The 28-year-old Australian movie star of Brokeback Mountain was found dead from a suspected drugs overdose on the bedroom floor of a New York apartment by a housekeeper on Tuesday, January 22, 2008.
Police have revealed that prescription drugs were found scattered around his body and the bed, while prescription drugs were found at scene, there were no illegal drugs discovered. No cause of death can be determined until a full medical examination has been carried out.
Born in Perth in 1979, Ledger was known for grueling, intense roles that became his trademark after he got his start in teen movies like “10 Things I Hate About You.” Thereafter, he avoided the easy path in favor of roles that forced him to bury his Australian accent and downplay his leading-man looks: the tormented gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar in “Brokeback Mountain”; a drug addict in “Candy”; an incarnation of Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There.”
He was engaged to his Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle Williams in 2005 and they have a 2-year-old daughter together. But the couple split up last year.
Heath’s untimely death puts him in the ranks of other bright, beautiful stars who died young, like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, River Phoenix and Brandon Lee. |
