about how many Ambien to pop goes south.If you've never suffered from imsomnia, then you really can't be in a position to judge.Amen to that. I've suffered from insomnia on a regular basis for more than 10 years now. I can't take anything for it because I'm extremely sensitive to even the most mild sedative so, if I take any medications, once I'm asleep it's very difficult to wake, and when I do I'm drowsy throughout the day. Sometimes I'll go for several days with little to no sleep, then suddenly sleep 14-18 hours straight. Lemme tell ya', it's not fun--as John stated, sleep deprivation can really affect your judgement.

Ambien makes you do weird things like talk and walk around and have no memory of it until your spouse tells you the next day. I switched to Rozerem.

I guess someone should have told him he was playing a part. He must have been a method actor.

Ambien makes you do weird things like talk and walk around and have no memory of it until your spouse tells you the next day. I switched to Rozerem.

So, you must be a method actor.

Oops, I 'll eat my words. I didn't read the news stories, but, someone told me it was a suicide. If the guy was happy, it probably was an accident.

To be honest, I had insomnia for a month or so. But, I never took sleeping pills for it. My wife has bad insomnia which she has taken pills for in the past. They don't seem to work that great. But, they sure have killled alot of people accidentally and on purpose.

Oops, I 'll eat my words. I didn't read the news stories, but, someone told me it was a suicide. If the guy was happy, it probably was an accident.

To be honest, I had insomnia for a month or so. But, I never took sleeping pills for it. My wife has bad insomnia which she has taken pills for in the past. They don't seem to work that great. But, they sure have killled alot of people accidentally and on purpose.

Hollywood stars tend to have disproportionately more problems with drugs, alcohol and mental illness than the average joe. Anytime a Hollywood type takes a dirt nap before he's 40, it's not a surprise when drugs are involved. Accident or not. The current crop of young stars are just are a lot of snivelling, worthless, spoiled crybaby's.

Can he still join the 27 club, even though he was a year too old?

Hollywood stars tend to have disproportionately more problems with drugs, alcohol and mental illness than the average joe. Anytime a Hollywood type takes a dirt nap before he's 40, it's not a surprise when drugs are involved. Accident or not.The current crop of young stars are just are a lot of snivelling, worthless, spoiled crybaby's.

Ambien makes you do weird things like talk and walk around and have no memory of it until your spouse tells you the next day. I switched to Rozerem..



???????? :confused: :freak:

???????? :confused: :freak:

:lol:

Many actors work best by inhabiting their roles. Heck, even Leonard Nimoy did that when playing Spock. If you've seen the Mind Meld DVD with him and Shatner you can see where he talks about having such a difficult time disengaging Spock from his real life. Shatner expresses disbelief at this, but I believe it.

I think Heath was such an actor. He put a great deal of effort into inhabiting the character of the Joker and he's pure evil. Many can do this and easily switch it on and off, others can't.

Not saying that the film caused his death. I think if he was still with his ex and everything was rosey and he was sleeping, he'd still be here. Too sad.

Still trying to figger out what Mary Kate Olsen had to do with anything.