Hey guys, I am updating each news report as more is learned. This is terrible news… I don’t even want to imagine what I will be feeling when I see The Dark Knight now let alone seeing his earlier work.
This is truly the most tragic story I have had to report since starting this site and it does not make me feel good.
UPDATE: CNN is reporting today (1/23/08) that the autopsy on Heath Ledger was inconclusive and a cause-of-death determination will take 10 to 14 days, a medical examiner’s spokeswoman said.
From the New York Times on November 4, 2007 with regards to playing The Joker in The Dark Knight:
It all tied him in knots. “I stressed out a little too much,†Mr. Ledger said.
He tends to do that. He is here in London filming the latest episode of the “Batman†franchise, “The Dark Knight.†(Mr. Bale, as it happens, plays Batman; Mr. Ledger plays the Joker.) It is a physically and mentally draining role — his Joker is a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy†he said cheerfully — and, as often happens when he throws himself into a part, he is not sleeping much.
“Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,†he said. “I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.†One night he took an Ambien, which failed to work. He took a second one and fell into a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing.
Warner Bros. issued the following statement:
The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news. The entertainment community has lost an enormous talent. Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person. Our hearts go out to his family and friends.”
From the New York Times:
The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment in Manhattan, according to the New York City police. Signs pointed to a suicide or an accidental overdose, police sources said. Mr. Ledger was 28.
At 3:31 p.m., according to the police, a masseuse arrived at the fourth-floor apartment of the building, at 421 Broome Street, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets in SoHo, for an appointment with Mr. Ledger. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of the bedroom Mr. Ledger was in. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with sleeping pills — both prescription medication and nonprescription — on a night table. They moved his body to the floor and attempted to revive him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.
The police said they did not suspect foul play. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office of the city’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, said that employees of the office were at the apartment and that an autopsy would be conducted on Wednesday. Around 6:30 p.m., city workers rolled Mr. Ledger’s body, in a black body bag on a stretcher, out of the building.
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information, initially said that the apartment was owned by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, but later reversed himself and said that was not the case.
A representative of Ms. Olsen said that the apartment did not belong to the actress. “It is not her apartment,†the representative, Annette Wolf, a publicist for Ms. Olsen, said in a phone interview. “She does not own the apartment. She has never owned the apartment. She and her sister have an apartment in New York City but they are not in this building.â€
From TMZ:
Law enforcement has confirmed to TMZ prescription pills were strewn around Heath Ledger’s bed. The cops are waiting for the Medical Examiner.
The pic to the right is the last known photograph of Ledger from the set of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
From Fox News:
Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at his downtown Manhattan residence, according to the New York City Police Department. He was 28.
NYPD spokeswoman Stephanie Jaramillo told FOXNews.com that Ledger was discovered by his housekeeper at his apartment on Broome Street in the Soho section of New York City and was pronounced dead at 3:35 p.m. EST.
Jaramillo declined to comment on the cause of death, saying only that “the investigation is still ongoing.”
But The New York Post reported that Ledger died of a possible drug overdose and his apartment was strewn with pills.
Ledger had an appointment for a massage at his Manhattan apartment, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told The Associated Press. The housekeeper went to let Ledger know the masseuse had arrived and found him dead, according to Browne.
From MSNBC:
Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence in a possible drug-related death, police said. He was 28.
According to WNBC, Ledger was found with pills strewn all around him.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment believed to be his home. The housekeeper, who went to let Ledger know the masseuse was there, found him unconscious at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET, according to the New York Times. After receiving no response from the actor after shaking him, they called authorities.
From CNN:
The Academy Award nominated actor was 28.
“Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed,” police spokesman Paul Browne told CNN.
“This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet.”
Police later said the pills “appear to be over the counter” sleeping medication.
Ledger was unresponsive when he was found by a housekeeper who had gone to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse in the Soho apartment, Browne said.
He was declared dead at about 3:30 p.m., Browne said.
