heath ledger

poor heath ledger! RIP!!! :'(

Heath Ledger's death not suicide, says family



· Body found by masseuse and housekeeper
· Police initially rule out foul play
· 'Sleeping' pills found by bed
· Industry tributes flood in
· Websites crash on news

Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger, 28, has died of a possible drug overdose involving sleeping pills in New York, police have confirmed.

The actor was sick with pneumonia when he died, the TMZ.com website reports, saying it had been contacted by representatives of Ledger's family, who said they'd been told by police that the actor's death was accidental.

The representatives said the family was particularly distraught over media speculation that he may have taken his own life.

New York police said they could not confirm Ledger was suffering from pneumonia.

"This is the first I'm hearing that,'' Lieutenant John Grimpal, from the New York Police Department, told Macquarie Radio.

"The medical examiner, once he or she conducts an autopsy, will determine exactly the cause of death.''

He said police were continuing to treat the New York apartment, where Ledger was found dead, as a crime scene, but had initially ruled out foul play.

"Anytime someone dies, especially when they're so young, the detectives from the precinct conduct a thorough investigation just to rule out that criminality is not involved,'' Grimpal said. "Early on in the investigation it appears criminality is not involved.''

Found by housekeeper

Ledger was found naked and unconscious in his bed at his $US23,000 a month apartment on Broome Street, SoHo, in Manhattan, by his housekeeper and a masseuse about 3.35pm local time, when they knocked on his bedroom door and got no reply.

He had an appointment for a massage, said New York Police spokesman Paul Browne.

Ledger's body was removed and wheeled into the back of a medical examiner's van in front of a huge crowd, including media.

He was pronounced dead at 3.45pm (7.45am AEDT) by a medical examiner who went to the apartment.

New York police officer Martin Brown said investigators would most likely not know the cause of death until an autopsy was held on the body.

Asked if foul play had been ruled out, Officer Brown said it had not.

"That's what needs to be investigated," Brown said. "It takes a while. The medical examiner will do an autopsy and they will determine the cause of death."

Prescription pills in Ledger's name were "found around the body'' , said Lieutenant John Grimpel, of the New York Police Department. He said he believed they were sleeping pills.

Ledger's former partner Michelle Williams, who he met on the set of Brokeback Mountain and who he had daughter Matilda with, is reportedly on her way to New York after hearing of the death.

Problems sleeping

Ledger was taking sleeping pills after completing I'm Not There, in which he played one of the many incarnations of singer Bob Dylan.

He told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much'' during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy".

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the Times.

"I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour, the paper said.

Ledger's publicist Mara Buxbaum appealed for the media to not speculate on how Ledger died.

"We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident,'' Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement tonight.

"This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family's privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known.''

It's tragic, says PM

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the actor's death was a tragedy.

"It is tragic that we have lost one of our nation's finest actors in the prime of his life,'' Mr Rudd said in a statement.

Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman also spoke of their sadness and shock at the news.

The director of Ledger's last Australian movie, Candy, Neil Armfield, told ABC Radio he was "incredibly saddened" to hear of the 28-year-old's death.

"He was a young boy in many ways, still a boy when he left Perth and got into this whirlwind of his career," Armfield said.

"He handled his career incredibly well - he made a decision about four years ago to stop being led by producers and managers and to forge his own way. He started working with the most interesting directors. He was so successful at breaking out of the teen idol image.

"We saw with his relationship with the paparazzi that he was vulnerable and felt intensely invaded and got so unbelievably distressed. The photographers would try to push him into a reaction and he was a young man so he would react."

Stepmother in tears

Ledger's stepmother, Emma Brown, was in tears this morning.

Ms Brown, who married Kim Ledger last year, said the family was not ready to talk about her stepson's death.

"I'm sorry, we're not ready to talk," Ms Brown said, while crying.

The president of Warner Brothers said the film studio was devastated.

"The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news," Alan Horn said in a statement carried on the tmz.com website.

The studio is producing The Dark Knight.

"The entertainment community has lost an enormous talent.

"Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person. Our hearts go out to his family and friends."

Websites crash

Less than an hour after news of Ledger's death broke, fan sites including heathledger.net, heathbaby.com and heathledgercentral.com and heathledger.com had melted down and were inaccessible.

Messages of sorrow from fans are flooding unofficial Heath Ledger pages and fan groups on MySpace and Facebook. Already, at least two "R.I.P Heath Ledger'' Facebook groups have been created as memorials.

Ledger was born in Perth, Western Australia.

He had a two-year-old daughter, Matilda, with former fiancee and Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle Williams.

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts.

He was the son of Sally Ledger Bell, a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing car driver and mining engineer.

Hollywood star

Ledger was an Oscar nominee for his role in Brokeback Mountain and had numerous other screen credits.

His breakthrough role was the Australian movie Two Hands, directed by Gregor Jordan and in another movie from the same year, 10 Things I Hate about You, he established himself as an up-and-coming star.

Ledger's other film credits included A Knight's Tale, The Patriot and Monster's Ball.

He starred in I'm Not There, one of several actors playing a role representing Bob Dylan, and was due to appear as the Joker in the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight.

Ledger's death comes during the making of his latest movie The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam and in which he was to star alongside Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits.

Ledger had a difficult relationship with some sections of the media.

In 2004 he allegedly spat at and assaulted a photographer in Sydney. The retaliation was during the premier to Brokeback Mountain when photographers squirted him with water on the red carpet.

- with Ian Munro, Dan Ilic, Asher Moses, Paul Bibby, Edmund Tadros and agencies

R.I.P.

28 years old is too young to die. What a shame.

And I still don't even know who this person is (was)!

bobrob2004 wrote:

And I still don't even know who this person is (was)!

Neither do I

I think he was in Batman or something!

Or Spiderman?