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Last Updated: Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 22:14 GMT

 

Heath Ledger is found dead in US

 

Hollywood actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at a downtown Manhattan residence, a New York Police Department spokesman has said.

 

"He was found unconscious at the apartment and pronounced dead," a police spokeswoman said.

 

It is not yet clear how the 28-year-old Australian actor, who earned an Oscar nomination as a gay cowboy in 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, died.

 

He was found dead in the SoHo apartment at around 1530 (2030 GMT).

 

Police said he had been due to have a massage at the flat.

 

The housekeeper went to tell him the masseuse had arrived and found him dead on Tuesday afternoon, police spokesman Paul Browne told Associated Press news agency.

 

Police said they did not suspect foul play in the death of the Perth-born actor.

 

In September he split from his girlfriend Michelle Williams, with whom he has a two-year-old daughter, Matilda.

 

He plays the Joker in the soon-to-be-released Batman film, The Dark Knight.

 

RIP

 

 

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Shocking. What can you really say about this? He was a fantastic talent and due for many more great performances. His performance in Brokeback was riveting.
Just watching the media scrum outside his apartment :wacko:
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I'll most remember him for his relatively brief but very powerful performance in Monster's Ball.

 

RIP.

 

Yeah RIP, such a shame.

 

I wonder if it will affect the Batman film in any way?

Its a sad day in the film industry a young gifted actor, I was shocked when I heard about it, the only film I've seen by Heath Ledger was A Knights Tale, the Batman movie will be his last swan song in the acting business

 

RIP

Really sad news, had a lot of potential
Oh, I did like him a lot. It's always shocking when a famous face dies, for some bizarre reason. It's like we don't expect the people from the big screen or pumping out from your speakers to ever die. :( RIP.
Oh, I did like him a lot. It's always shocking when a famous face dies, for some bizarre reason. It's like we don't expect the people from the big screen or pumping out from your speakers to ever die. :( RIP.

 

I dont know - it depends on the level of fame - and he v much A-list..and also it was so shocking as i had been at the cinema all day and only knew from the announcment before film 2008 that said it was recorded before he died.

 

its more shocking - and this includes when Owen Wilson tried to kill himself - than say in the death of Brad Renfro (and just incase you are thinking who...? :down: )

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Brad_Renfro_at_the_premiere_of_The_Jacket.JPG

 

Brad Renfro: Actor with a 'bad boy' reputation

 

Brad Barron Renfro, actor: born Knoxville, Tennessee 25 July 1982; died Los Angeles 15 January 2008

Published: 17 January 2008

 

Brad Renfro was once asked a simple question: if he was offered the opportunity to look into the future, would he take it? "No," he replied. "I don't want to know." It was perhaps just as well; this was early 2005, and at the age of 22 the curse of the child star was starting to take its toll.

 

Since being launched into Hollywood in the John Grisham adaptation The Client (1994) at 12, Renfro had shown great promise in a variety of dark and challenging roles – most notably the controversial Nazi drama Apt Pupil (1998), alongside Ian McKellen – until the inevitable tabloid headlines began in the late 1990s to suggest that his life was not on an even keel. After several arrests, and a noticeable downturn in work, the actor was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Tuesday, after a social night out with friends.

 

Renfro was born in 1982, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Mark and Angela Renfro. The couple divorced in 1987 and Brad was raised by his paternal grandmother, Joanne. At 10, he was known as a troublemaker in the local community – by his own admission he smoked his first joint at nine and was drunk at 11 – and came to the attention of casting agents after taking part in a series of plays staged by the anti-drug charity D.A.R.E.

 

Ironically, it was Renfro's depth and maturity that struck the Client director Joel Schumacher when he saw Renfro's audition tape a year later. "Brad Renfro got the part of the wise-ass kid in The Client because that's exactly what he is," Schumacher said. "He has the qualifications, being that he's the product of a broken home, extremely sensitive, and too smart for his own good."

 

The troubles began in 1998, in his hometown, where he was charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana, avoiding jail time by making a plea bargain. In Florida two years later, while filming the sexually explicit teen drama Bully (2001) with the film-maker Larry Clark, Renfro had to be bailed out of prison on the first day of shooting, having attempted to steal a 45ft yacht, without first unmooring it. He was placed on probation and ordered to pay $4,000 for repairs.

 

It was around this time that Renfro's behaviour became noticeably erratic: promoting the film at the Venice film festival in 2001, the actor went missing for long periods, gave interviews while lying down in a state of obvious disrepair, and reputedly checked out of his hotel in order to move to a backpackers' hostel nearby.

 

He was arrested again in January 2002 and charged with underage drinking, driving without a licence and violating the terms of his probation, and was ordered into rehab for 90 days. The sobriety was short lived, and Renfro was back in the news again in December 2005, when he attempted to buy heroin from an undercover Los Angeles police officer. Though he was given three years' probation, a count of driving under the influence meant that those terms were immediately broken and Renfro served 10 days in LA County Jail in May 2006.

 

In that time, Renfro's career had wound down considerably, and after the strong run that had included The Client, Apt Pupil and Sleepers (1996), in which the vulnerable young star exuded a sad-eyed, wounded masculinity, the former lead was now playing small parts in low-budget movies that, with the exception of Ghost World (2001) and The Jacket (2005), didn't even get a UK release. The drink and drugs were blamed, but Renfro, a guitarist and rock fan in his spare time, maintained this image was a case of mistaken identity. "Everybody thinks I'm, like, a bad boy," he once said. "I've had my day, but I just sit at home and play the blues mostly."

 

Sadly, his premature death will only reinforce his bad-boy status. He joins River Phoenix in the Hollywood pantheon of lost boys whose true talent never really stood a chance.

 

Damon Wise

Tragic tragic news. He was truly one of the best actors in the industry. He will be missed.

 

R.I.P

R.I.P. :(

 

He was amazing in Brokeback Mountain and he had a tremendous amount of talent.

Shocking news - such a waste of a young life. :(

Edited by munchkin

from bbc.co.uk

 

Ledger was also thought to be in the middle of filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a new fantasy movie with former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam.

 

If this is true - I kinda also feel sorry for Terry Gilliam also - seeing how his projects have gone over the last few years as well

Cannot believe this......Such a shame and what a fantastic actor....Only the good die young

 

R.I.P Heath Ledger...

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