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Heath Ledger: Why, Why, Why?
It was just this past weekend that I rented the film, A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger, to watch with my youngest son who is six. I wanted to enjoy it with him because I figured that he was at an age where he would love its action and its fantastical play on the world of medieval jousting.
OK, I'm confessing here, I also rented it because I have loved watching it every couple of years. Its overriding message of pure optimism about making your own fate was completely inspirational and uplifting. Heath played William, the young son of a poor English thatcher who wanted to give his only child an opportunity to have a better life than his. The father believed that the only way that could possibly happen in the times in which they lived was to apprentice him to a wealthy knight who traveled through Europe, competing in sword and jousting tournaments. As the dad says goodbye to his little boy, who he won't see for years, he urges him to take this opportunity to "change his stars."
Cut to a now-20-year-old, William Thatcher, who proceeds to do just that. When his knightly employer dies suddenly one day, he takes up the identity of a knight himself, hooks up with "The" Geoffrey Chaucer as a sidekick, becomes a star of the jousting circuit, falls head over heels for the beautiful noblewoman/girl, gets friendly with Prince Edward, the Black Prince of England who eventually knights him. And finally, "follows his feet" home again and finds his now aged father. He has fulfilled his father's dream, proving that if you work hard and learn you can change your dreary fate into something wonderful.
A wonderful fate is surely what Ledger's parents had in mind when they named him "Heath," short for Heathcliff. After all, how could anybody named for the most romantic male character in English literature ever not grow up to have a dramatic and wonderful life?
And certainly with his blond, brawny good looks he was totally crush-worthy in not just A Knight's Tale, but also as the outsidery good guy, Patrick Verona, who tamed Kat Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You, and as the idealistic young American, Gabriel Martin, during the war of independence in The Patriot.
Now it seems that despite the stardom and an even bigger career ahead — what with his upcoming role as the Joker in the new Batman movie — and with a mini-me of a baby daughter he couldn't avoid Heathcliff's tragedy. None of his gifts, neither talent nor family, appears to have been enough to combat the demons that apparently led Heath to take the pills that could have ended his young life.
Heath, perhaps if you had just re-watched your old film you would have been inspired to stay with us and to have "changed your stars."
For more coverage of Heath's life and tragic death, go to Starmagazine.com
Follow Bonnie Fuller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bonniefuller
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Question: Is Heath Ledger America's Answer to the Death of Princess Diana of England?
All this wailing and knashing of teeth, why?
If you Christian,Jewish, he just might be in heaven with Jesus! So why is that so bad? If you are a secular humanist you have his work in films to remember him.
Come on guys let's move on will ya. Don't live in the past. It's over. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do about it! Quit beating yourselves up over this actor. Move On Dot! Organize!
Ps, Coulda be Gdubya's Fault!
Heath who?
I was grossly offended when I read this article, after hearing of Heath Ledger's death. I have been consistently and grossly offended by the commentary on the actor's death. I'm sick and tired of people insinuating and reporting on rumor, especially when the situation is such a grave one. Yes, it's probably true that he overdosed... But guess what, the morning after, Bonnie, you didn't know that for sure! His family didn't even get a chance to find out that he was dead before hearing it on the news. Reporters, please don't be so quick to type! And Bonnie, stop making everything about you...
Here's the deal we are all handed, Bonnie, in the words of my late father, who was not a profane man:
Shit Happens.
Not one of us can count on a long life, or a productive one, or fame, or success, or failure. Death will certainly come to us all, and it comes soon for some or later for others. Heath had a better run than most for the time he had.
Did anyone see this recent interview where he inadvertently mentions 'death.'
From Webcastr.com: Heath Ledger recently gave an interview to WJW FOX in Cleveland where he said, 'I feel good about dying because I feel alive through her.' He was talking about his young daughter Matilda.
http://www.webcastr.com/videos/films-shorts/ledgers-eerily-prophetic-interview.html
One word sums it all up. Hollywood! so many have died so young, at the beginning of a possible super career. 28 is the start of life not the end.
Fame, superstar lifestyle, past drug addiction,
who knows what else. Just because you are an
actor and famous doesn't mean you have the
skills to cope with the life. Maybe his former
fiance can shed some light.
Heath, as with many "stars" suffered from the reality that in the end, they are simply human. The only mocie I ever saw with him in it was the patriot, I liked his character, and his portrayal of it. But as one who has seen thousands of movies I am amazed at the descriptions of his "amazing" carrer, and his "Oscar worthy" performances.
I despise the way a rather small segment of our society worships the stars and the way the media bows in homage to them. Heath is a young man who died, but mostly, he is a young man who left a child in an already broken home, without a father. THis is the tragedy, and he apprently did it, through his own mistakes. And why, does a 28 year olf man in good shape need a massuese?
It's such a shame to see someone so young and so talented die, probably due to illness or an accident, and have the media blow it out of porportion and make the poor guy sound like a drugged-up loser. Then again, look at what the media has become. We are subjected every day to hearing about some talentless has-been who frequents gas stations and Starbucks instead of trying to retain custody of her children. The whole way the press works now with celebrity makes me sick.
I am assuming that some people who are paid to write, will write almost anything to get something out there. Bonnie Fuller, hopefully, will read all of these comments and learn a lesson about sensationalizing the death of someone she doesn't even know.
I've had pneumonia and have been so out of it that I couldn't keep my meds straight. I had a doctor friend who came by and gave me the dosage that I needed throughout the days and nights. If Mr. Ledger had pneumonia, from my experience, I know that confusion can be a bed partner and an accident could have happened.
I read "Brokeback Mountain" before it was considered for a movie. When I learned that Heath Ledger and JG were going to play the cowboys in it, I was delighted. I had often thought of "what if" and it did turn out to be better than I could have ever dreamed.
It is unseemly to pick at reasons for his death, when we can celebrate his life.
His life was dignified and let's give him the gift of that dignity now.
His loss of life, no matter how it happened is a tragedy.
A Knight's Tale was a favourite in our home and my sons watched it often enough for me to get sick of it. I saw it very recently also and enjoyed it all over again.
Comparing that performance to his performance in Brokeback Mountain really shows his range and his talent. Brokeback is still high on my list of favourite movies and it's due to his performance. It's rare to see so much conveyed with so few words but he was able to do justice to the story. When I read the short story, I wondered how they'd be able to do it justice but they did more than that.
"The shirt seemed heavy until he saw there was another shirt inside it, the sleeves carefully worked down inside Jack’s sleeves. It was his own plaid shirt, lost, he’d thought, long ago in some damn laundry, his dirty shirt, the pocket ripped, buttons missing, stolen by Jack and hidden here inside Jack’s own shirt, the pair like two skins, one inside the other, two in one. He pressed his face into the fabric and breathed in slowly through his mouth and nose, hoping for the faintest smoke and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack, but there was no real scent, only the memory of it, the imagined power of Brokeback Mountain of which nothing was left but what he held in his hands."
http://home.earthlink.net/~chicagoblt/broke.htm
Short story is here for anyone who hasn't read it...
Bonnie Fuller: Tacky Tacky Tacky
Let me guess. He was taking SSRI's? Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro...the silent killers given out like halloween candy by 'the medical profession.' In today's sick version of healthcare, doctors are little more than pill pushers. None of them are safe. And SSRI's (there are more than 60 of them) induce suicidality, and worse.
Today's society tries to solve everything with a pill. Apparently, it was an accidental overdose of sleeping pills in this case.
How premature of you to assume that you know what the reason is behind his death.
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