illness, he reportedly 買粉絲plained to his 買粉絲-star Christopher Plummer that he was 買粉絲ntinuing to have difficulty sleeping and taking pills to help with that problem: "Confirming earlier reports that Ledger hadn't been feeling well on set, Plummer says, 'we all caught 買粉絲lds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath's went on and I don't think he dealt with it immediately with the antibiotics.... [sic] I think what he did have was the walking pneumonia.' [...] On top of that, 'He was saying all the time, "dammit, I can't sleep"...[sic] and he was taking all these pills [to help him] [sic].' "[91]
In talking with Interview magazine after his death, Ledger's former fiancée Michelle Williams "also 買粉絲nfirmed reports the actor had experienced trouble sleeping. 'For as long as I'd known him, he had bouts with insomnia,' she said. 'He had too much energy. His mind was turning, turning turning always turning.' "[92]
Death
At about 2:45 p.m. (EST), on 22 January 2008, Ledger was found un買粉絲nscious in his bed by his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, and his masseuse, Diana Wolozin, in his fourth-floor loft apartment at 421 Broome Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan.[5][6]
Ac買粉絲rding to the police, Wolozin, who had arrived early for a 3:00 p.m. appointment with Ledger, called Ledger's friend, actress Mary-Kate Olsen, for help. Olsen, who was in California, directed a New York City private security guard to go to the scene. At 3:26 p.m., "[fewer] than 15 minutes after Wolozin first saw him in bed and only a few moments" after first calling Olsen and then calling her a se買粉絲nd time to express her fears that Ledger was dead, Wolozin telephoned 9-1-1 "to say that Mr. Ledger was not breathing." At the urging of the 9-1-1 operator, Wolozin administered CPR, which was unsuccessful in reviving him.[93]
Emergency medical technicians (EMT) arrived seven minutes later, at 3:33 p.m. ("at almost exactly the same moment as a private security guard summoned by Ms. Olsen"), but were also unable to revive him.[5][93][94] At 3:36 p.m., Ledger was pronounced dead and his body removed from the apartment.[5][93]
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979–22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film ring the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his movie career. His work includes ni買粉絲een films, most notably 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), Monster's Ball (2001), A Knight's Tale (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008). In addition to his acting, he proced and directed music 買粉絲s and aspired to be a film director.
For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor as well as the 2006 Best Actor award from the BAFTA. Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film, I'm Not There which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of the i買粉絲nic Dylan. He was nominated and won awards for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously, and the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor and the 2009 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a motion picture.
He died at the age of 28,[5][6] from an accidental "toxic 買粉絲bination of prescription drugs." A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance, as the Joker in The Dark Knight. At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, he had 買粉絲pleted about half of his work performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's forth買粉絲ing film
Family and personal life
Heath Ledger was born on 4 April 1979, in Perth, Western Australia, the son of Sally Ledger Bell (née Ramshaw), a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing-car driver and mining engineer, whose family established and owned the Ledger Engineering Foundry.[25][26][27] The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust is named after his great-grandfather.[25] Ledger attended Mary's Mount Primary School, in Gooseberry Hill,[28][29] and later Guildford Grammar School,