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Heath Ledger dead at 28
• Tragic early death for leading actor of his generation
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By
The Minx, Show Biz editor
Wednesday,
23 January, 2008
The Minx was so sad to learn of the death on 21 January 2008 of the Australian actor Heath Ledger, in New York at the tragically early age of 28. Regarded as one the most promising actors of his generation, the star of Brokeback Mountain was viewed by many as the natural heir to Johnny Depp.
Ledger had recently completed his role as the Joker in the new Batman film. It was a difficult and physical role for Ledger, who told the New York Times in November that he was having trouble sleeping as he was finishing the shoot: "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," he said at the time. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."
He described taking two Ambien sleeping pills and falling into a stupor, then waking up an hour later.The psychopathic character made a deep impression on Ledger, an "untrained" actor who always inhabited his roles and found it difficult to cast them off afterwards.
That same month, in a videotaped junket interview with The Envelope, the Los Angeles Times' awards-show website, Ledger was clearly slurring and unfocused as he discussed his role in "I'm Not There," a film refracting Bob Dylan's life.
There were also custody rows over his adored 2 year old daughter Matilda with former partner Michelle Williams whom he met on the set of Brokeback Mountain. His workload seems to have been ridiculous and we wonder why he could not have taken some time off and stayed in New York near her mother if he wanted to be see more of Matilda.
Heath was found naked and unconscious in bed in his NY apartment shortly after 3pm on 21 January 2008. The maid, who had changed a light bulb in the bathroom around midday, reported he was face down and snoring at the time. There were pills at the scene, but all were anti insomnia or anti anxiety pills and either over the counter remedies or prescribed (from England). Police said there were no illegal drugs found.
When a masseuse arrived to give him a massage by appointment around 3pm she found him unconscious and phoned the actress Mary-Kate Olsen in Hollywood. Olsen' name, as af riend of Heath, was on the speed dial on his phone. (This gave rise to early untrue reports that he was staying in Olsen's apartment). Olsen arranged to send round her own security. But the housekeeper and masseuse were increasingly concerned and fearing he was dead, phoned 911. A medical team arrived within minutes - at the same time at Oslen's bodyguards according to police reports -and tried AR and a defibrillator but to no avail as he had been dead some time. He was pronounced dead at the scene. (Later estimates suggest he had died at around 1.00 pm)
The news spread rapidly and the press were already at the residence by the time his body was wheeled out in a body bag later that day (couldn't they have covered it with a blanket?)
Police found no evidence of foul play and an accidental overdose of sleeping tablets has been suggested as one possible cause. His family and co star Christopher Plummer have said he was suffering from pneumonia (he had spent Christmas in Australia) so there has been speculation that this and his tablets had a bad effect. This could have been caused by a virus leading to sudden death syndrome which while rare is not unknown in young adults.
The first autopsy was inconclusive and further tests are being carried out to determine the cause of death.
His parents issued a tearful statement insisting his death was accidental and pointing out he was a "doting father". Lurid headlines about him being naked and alone in his apartment are also wide of the mark. He had only flown in from London a couple of days earlier and was probably jet lagged. Many of us sleep naked in bed.
He had arranged the previous day to meet Sharpur Kapoor friend and director later on the day he died. Model Helena Christiansen, also a friend, had left a message on his answerphone to say she was on her way over to see him and was actually on her way to his apartment that afternoon when the news came through.
However information on how he spent his last 48 hours remains sketchy. It does seem odd that there were no personal assistants or agents or managers around for a star of his magnitude. Plummer reported that his only companions on the London shoot were his driver/bodyguard and an Irish friend acting as his assistant.
His former partner Michelle Williams was said to be devastated and flying back with Matilda from Sweden where she was filming.
Tributes have come in from many sources, including John Travolta who described him as one of his favourite actors. His close friends including former co star Jake Gyllenghaal and ex girlfriends Naomi Watts and Heather Graham have gone to ground.
The usual pond life has emerged to claim he was on drugs a;though nothing more than sleeping pills and anti anxiety tablets were found in his apartment. It is reported there was a period when he ran with a fast crowd but that was some years ago. While the police have been speculating on an accidental overdose of sleeping pills leading doctors have said this is unlikely due to the safety margins built into these pills. However the police did find the sleeping pill Ambien in his apartment and this had been claimed to cause bad side effects by some authorities particularly for people with respiratory problems.
Doubtless more answers will emerge in the coming weeks. More news here as it breaks.
Thursday 24th January - the authorities have released his body to his family amid reports it will be flown back to Australia for burial.
TMZ reports that nearly full pill bottles were identified containing: Anti-anxiety medications Alprazolam (Xanax), Diazepam (Valium), Lorazepam (Ativan), sleeping medication Zoplicone (Lunesta) and the sedative Temazepam (Restoril). All of the drugs were reportedly prescribed to Ledger. Three of the drugs in his apartment were prescribed in the UK.
The same website states that paramedics who attended the scene said things looked "normal" when they arrived - which the website is interpreting as meaning there was no obvious sign of any illicit drug use.
12:30pm: No illegal drugs were found in Heath Ledger's apartment, according to NYPD.
Theinsideronline.com also says that tests on the $20 bill which was reportedly found at the death scene concluded there was no drug residue present.
12:45pm: Heath Ledger will be buried in his home town of Perth, Australia.
The actor's body has now been transported from the New York medical examiner's office, where an autopsy was performed this morning, to the Frank E. Campbell funeral chapel.
3:00pm: Ledger's best buddy, Jake Gyllenhaal, has reportedly been told of his pal's death.The Donnie Darko star, currently filming in New Mexico, has ordered extra security to fend off unwanted paparazzi attention. Understandably, Gyllenhaal, who is also godfather to Ledger's daughter, is said to be "devastated".
25th January
His father is reported to be flying to NY to met the coroner, attend a memorial service in LA and then accompany the body home to Perth in Australia for burial. Ledger's family posted distraught tributes in the Perth local paper this weekend.
It seems unlikely the NY coroner's office will come up with much if the drug tests on Ledger's hair and tissue samples fail. Their usual stance in these cases is to claim a probable heart attack - as they did last year with top marathon runner Ryan Shay who collapsed and died 5 miles into the NY marathon race and with Anthony Ashley Cooper from England who died suddenly while visiting his brother on a trip from England 2 years ago. These young men were 28 and 27 respectively and in excellent health with no recorded problems at the time. Their autopsies were inconclusive. There are various reasons for young adult sudden death syndrome, often related to blood and glandular abnormalities but it does not appear that the NY coroner's office tests for these in any depth.
Ledger's sleeping problems were however of longer duration and his twitchy appearance in a tv interview last november, scratching his arms and appearing distracted, have raised suggestions of substance abuse. Also questions are being asked about Mary Kate Olsen was first contacted by the masseuse and whether she sent round her private security detail to remove any incriminating evidence. Police say the security men were not able to get access to Ledger's bedroom as they arrived at the same time as the medical team.
27th January
News has emerged that there were in fact 4 calls to Mary-Kate Olsen, by the masseuse, not two as she originally claimed. These extended over a period of 9 minutes before the masseuse called 911. It has also emerged that the masseuse was not registered, as required by law, in NY or with a professional association. A passer-by has come forward to claim that Olsen's secruity detail arrived 3 or 4 minutes before the medics and were let into Ledger's apartment by the masseuse.
It is not clear why Olsen did not call 911 or tell the masseuse to do so, instead sending round her security detail or why the masseuse waited for 9 minutes, until told by Olsen they were on their way before phoning the police. Indeed the young Olsen seems to have been remarkably cool headed about the whole thing and was reported to have returned to NY later in the week and been seen out partying in downtown NY.
These facts have led some media observers to claim that any illegal drugs on the premises were removed before the police and medics arrived.One medical authority has come forward to say the sleeping pills in his apartment were not on their own strong enough for a fit young man to take an accidental dose and would not have an adverse reaction with cocaine but could with heroin. Also an early internet cause suggested was that he had a seizure of some sort and fell forward and suffocated. This is not born out by his housekeeper's account.
The police have estimated time of death at between 1 and 2.45pm and say they are not interested in interviewing Olsen as the calls to her took place when Ledger was already dead. They also seem uninterested in following up Ledger's movements the night before his death to find out if he did anything which may have contributed to it. He was seen eating breakfast in his local neighbourhood and later shopping in his local foodmarket the previous day but there are no sightings of him on Monday night or reports of visitors to his apartment. He could of course have been sleeping off jet lag but he turned down a request from his old friend and director Sharpur Kapoor to see him Monday night and asked him instead to call him Tuesday morning. Karpoor called but too late.
The coroner met Ledeger's immediate family on Friday after they flew in from Australia to take away the body and they continue to assert his death was accidental. It seems that an initial autopsy,which was inconclusive in Ledger's case, would focus on the heart, lungs and brain thus ruling out heart attack, stroke or pneumonia as possible causes. Presumably it would also have found large quantities of drugs in the stomach if they had been ingested recently. Blood, hair and skin samples have now been sent away from analysis.
Ledger's family have paid agonised tributes to him in their local Perth newspaper. Hiss uncle Hadyn told 6PR the Perth radio station, that he first they knew of his death was its announcement on television and seeing the body wheeled out of his flat in a body bag. Later they started to get phone calls, from homophobes who had been insensed by Ledger's portrayal of a gay cowboy in Brokeback mountain and from fans threatening to kill themselves. The US does not appear to have legal rules, like other countries, to prevent publication of the name of deceased, until the families have been informed. Ledger's own management team appear to have been too overwhelmed and grief stricken to make any comment or take control of the situation in the first 48 hours.
Model Naomi Campbell's former PA has come forward to report the star partied hard with Campbell and shared cocaine with her when he first got to Hollywood. In the UK's Mail on Sunday she has further claimed that he was deeply addicted to cocaine and heroin and worried about losing access to his daughter Matilda as a result. Further accounts of his twitchy, distracted behaviour in interviews over the last two years have surfaced, suggesting he was at the very least, jumpy and wired a lot of the time. He co star in his last film reported he was cheerful but suffering from a bad chest infection and insomnia. He went out for a drink on the night before he left London with co star Lily Cole.
Ledger had behaved strangely in recent interviews, fidgetting and scratching and appearing distracted which some commentators have taken as evidence of his addictions. He himself has said when he took over a role he became it, method style. Recently he had found it harder and harder to pull away at the end of the day. As Rachel Weisz, said in a recent interview, "As an actor, the trick in it (in very dark roles) is being able to turn off at the end of the day". Batman co-star Christian Bale, another actor well known for inhabiting his roles, told interviewers that it was easy to turn off the serial killer role he played in Ladykillers because there was so little empathy for him in the role, that once he stopped being on set, he was easily able to discard the character.
Ledger seems to have been far more sensitive. He had run ins with the press particularly in Australia where they retaliated by spraying him with water pistols at the premiere of Candy. His uncle said he cried all night after that and later sold his water front house there and moved to New York with girl friend Michelle Williams and baby daughter Matilda, where they settled in a quiet Brooklyn neighbourhood. Sadly the relationship faltered, was it drugs, or just the pressures of playing the Joker in the Batman film, during the summer, a psychopatic killer who Ledger said he found hard to turn off at the end of the day.
Now his body is on the way to Australia and tributes have continued to pour in to a "sweet natured" man, old for his years. Jonny Depp, interviewed at a similar age to Ledger, seemed similary conflicted but survived and prospered. Sadly fame proved a double edged sword for Ledger and Fate had a different destiny planned. Meanwhile Depp, an old friend of director Terry Gilliam, is being canvassed to take over Ledger's role in his last unfinished film, "The imaginarium of Dr Parnassus".
30 January
Reports are circulating that in the last two years Ledger had struggled against addictions to cocaine and heroin and that these had caused the break up of his relationship with his girlfriend Michelle Williams who had threatened him with withdrawing access to his adored daughter Matilda if he did not submit to regular drug tests. A video surfaced of the star reportedly sniffing cocaine at the Chateau Marmont after the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards but it was not screened by the Insider and Entertainment shows, who reportedly bought it for USD250,000 after a storm of protest by Hollywood stars still mourning the actor.
Heath's father has been in New York collecting his things and winding up his affairs while Michelle is reported to have travelled to Australia with his body. No details of the funeral have been announced and the results of the tests following the inconclusive autopsy are awaited. He is reported to have spent his last night at the louche Beatrice nightclub in New York.
The Naked Reader 2008
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