# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/101 "2008-01-22T23:13:06Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] 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’”. [/QUOTE] Why do I get the feeling that you were snickering as you hit “Submit”? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/102 "2008-01-22T23:13:16Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] US magazine reports: “Heath Ledger’s Friend: ‘We Saw It Coming’”. [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, but I think “consider the source” applies here in a big way. Edit: By which, I mean Us Magazine, not you, **Walloon**. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/103 "2008-01-22T23:15:40Z")
Holy fucking shit. Just heard the news. Damn… this is gonna put a creepy pall over The Dark Knight. R.I.P. Heath. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/104 "2008-01-22T23:18:35Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] 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’”. [/QUOTE] I guess you sure showed us, huh. :rolleyes: And from that bastion of reputable journalism US Magazine, no less. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/105 "2008-01-22T23:19:09Z")
This is absolutely unbelievable. I really hope it was an accident and not suicide. ☹ People my age aren’t supposed to be dying. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/106 "2008-01-22T23:20:38Z")
I really had no idea who this guy was… ---
**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, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/107 "2008-01-22T23:22:58Z")
[QUOTE=CarnalK] 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. [/QUOTE] It was mostly their ages and that both were actors, and I wasn’t aware of Renfro’s drug and drinking problems. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/108 "2008-01-22T23:24:46Z")
[QUOTE=PharmBoy] I really had no idea who this guy was… [/QUOTE] This, coupled with your username and sig line? Tasteless, just…tasteless. Where do people get off? A lot of people cared about this man. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/109 "2008-01-22T23:28:04Z")
So Mary Kate Olsen killed Heath Ledger? I always knew Ashley was the good twin. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/110 "2008-01-22T23:32:24Z")
Although consensus is against me (and I’m with them now), at first, I thought **Walloon** was referencing Willie Nelson’s hauntingly beautiful [He Was A Friend of Mine](http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/willie_nelson_lyrics_4544/lyrics_14702/he_was_a_friend_of_mine_lyrics_426494.html), which played over the first part of the closing credits of Brokeback Mountain. Guess not. I was shocked upon hearing this and had an “It’s a joke” moment. I haven’t seen much of Ledger’s work but was very impressed by _BM_, his courage in doing the role and his ultimate, understated but on-the-money performance. R.I.P. Heath. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/111 "2008-01-22T23:33:16Z")
Damn…what a loss. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/112 "2008-01-22T23:39:50Z")
To fuel a little speculation he and Michelle Williams [split up](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20054428,00.html) about 4 months ago. By most accounts they were one of the “normal” Hollywood couples who tended to avoid the spotlight and party scene. Since the break-up he’s been rumored to be hooking up with Lindsay Lohan and a series of fashion models. Certainly one could leap to the conclusion that there’s a lot of drugs and partying in that circle. You could paint a fairly cliched story in this. That the loss of his serious girlfriend and mother to his child drove him into a wild, careless lifestyle trying to cope. As we all know the holidays can be a stressful time and perhaps the few weeks threw him into a depression or had him self-medicating in order to cope with the loneliness. All wild speculation of course, but I don’t think we’d be too surprised by any of this. In a strange way I hope that the breakup didn’t drive him to this and that it’s some more mundane or ongoing problem at it’s root. ---
**Author:** ![Ro\_Carter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@Ro\_Carter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ro_Carter)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/113 "2008-01-22T23:43:35Z")
When I first saw this thread, and the size of it, I thought someone had bought into one of those fake death announcements and was getting torn a new one for it. I wish I had been right. ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/114 "2008-01-22T23:45:39Z")
When I heard about this first I was convinced it was a mistake, or a bad joke, sadly not. I hope his death was accidental and not suicide as has been rumoured. Such a waste of talent… ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/115 "2008-01-22T23:48:05Z")
BUH? :eek: Fuck. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/116 "2008-01-22T23:50:02Z")
I started a thread about him 2 hours ago on another message board, and within 5 minutes some fundie Christian came along and informed us that this was God’s way of punishing him for portraying a homosexual. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/117 "2008-01-22T23:52:41Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] I started a thread about him 2 hours ago on another message board, and within 5 minutes some fundie Christian came along and informed us that this was God’s way of punishing him for portraying a homosexual. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Yeah, I was just thinking that bigots would have a field day with this. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/118 "2008-01-23T00:02:54Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] People usually react most emotionally when the decedent is a friend or a relative. [/QUOTE] … And when they are utterly gobsmaked because they are really shocked by some news, people may yelp out as well. I think that was obvious. I think my initial reaction was “Holy fuck!” and I never met the guy either. You don’t need to be snarky about it. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/119 "2008-01-23T00:03:01Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] I started a thread about him 2 hours ago on another message board, and within 5 minutes some fundie Christian came along and informed us that this was God’s way of punishing him for portraying a homosexual. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Tom Hanks better watch out. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575/120 "2008-01-23T00:05:18Z")
Sad. I didn’t know who he was prior to Brokeback, but then someone upthread mentioned _Roar_. Oh, wow, that’s why he seemed familiar! Sad, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heath-ledger-is-dead/434575.md?page=7)