Heath Ledger Found Dead in New York

[Dori]

Hi all,

So sad to hear the death of a young actor, leaving behind a small child and his fiance Michelle Williams.

nz.movies.yahoo.com/080122/9/3oxa.html

Dori

[fusilier23]

Actually I thought those 2 had split up. Tragic, but I'd be willing to bet on two things, one, that drugs were involved, and two, tomorrow EVERYBODY'S going to start in with the jokes, they always do when tragedy strikes.

This should be another memo that the age of the out of control young people is OVER.

[Joe]

Hello Dori and Fusilier,

Yes, another tragic loss of a rising star. Heath Ledger's acting talent was phenomenal. I hope that an investigation will shed some light on the events leading to his death.

Joe

[adamm09]

Today is the first time I have read this thread and I feel the need to respond to it for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to express my shock and regret at the death of Heath. As an actor he reminded me so much of Marlon Brando. He exuded a fierce masculinity on screen but there was always a sense of vulnerability and intelligence underneath. It is a shame that more people will not have seen some of his fantastic work, such as 'Two Hands', 'Candy' and 'I’m Not There'.

The main reason I feel the need to write this ‘memo’ is in response to the misguided words of fusilier23. I find his comments about drugs, and in particular the statement "(t)his should be another memo that the age of the out of control people is OVER" to be incredibly naïve and somewhat ridiculous. Heath Ledger was a man who cared about his art and was not concerned about celebrity. He was an actor and wanted nothing else from his profession other than to do what he loved and what fulfilled him. I think fusilier23 is referring to the untalented, unintelligent, celebrity whores who have no passion for their work. Let’s hope they are OVER, but I fear not. Too many people want to obsess over people they don’t know, especially not artistically, and continue to buy the magazines that feed this sickness. Heath was never part of this crowd and it makes it even sadder that people like Britney linger on for idiots to read about, while a fine and true artist has been lost.

[fusilier23]

I do not consider my comments ridiculous, nor naive.

First of all, it's now public knowledge that what killed Heath was "acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine. ... We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications," and that comes right from the medical examiner's report. If that isn't drugs, I don't know what is.

And Heath had his share of behavioral issues, assaulting photographers and saying that West Virginia was still lynching people into the 80s, which was patently untrue.

As an actor he was ok, he could do something with a serious role, he did provide good support to Mel Gibson in The Patriot. His acting in Brokeback Mountain must have been decent, although I'm sure political considerations played into all the hype it got.

He may not have been as bad behavior-wise as some of these other celebrity whores like Britney, Paris and so on, but his personal life was far from blameless, fathering a child out of wedlock, the aforementioned public bad behavior, and apparently overdoing it with his art to the point where he needed drugs to sleep, which was ultimately what put him in a way-too-early grave.

I stand by my statement that his is a cautionary tale of what can happen to those who get too much too soon.