Heath Ledger

I did not like Heath Ledger in his role as "Joker".

I confuse him with Val Kilmer. Can't tell you why.

It was that damn Olsen muppet and her giant purse full of drugs that lead to his death.

Maybe I'm crazy or maybe it is because I haven't lost a young acquaintance, but thinking about him always makes me melancholic and makes me feel like I grieve for something unspecified that I will never attain.

Bump!

He was weak. He needed dolls to wake up. He needed dolls to go to sleep. He needed dolls to lose weight. He couldn't divorce Lady Heroin.

Or maybe playing a homosexualist pushed him over the edge?

I loved him in "A Knight's Tale" with Rufus Swell and Paul Bettany.

He committed suicide because he knew his career was about to finish.

He was going bald. And you can't have hairless sex symbols.

He had bad body odor. I worked in the Disney casting office and he came in for a meeting and smelled bad. And this was early in his career.

R9 Please tell me more! What kind of meeting was that? Any interesting gossip?

R8, half the big actors over 35 have hair plugs or a wardrobe of toupees, baldness doesn't hurt an actor's career if he's willing to play the game.

Actually, Ledger's career seems to have been in good shape, he'd been nominated for all the Best Actor awards for "Brokeback Mountain", he had a sure hit coming up with the Batman movie, he was trying to move into directing, and had most definitely climbed out of the Teen Movie doldrums and Hollywood was taking him seriously. It's a shame he had to throw his life away, he was really going places.

This thread has been done a million times.

[quote]And if he had a big drug problem, why didn't his family stage an intervention?

Because Philip Seymour Hoffman refused to lend them the money to fly from Australia.

Heath Ledger at age 45.

I thought of him last night, when I was waking up in between deep-sleep phases. I am one year older now than he was when he died... If he had not been famous, he would probably still be alive, right?

Have you thought about caring for people you know, dear?

He was a client of a friend's father, a lawyer. She told me her father used to complain when Heath would come to the office because he never washed his hair and had poor hygiene. He had no idea why the women in the office would coo over him..

I think he would look quite handsome bald - like Ed Harris.

Being bald at in his 30s would have sent his career sideways.

I thought it was suspect when, right after Brokeback Mountain, he impregnated co-star Michelle Williams as if to prove he was straight, not gay! On top of that, IMO, Michelle Williams is really boring, like Carey Mulligan.

His eyes are close together; he was balding. He looks like he might have gotten fat as well. Meow!

Jake Gayllhnaals obit will read:

He was fucked in a tent by Oscar winner Heath Ledger.

It's arguable, but still surprising to me.

14 years later, and of the 4--Heath, Jake, AnnE, and Michelle....

Michelle is the one with the career.

His daughter Matilda looks just like him. You can't see Michelle at all.

Unpopular opinion: I didn’t like his Joker and thought the Oscar win was ridiculous.

I was so very sad when he died. We were born the same year. I always thought he was very cool. I’m still not “over” his death. I don’t cry about him or anything, but I don’t want to watch any of his movies because it’s too sad.

Reading about his hygiene choices in this thread has made me like him even more. YUM.

The poster upthread claiming benefits committed suicide over his hair loss and stalled career doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.

*claiming he committed suicide, Not “claiming benefits” WTF autocorrect

R25 Heath and his father had the bald gene.

When he died you would have thought Leonardo de vicini died. Like we lost someone important to art. Meanwhile we lost a drug addicted actor. Blah.

The hysteria over his death was ridiculous, as was his Oscar. But I know you’re not allowed to say that

Why did he use a stunt nude in Brokeback?

He didn't. Jake did.

r33 He didn't. Gyllenhaal did because he was fearful about jumping off the cliff.

Heath was buried in his hometown Perth, a place where he resembled every roof carpenter and every other bogan plumber, and thus he suffered from Tall Poppy Syndrome. He did get a mausoleum like building named after him: 'The Heath Ledger Theatre'.

Why would they name a theatre after him?

He was only on stage for a few weeks.

They get a large donation from his estate?

His career was damaged because he had an out of wedlock child

R4 you’re not alone. I get that feeling about Corey Haim, even though he was years older than me and I didn’t know him personally. Not sure how it is for you, but I know that I connect Haim’s death with a depressed period of my life when I was grieving my own youth and lost opportunities, rather than a specific actual death of someone else in my life.

.....

R7 learning that Paul Bettany was friends with that scumbag Johnny Depp ruined my crush on him, which began with his portrayal of Chaucer in A KNIGHT’S TALE.

Every other girl was gaga for Ledger in that film, but I always felt Bettany was the truly attractive man of the cast as well as the best character. I think it was the obviously-sharp intelligence and quick timing. I remember wanting him to read me poems🙈

[quote]Why would they name a theatre after him? He was only on stage for a few weeks.

I didn't know he ever did theatre.

Interventions don't usually work OP. The reason is everyone wants to participate in the "here's what's wrong with you" event, but then they are all to busy to be a part of what it really takes to help. Bring the person to the doctor, support groups, make them food, be with them every day or whatever it takes. They just want to shit on the individual and feel righteous they did something without the effort of months of work it would actually take to help.

Here's what's wrong with you, we all agree. Oh you want me to actually participate in your recovery? No that's you job.

So I take it he was a user of heroin, cocaine? Which drugs was he addicted to? What were the rumours in 2007, shortly before he died? Was he drug buddies with that Olsen skeleton?

[quote] was buried in his hometown Perth, a place where he resembled every roof carpenter and every other bogan plumber.

This description is spot on. He absolutely did look just like a young, sultry, trashy tradie. A bit gormless, to boot. Suppose that’s why Jake liked him so much; stupid hunky blue-collar types are gaynip, after all.

To me, he also resembled a bongo player out of a twee alternative band from the mid-90s. Say Frente!, or some such.

Can someone start a thread on that new Mark Wahlberg movie, Good Joe Bell, from the adapters of Brokeback Mountain? Where he plays the homophobic dad of a young gay teenager who is bullied and commits suicide?

I feel we need to start trashing this right. away.

R47 I just think it is very weird that he refused to do Brokeback because of its gay content and now suddenly he stars in a gay movie. I hope he doesn't win an Oscar for this!

You think it's weird that the early '00s was a different time socially to the year 2020?

He and Joseph Gordon-Levitt look related like Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg do

What about Boo Boo Stewart?

10 Things I Hate About You is one of the late 90s teen films that aged pretty good. Heath was definitely very pretty.

And had Heath not have died. He could have played Michael Hutchence in a biopic.

He and Hutchence bore some resemblance to each other.

meh.

Don't even get me started on Paul Walker.

R18, not sure if he’d look as sexy as Ed Harris, but Ed Harris is one of the few HW actors who is still handsome AF, even bald, and has actual, genuine talent.

Other ones who look sexy AF while bald were Telly Savalas, and the sexiest, bald MoFo of all time, Yul Brynner.

Ultimately, taking drugs and the people who take them are incredibly boring in real life. If they die young, you can paint some sort of interesting narrative around it all, but generally that's just good writing creating an interest.

I think people have a soft spot for pretty people who die young

And I never heard anything bad about Heath's personality. Apparently he was very kind and sweet.

Are they actual speedos or is that underwear?

Though if he had lived, his drug addiction would have taken over like it did with Renfro and he would have been unreliable to cast in films.

I wouldn't be surprised he had some mental illness that was undiagnosed.

Looks to be a speedo

Paul Walker was pretty but could not act at all. He was always mocked for his terrible acting. Then he died and people started talking about what an amazing actor he was. The reason Paul kept doing F&F movies was because he knew he couldn't act and could not be too picky with his roles.

He was the Henry Cavill of his day?

Basically Paul was a franchise actor. He had a bankable franchise of movies that people would see regardless of how good the acting and writing was. Without Fast and Furious, Paul would have ended up like Freddie Prinze Jr and Ethan Embry, former teen actors who couldn't break into adult roles.

James Dean's acting comes across as very hammy and try-hard now but I can see why it was innovative at the time. I find some of his performance in Rebel Without A Cause to be unintentionally funny. I think Sal Mineo was more fascinating to watch. JD was very beautiful too but most likely would not have aged well into adulthood due to his drug abuse and insomnia.

In fact Dean was already an adult during Rebel, he was 22 or 23 but looked more like 30 already.

IIRC R61, they are jocks. Or briefs, whatever you Americans call them. This was a scene from the film Two Hands, where he visits Bondi Beach on a hot day, strips down to his undies and goes for a dip.

Was Two Hands ever released in the States? I have never seen and I bet many other American fans of Heath never heard of it.

R58, I disagree. They’re not boring. They’re addicted. Big difference.

Some may actually be boring, even if they overcome their addiction, but most young people who are struggling with addiction, have very little sense of who they even are or what they’re capable of, due to the addiction itself.

My theory is that had someone like Heath had not had a team of people paid to manage their personal lives and career, due to their actual talents, they would be just like any other addict who isn’t in the same position, because no one is profiting from, or exploiting that talent which that specific addict, also has.

I mean, look at this thread. Heath’s been dead forever, and we’re posting photos of the man on speedos.

People see actors and other artists who are addicted, as people who are there to service their desires and wants. Whether money, wank material, gossip fodder or profits, rarely are these people looked at comprehensively as human beings who are in dire need of treatment for a condition that is HIGHLY resistant to treatment, despite quick rehab stays, PR campaigns propping up the entire bullshit narrative, or the obvious and visible signs that indicate that no quick rehab stay or Oscar campaigns, or even talent, are enough to get the addict over the hump.

This happens because our society calls these people weak, or losers, or whatever, and shame addicts for making choices they, themselves, wouldn’t make, or DO make, but are better at hiding the effects of their addiction from others.

What happened to Heath happens to millions of Americans- especially now. Small towns across all of America have lost kids, young adults, and even those in their retirement age, due to opiate addiction. Instead of addressing this in any formidable, comprehensive, and results driven modalities, backed up by actual science, treatment, and long term care and support, we hold people who have been hurting for many reasons, for many decades, responsible for their pain, and when they are living in communities that become flooded with big pharma’s pain pills, and they take those pain pills in order to treat their pain, since they have little to zero alternatives, we blame them for their overdoses and call them insufficient in character or will power.

For those who have never been addicted, they cannot understand how this happens. Allow me to clue you in, please. Addiction is not the problem. The way we prioritize capitalism and a free market over the individual life of a human being is the problem. If you call someone who died due to addiction, and you think that being a Hollywood movie star earning millions of dollars was enough to save his life because money and fame are the answer to the great existential question that has not been answered, you are also the problem. The problem doesn’t exist without you, actually.

Money and fame do not prevent, circumvent, or mitigate, addiction, or the successful treatment of addiction. As a matter of fact, these things actually place any addict at greater risk for harm, as a result of motivations for helping an addict, being overwhelmingly driven by profit, rather than true care and wellness of the individual at risk for harm, which in turn enables the addict, because even addicts get the real message: We only care about you the way we appear to care about you, because you’re a very talented and marketable addict, and we’re going to make as much money from you as we possibly can, even if it kills you.

Stop fucking around with this bullshit story about being weak. People aren’t weak. They’re oftentimes faced with challenges that are fucking monsters, and they need others who actually love them and:or care about their genuine health and safety, in order to make it through something as lethal as the addiction you assholes say make him or her weak.

The one thing that really hurts Paul Walker's reputation now was he liked teenaged girls and in California the age of consent is 18, so he likely committed statutory rape. Paul grew up Mormon and probably was exposed to seeing a lot of child marriages and stuff and thought it was normal. Who knows? Other than that, he seemed like a really nice guy.

r71 what you fail to address is that addicts with wealth often get rid of those in their circle who speak out... People love to shift the buck.

The thing is that there has never been an account of Heath's presumable drug addiction in the media. In the video that went around shortly after he died, it was clear that he is on cocaine, but after some allegations of addiction were refuted, he was never declared a drug addict - not even from prescription drugs which were the reason for his death. It is just claimed that he had pneumonia, insomnia and might have mixed up his pills and taken too many or got confused about taking them. If you look at the last years of his life - the breakup with the mother of his child, the dodgy company he kept (Olsen twin) and his physical decay - there must have been something terribly wrong, so it is weird that fans and fanboys do not declare him a drug addict. They probably do not want to tarnish his reputation as if an addiction would take away from his personality or achievements. I just don't understand that. Also, if I were part of his family, I think I would publish a well-written essay in the Guardian or New Yorker and write an honest account of the private side of Heath and his issues and possible drug addiction. Of course not sensational.

He could not take others' projections in stride.

Right around the time that Ledger died there was a spate of OD deaths all with similar circumstances.

Opioids and Benadryl. Oxycodone and Theraflu.

The diphenhydramine (Benadryl) potentiates the respiratory depression caused by the opioids.

It’s so common. Brittany Murphy died this way.

R74, no, it’s in there if you read between the lines.

The addict in a position like Heath is highly isolated and at risk. Of course. But it’s not because they isolate themselves from people who care, it because people who care, are either living in Australia, or if they’re living in the bedroom next door in a mansion or a really nice apartment on NYC, are living there specifically because the addict is making MONEY.

Again. Treatment for addiction is not a one stop shop. It’s not like a car. Off to the mechanic it goes and once that transmission is replaced, it will run for another 30,000 thousand miles like new. No.

Addiction treatment is highly complex, and in my estimation, requires treatment that is not accessible or even possible with 30 days at the best rehab centers in the world. It’s comparable to our present situation with CoViD-19, actually.

It is ALWAYS better to take action and prevent it from even introducing itself, because once it does, it will wipe the most vulnerable out at its epicenter, and then go on to do the same, elsewhere. However, if it does enter into the community, it has to be addressed honestly and without politics, profits, blaming Chinese, and bullshitting people about masks instead of advocating that the answer is to let thousands more die without masks while awaiting a vaccine that may or may not work. Instead of doing any of these things, we have people running around blaming others and pointing fingers, because they see those who wear masks as “weak” and they’re strong, fighting for their rights and freedoms, until they’re dead from the virus, or until they see their wife die from it, or while they protest and hold their ground, infecting others who they are potentially killing, all because this wasn’t addressed honestly. Instead, it was exploited for votes and primarily profits.

Those got sick and made it through, only did so as a result of MANY people coming together and helping them on a medical crisis, saving their lives. Some are now dealing with an entirely new health challenge, as they attempt to recover from something that could have been prevented, had leadership acted for the common good, rather than not.

And look, rallies, events, no masks, etc., are still going on and we’re almost at 200K dead.

O understand that CoViD-is not a heroin addiction. However, I also understand why so many people die from heroin addiction. And those reasons, when looking at it from lots of distance and perspective, have very little to do with them or their choices, right up to the moment that they are first introduced to the drug. Once that VERY POOR AND UNFORTUNATE CHOICE is made, there’s absolutely ZERO guarantee that the addict makes it out alive. As a matter of fact, the odds are probably worse than recovering from CoViD.

Look. Personal responsibility is real and to be highlighted and integrated into any modality of recovery. However, that modality isn’t accessible to most and is definitely not even successful when used by those who can and do access it.

That’s why Heath is dead also. Like I said. Addiction is extremely complex as is treatment of it.

It would have been much easier to prevent it, than to claim individual rights and freedom when someone suggests that corporations need to have stricter regulations, because addiction has been demonized, as well has highly politicized, in favor of political ambitions, campaign promises, a broken justice system that is more addicted to incarcerating addicts than actually treating them, and profitable cash flows from all of the sectors that benefit from addiction, when addiction becomes a business, and the addict becomes personally responsible for combating and beating all of those powerful forces that place the odds AGAINST him/her. .

"Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," Ellen Borakove, the spokeswoman for the medical examiner, revealed in a statement. The drugs are the generic names for the OxyContin painkiller, the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax, and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom.'

[quote] Michelle Williams is really boring, like Carey Mulligan.

To be fair, Michelle is a much better actress than Carey. Carey's embarassing singing of ?New York, New York" in Shame is proof of that.

I guess you didn't see Michelle in CABARET...

Not looking to draw out the BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN loons & trolls, but while we’re on the subject, I must confess that all these years later I still wonder - why was Jake so hysterically cut up about Heath’s death?

Prior to Heath’s passing, he’d known the man on a single project, and then only distantly for a few years after. I get that they were somewhat ‘married’ in the media and in public imagination and therefore expected to discuss one another, and that Jake was probably made Matilda’s godfather for a reason, but still there’s no getting around the fact that they were not terribly close post-BBM - at best journeyman industry friends. After wrap they didn’t live close to one another, or call each other frequently, or hang out on spare weekends. By all accounts they had drifted apart totally once Heath got into difficulties with Michelle.

Yet Jake all but donned a mourning veil & ring then cried on camera when Heath died. I still remember him giving endless weepy maudlin quotes to the press, and going on various shows to talk about it. I believe he made a few long, pitiful, vaguebook posts about how upset he was, too. Was that simply performative grief, because he’s been raised in showbiz and that’s the only way he knows how to process? Or did Jake really have some sort of weird soul-level connection to Heath?

Bereavement affects everyone differently, and of course Jake is a man with the right to process things however he wants and needs. It just that it seemed a bit strange and over the top, given the circumstances.

[Quote] why was Jake so hysterically cut up about Heath’s death?

Was he? Or was that a role from which he could benefit?

What I’m saying, R83.

But we’re just civilians, whadda we know.

"Stop fucking around with this bullshit story about being weak. People aren’t weak. "

Oh bull. if healthy young actors who aren't in physical pain take drugs, it's not because they're glamorously tragically sensitive or in physical pain, it's because they're stupid and/or succumb to peer pressure. Healthy young actors take drugs because it's what the cool people do, because all their friends do, because they can afford it and get away with it, because they want to feel good for a moment even they know that it's stupid, illegal, and dangerous.

And that, R72, is what the real world calls "weakness".

Or maybe they're not MENTALLY healthy...

All Heath had going for him looks wise was youth. And that was rapidly fading. His hair was thin even when he was young. I think he was a good actor,and might have gotten better ,but his Joker was over the top ridiculous. If he were still alive I bet we'd all be posting on here how ugly he'd gotten . Phillip Seymour Hoffman could act rings around Heath yet the furor over his death was meh.

What, R86, mentally healthy people can't make choices that are wise or stupid? Or can't choose between ways to cope with their issues that are healthy or neutral, or stupid and/or self-destructive?

No, let's stop using "mental illness" as a blanket excuse, especially for addiction, or at least as a blanket excuse for prosperous white people. If people like Ledger are mentally and physically healthy enough to maintain top-level careers, they're mentally sound enough to be held accountable for the choices they make in life. No, it's the schizophrenics and non-functional depressive released from mental hospitals to wander the streets and to numb the pain of existence with whatever they can find who shouldn't be held responsible, but it's then who end up in jail while the Ledgers of the world go free and are excused when they off themselves.

What, R86, mentally healthy people can't make choices that are wise or stupid? Or can't choose between ways to cope with their issues that are healthy or neutral, or stupid and/or self-destructive?

No, let's stop using "mental illness" as a blanket excuse, especially for addiction, or at least as a blanket excuse for prosperous white people. If people like Ledger are mentally and physically healthy enough to maintain top-level careers, they're mentally sound enough to be held accountable for the choices they make in life. No, it's the schizophrenics and non-functional depressive released from mental hospitals to wander the streets and to numb the pain of existence with whatever they can find who shouldn't be held responsible, but it's then who end up in jail while the Ledgers of the world go free and are excused when they off themselves.

[Quote] If people like Ledger are mentally and physically healthy enough to maintain top-level careers, they're mentally sound enough to be held accountable for the choices they make in life.

You act like he was doing it on his own. Marilyn Monroe had a top flight career in movies. The bigger she got the worse her health became. Why do we respect physical health but not mental?

[Quote] excused when they off themselves.

Excused? Should we chant "Bad, bad Ledger!"?

Goddess, the Christians are at it again, I see.

Now we’re getting into the heavy territory of righteousness, sins & sinners; while quibbling over an unremarkable B-list screen actor of the 00s hailing from the back of beyond who got very, very lucky and accidentally died too soon to enjoy it.

Back on topic. Heath was a great loss. He had potential to grow as an actor. Many of us aren't interested in shaming and judging people for making mistakes. We all die and the matter of life and death truly is determined by luck rather than just will

R93 Good comment, sweetie!

Cut or uncut though?

I thought he was fine, but unremarkable. His performance as the Joker was worthy of John Malkovich, or Geraldine Page, i.e. HAMMY, but committed. These types of performances are always lauded as remarkable, when they're really just a lot of "acting per square inch."

If you Google 'pics of heath ledger' a getty images site pops up with 10.000 views. Some naked, but I noticed the ones taken late in his career = he was almost always wearing sun glasses. It's possible he had photophobia from the bright lights. It's also possible his eyes were blood shot from lack of sleep and/or drug use. I also noticed that earlier in his photo ops, he never ever wore dark glasses. During the 'Joker phase' of his short life he always had them on. This is just an observation. I am in no way passing judgement on him. BTW his death deeply affected me & continues to be a thorn in my side today. As Judy Collins said in her book about her son's untimely death, she still has a relationship with him. One's physical departure does not end loving friendship or all the strings that have formed a bond over many years. Lastly I want to highly recommend 'Fair Haven' to those seeking a quality film about same sex relations. It has won a ton of awards. It has a much more affirming ending than BBM. (anti-conversion therapy to the max!). Thanks!