# Heath Ledger is dead! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575 "2008-01-22T21:49:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/81 "2008-01-22T22:42:15Z")
This blows. I hope his family will be ok. Damn Batman ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/82 "2008-01-22T22:42:25Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Wikipedia’s page has the heroin bit removed. Earlier it said that NYPD found traces, but as you state, no external confirmation. [/QUOTE] Normally it takes weeks, not hours, to get lab results. And even then they may not be released to the press. I doubt that his blood has been tested yet. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/83 "2008-01-22T22:42:38Z")
Man this sucks. I just found out about it. I really like him too, such a great actor. I’m so sad right now. This is truly a huge loss. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/84 "2008-01-22T22:42:40Z")
Ledger always looked a little, well, depressed off camera. When he lost the Oscar for _Brokeback Mountain_, he just went home instead of to the after parties. A lot of people who post here work in the industry, and I’d be curious to know if anyone worked with him. Any impressions on his personality? He never seemed like a happy man. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/85 "2008-01-22T22:44:38Z")
It feels a bit like an April Fool’s joke, like someone will pull a “Gotcha Ya!” His poor daughter. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/86 "2008-01-22T22:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Exactly - a gifted actor who wasn’t afraid to play an unconventional character. We needed more of him, not fewer. [/QUOTE] Amen to that. ☹ ☹ I literally said, “Wait, WHAT?” Knight’s Tale is one of my favorite movies, for one. Shit. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/87 "2008-01-22T22:48:29Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Who takes sleeping pills when they are expecting a massage? Very strange, and a tremendous loss of a young talent. [/QUOTE] Well, maybe he was jittery and wanted to relax, so he took the appropriate dose and coincidentally died of a heart attack before putting the top back on the bottle? Maybe the pills were spilled last night and he was too lazy to clean them up? Maybe they were laced with poison? Really, it’s far too soon to say anything. The poor guy’s body is, literally, not yet cold. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/88 "2008-01-22T22:48:39Z")
I never saw this coming. I’m shocked. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/89 "2008-01-22T22:49:16Z")
I think I need to revise my comment about any actor I’ve ever had a crush on needing Witness Protection Program assistance and change it from joke to semi-serious. Holy crap! Sadness. I hope it wasn’t drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/90 "2008-01-22T22:51:28Z")
I think we established within the last year that as a general guideline here, we would avoid crapping in memorial threads by fans about personalities. Any passing mod, want to rule here? ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/91 "2008-01-22T22:55:34Z")
Ditto, ditto, ditto to all of this. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/92 "2008-01-22T22:55:59Z")
[QUOTE=Mahna Mahna] Holy crap! Sadness. I hope it wasn’t drugs. [/QUOTE] It might have been drugs, the Joker was mentioned as a psychologically trying role for him and it sounds like he had been trying to chill out from the [BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7203797.stm) article. A bit of stress and drugs (pharmaceutical or recreational) seems a likely deadly combination. He’s my age and his daughter’s my own daughter’s age, I feel sorry for her losing her father at this stage in her life. And a shame for us all lose someone so talented. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/93 "2008-01-22T22:56:24Z")
Jeezopete. I can’t believe it. I loved his movies. It’s a damned shame. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/94 "2008-01-22T22:58:38Z")
You have to wonder…Brad Renfro, Heath Ledger…who’s the third young, talented, not-Hollywood-crazy actor going to be? ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/95 "2008-01-22T22:58:39Z")
The Joker… The Crow… That style of Make-up is really racking up a bodycount, eh? Been a Ledger fan since I first saw him in 10 things, when it came out first. really blown away by this news. Its the first hollywood death to really hit me since… fuck, I dunno, Stanley Kubrick, I guess. With all due respect to people and their families, something like this hits much harder than, say, Brad Renfro. Does that make me an asshole? For feeling worse about the death of one actor because I liked his work better? Its not like I know any of them personally. I dont even know if Renfro has a wife or kids, nor, if I’m being honest, did I care, or pass much notice when he died, but when I hear of Ledger dying I drop my coffee mug. I’m rambling. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/96 "2008-01-22T23:02:06Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] Seeing as it’s one of my wife’s favorites, _10 Things I Hate About You_ has been shown enough times in our house for me to come to really enjoy it. Guess I know what we’ll be watching tonight. Very sad news indeed… [/QUOTE] You know, it’s interesting… One of the first things I thought of when I heard was that movie and then you. I thought “Oh know, **Hal** and his wife are going to be saddened. :(” I am too, since that was one of my favorite movies as well (as you know). I think I’ll watch it too and know that many miles away, my good friend **Hal Briston** is watching it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/97 "2008-01-22T23:02:46Z")
New York Times reports: “Signs pointed to a suicide or an accidental overdose, police sources said.” US magazine reports: “Heath Ledger’s Friend: ‘We Saw It Coming’”. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/98 "2008-01-22T23:04:42Z")
Just heard from my co-worker. ☹☹☹ We just watched a double feature of Brothers Grimm and Brokeback Mountain yesterday, specifically to enjoy him and his range as an actor. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/99 "2008-01-22T23:06:00Z")
Holy cow. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/100 "2008-01-22T23:08:43Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] You have to wonder…Brad Renfro, Heath Ledger…who’s the third young, talented, not-Hollywood-crazy actor going to be? [/QUOTE] Why would you stick them in the same category? Though I recognize a couple of his movies, Renfro isn’t even remotely as popular/famous, started as a child actor and had drug and drinking&driving arrests. Seems like a stretch to shoehorn this into some “comes in 3’s” thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575.md?page=6)