I feel I should have written a spotlight feature on Heath a long time ago because he’s been one of my favourite actors since I saw him in “10 Things I Hate About You” with Julia Stiles back in 1999, but now saying that he’s one of my favourites has somehow lost its meaning.  I am still grieving his loss and mourn for his family and close friends and every fan that will never get to see him in future award nominated and winning performances.  My heart is broken for his two year old daughter Matilda Rose (who is the spitting image of him), his ex-girlfriend and Matilda’s mother, actress Michelle Williams, his parents Kim and Sally, sister Kate, step-parents, two half-sisters Olivia and Ashleigh, uncle Neil Bell, best friend Jake Gyllenhaal…and everyone who knew him, loved him and was touched by his presence.  When I read the following quote from Michelle Williams, my eyes well up again…

"I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father,'' Williams, 27, said.  "All I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day.  His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals and takes steps two at a time, and know he's with us still. She'll be brought up in the best memories of him."

Heath Ledger has been described as being of Irish and Scottish ancestry, shy, quiet, private, down-to-earth, kind, polite, a ladies man with a preference for older women (he dated Heather Graham and Naomi Watts among others), playful, funny, a loving father, intense, restless, troubled, prone to excess and riddled with demons.  As fans, we didn’t really know him and we don’t even know at this point what his official cause of death was, but it doesn’t matter, does it?  Knowing won’t bring him back.  The only thing we can do is celebrate his body of work, revisit it often, and crown him a 21st Century James Dean.  His memory, through the magic of celluloid, will live on forever.

Heath Andrew Ledger was born April 4, 1979 in Perth, Western Australia (Ledger called it, “the most isolated city in the world.”) where he discovered his penchant for drama in high school.  Although his race car designer father wanted him to race cars, he dropped out at 17 to head to Sydney to pursue acting.  Within three years he was starring in a television series created by Shaun Cassidy called “Roar” (1997-2000) as Conor, a young Irish chieftain fighting against Roman occupation in Hibernia.  Heath became a  teen sensation in North America with his interpretation of Patrick Verona in a hip remake of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” entitled “10 Things I Hate About You.”  His 6’1”, well chiseled frame, shock of brown curly hair (often coloured blond), sexy, husky voice, Aussie accent and devastatingly charming smile sent females everywhere into a tizzy and turned him into an immediate sex symbol, but Heath never bought into that.  He wanted to be an actor, not a poster boy.  He followed that auspicious role with an exciting performance as Jimmy in the slick Australian crime drama, “Two Hands” co-starring Bryan Brown and Rose Byrne. 

"I only do this because I'm having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away. I wasn't going to have fun doing a teen movie again.... I don't want to do this for the rest of my life....I don't want to spend the rest of my youth doing this in this industry. There's so much I want to discover." - Vanity Fair (August 2000)

It’s now common knowledge that Mel Gibson hand-picked Ledger to star as his son Gabriel in “The Patriot” in 2000 and that he had high hopes for Ledger’s career.  I vividly remember the ad taken out in Rolling Stone (HE WILL ROCK YOU.) extolling the virtues of handsome and talented Heath in his star-making role as William Thatcher in the immensely enjoyable 2001 movie, “A Knight’s Tale”, which remains my favourite of Heath’s because his charisma and joie de vivre has never been more evident.

Heath made some odd choices in the roles that followed but no matter how good or bad the movie was he was compelling to watch and excellent in it even though he couldn’t believe that himself.  After witnessing his unforgettable and dangerous character in “Monster’s Ball”, I was blown away by his fearlessness and convinced that he would some day win the Academy Award for Best Actor.  I never managed to sit through all of “The Four Feathers” as I found it boring but I’m sure I will make another effort in the future to pay attention to his accomplishment.  He was outstanding as “Ned Kelly,” the legendary Australian outlaw, although the film itself left a lot to be desired and the same can be said for the horror flic, “The Order.”  He was perfect as a stoner surfer guru in “Lords of Dogtown” and enjoyable in “The Brothers Grimm” although the movie was pretty grim and another one I couldn’t seem to get all the way through. 

It was his Oscar nominated performance as Ennis Del Mar in “that gay cowboy movie”, “Brokeback Mountain,” in 2005 that cemented his status as one of the leading actors of his generation and gave us all a glimpse of the possibilities for his future.  I was once again delighted by his magnetic portrayal of “Casanova” in 2005, co-starring Sienna Miller and Oliver Platt, as I prefer Heath in his light-hearted films.  Every time he smiled on screen, his face shone, his brown eyes sparkled and I fell in love with him again. 

I have yet to see the drama “Candy” in which he becomes a heroin-addicted poet but I’ve heard he’s amazing (I have no doubt) so I’ll be renting that soon and can’t wait to see his final performances in the 2007 Bob Dylan rumination, “I’m Not There,” co-starring Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale.  My friend Yvonne Anderson’s son Graham Cuthbertson had a bit part in that movie in which he shared a scene with Heath and was able to spend some time talking with him on set.  And of course, his soon to be infamous role as The Joker in Christopher Nolen’s “The Dark Knight”, (the follow-up to “Batman Begins” starring Christian Bale) is set for release this coming summer.  Heath described The Joker as “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy” and it could very well be the part that sent him over the edge.  It remains to be seen whether or not we will ever see his last role in Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” although I read that Gilliam’s doing everything he can to salvage Heath’s work in it.

That’s it…such a finite filmography for an enigmatic young man who had a brilliant future ahead of him, even if while in the throes of chronic insomnia, acute anxiety and lengthy separations from his loved ones, he didn’t feel like it. 

“I'm not good at future planning. I don't plan at all. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. I don't have a day planner and I don't have a diary. I completely live in the now, not in the past, not in the future.”

To say that Heath Ledger will be sorely missed by so many is a grievous understatement but he will be remembered by me, always.

www.heathbaby.com
www.heathheathens.net/portal.html
www.myspace.com/heathaledger
www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9448111/heath_ledger_lonesome_cowboy

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