Heath Ledger found dead

Australian actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at the age of 28 in his apartment in New York. He was discovered by his housekeeper at 3.30pm on 22nd January and police are investigating the possibility of a drug overdose as there were prescription pills found near his bedside

He had just completed work on the new Batman film ‘The Dark Knight’, in which he was starring as The Joker, and he was in London only last week shooting for Terry Gilliam's new film ‘The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus’.

Heath Ledger was the classic example of a young actor who had established an amiable niche in teen pictures like ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’ and ‘A Knight’s Tale’, but instead of cashing in on the subsequent popularity he garnered in those films, he decided to broaden his acting range, using this solid grounding to develop into one of Hollywood 's most daring and subtle actors.

As many have noted, the role for which he is likely to be remembered is his portrayal of the cautious and emotionally cloistered gay cowboy Ennis del Mar in Ang Lee’s 2005 film, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ where he delivered a brutal and devastatingly honest performance which was obviously the work of an actor whose handle on his own emotional terrain was above and beyond that of his many peers. With excellent turns in Neil Armfield's recent Australian heroin addict yarn 'Candy', and Todd Haynes' skewed Bob Dylan biopic, 'I'm Not There', it's difficult to imagine that we had seen the best of this eminently talented actor. Suffice to say, he will be sorely missed.

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