Academy Award nominated actor dies in his apartment

By: Stephanie Rancier

Posted: 1/23/08

You can't escape the drama that's plaguing the world of celebrity and pop culture these days. If it's not Paris driving under the influence, then Lindsey's back in rehab or Britney's had another nervous breakdown. The usual celebrities causing most of this drama tend to be the young, wild children of Hollywood. They party non stop, battle their own family in court or maybe their careers have already hit a slump. One is left to wonder when a young, talented man with a daughter and thriving career dies.

Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York City apartment at 3:26 p.m. by the apartment building's housekeeper on Tuesday. The housekeeper went to inform Ledger that a masseuse had arrived at the SoHo apartment building for the actor's scheduled massage. Though no definitive cause of death has been announced, it's been reported that drugs may have played a role in the young actor's death. Ledger was 28 years old.

"A friend of mine from Houston called me, and she's a big fan [of Ledger's] and she told me that he died," said junior political science major Pru Reardon. "We were both shocked and curious as to what happened. Especially since there was supposedly a bottle of pills next to him."

"I was shocked, I first heard through a Facebook update, so I had to look on perezhilton.com to see for myself," said senior history major Samantha Wion. "I was just surprised because it seems like there's this new trend to try to take your life via pills. And sadly, he was successful."

Ledger had been acting since he was 10 years old in his native city of Perth in Western Australia. Ledger became an American household name in the late 1990s when he appeared in "10 Things I Hate About You," a modern teen spoof on Shakespeare's, "The Taming of the Shrew." After winning millions of teen girls' hearts in the role of rebel "Patrick Verona," Ledger moved on to serious films like "The Patriot," "Monster's Ball" and "Brokeback Mountain" in order to break away from his "pretty boy" image.

"The Patriot is my favorite," Reardon said. "I remember watching it in my high school history class. I haven't seen most of his work, but of what I've seen I like his acting style. I thought he was really funny in '10 Things I Hate About You.'"

Ledger has been nominated for an Oscar in his shining performance as Ennis in "Brokeback Mountain." While filming the controversial film, Ledger met a real life love interest Michelle Williams, who played his on-screen wife who discovered the truth of her cowboy husband's sexuality. Since the film, Ledger and Williams were engaged and had a daughter, Matilda Rose, in 2005. The young parents ended their romantic relationship in 2007.

"It's just sad," Reardon said. "He seemed really healthy and not like the other troubled stars."

Ledger was a quiet celebrity who seemed uninterested in most of the typical starlet behavior. He shied away from paparazzi and went virtually unnoticed, except when he was delivering entertaining and significant acting performances.

Though Ledger was abruptly taken from the world, he will be remembered as a humble soul who just wanted to have fun.

"I only do this because I'm having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away. I don't want to do this for the rest of my life... I don't want to spend the rest of my youth doing this in this industry. There's so much I want to discover."