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In
Remembrance: Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger, the actor nominated for an Academy Award for his
moving performance as a homosexual cowboy in 2005’s Brokeback
Mountain, passed away Tuesday, January 22, 2008 in Manhattan,
New York. He was 28.
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger was born on April 4, 1979 in Perth, Western
Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher. He found his
way into acting at age 10, earning roles in children’s television
after starring as Peter Pan at a local theater company. A young
Ledger tried acting at his junior high school but his pursuits were
clouded with rejection. Dreams of breaking into the spotlight fueled
his desire to head off to Sydney for bigger, more challenging roles.
Ledger arrived in Sydney with cents in his pocket and a good sense
for acting and found a comfortable place in TV soaps. He later
auditioned for a role on a TV show about young Olympic hopefuls and
accepted the challenge of playing a gay cyclist. His film career
began with a small role in 1997’s Paws. However, film work
was scarce and Ledger left for America to pursue greater
opportunities. Ironically, he first found work starring in Two
Hands (1999), a crime thriller helmed by Australian director
Gregor Jordan. He quickly caught the attention of Hollywood and
starred in the refreshing teen flick, 10 Things I Hate
About You (1999), loosely based on Shakespeare’s Taming of
the Shrew. Numerous offers began pouring in asking Ledger to
portray the same type of hunky, ‘rebel with a cause’ teen film
character, but he rejected them for stronger roles.
With fellow Aussie Mel Gibson, Ledger starred in
the
Revolutionary War drama The Patriot in 2000 and he grabbed
the lead in the fun popcorn action movie A Knight’s Tale
(2001).
Ledger could later be seen in a gritty supporting role as Billy Bob
Thornton’s suicidal son in Monster’s Ball and he played the
romantic hero in Paramount’s 2002 reworking of the classic film
The Four Feathers.
If there is a measurable turning point in Ledger’s career, it can be
traced to 2005. That year, he portrayed Skip Engblom with a cool
roughness in Lords of Dogtown, a big-screen adaptation of the
cult classic documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001), starred
opposite Matt Damon in Terry Gilliam’s The Brother’s Grimm,
and played the lead in Casanova with an Errol Flynn-like
spirit. However, it was his repressed, yet emotional turn as gay
cowboy Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain that earned him
countless accolades and garnered Golden Globe, Oscar and BAFTA
nominations. E Annie Proulx, who wrote
the story upon which the movie was based, lauded Ledger’s
performance, saying "He was so visceral. He understood more about
the character than I did."
Ledger’s career looked very promising and more defining roles came
his way. His
understated
performance as a bohemian poet in
Candy (2006) and his unforgettable portrayal of Robbie Clark in
2007’s Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There drew further praise
from both audiences and critics.
His intensity and determination led him to a rare starring role in
what is heavily considered to be the best blockbuster bet of this
summer, playing Batman’s nemesis, The Joker in The Dark Knight.
Instead of mimicking Jack Nicholson’s panache and comedic delivery
in 1989’s Batman, Ledger chose to redefine the character,
exposing the more sociopathic and psychotic tendencies buried deep
within The Joker. Early teasers show Ledger in a dark and
frightening manner, a clear departure from Nicholson’s style.
This month, Ledger had been working on his latest movie, The
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a fantasy reuniting him with
director Gilliam, which was due to be released next year.
-John Gibbon |
