Heath Ledger found dead

[Zina]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22788914/
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/actor-heath-ledger-is-found-dead/

Out of all the actors that could have died this way, Heath Ledger wasn't at the top of my list.

Edit: In case you don't know who he is, he starred in Brokeback Mountain and a number or other movies, and is playing the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie.

[Don]

No kidding, poor guy...He was a good actor I'm going to miss him.

[Destina Faroda]

You know, on one hand, I am shocked because this is a star who did keep a low profile.

On the other hand, I cannot fathom why so many A and B list stars decide to make bad choices to mess up their lives (or end them) like this.  Do famous actors have problems the same as you and me, if not worse?  Sure.  Is flying from overseas to the US hard on one's body?  Indeed, it is.  But here's the thing.  He chose this lifestyle, and he got rewarded handsomely for doing so.

I can understand actors who work for years on soap operas having problems -- those are the hardest working actors in the business.  I can understand athletes, stuntmen/stuntwomen, professional wrestlers and others who put their body, health, and safety on the line.  I can even understand actors who are unemployed, or actors who despite having an occasional role, never break into the stardom.  Those public entertainers I feel bad for and can understand.  But the death of Heath Ledger just boggles the mind.

[bill]

From what I've been hearing, he was taking sleeping pills for stress-related issues. It can happen to anyone.

[Sunblink]

Wow. Out of all of the people in the world I wanted dead, the guy who was going to play the Joker was not on that list. I'm gonna miss him.

This is horribly depressing.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Alondro]

This is why I will NEVER take sleeping pills.

An accidental overdose can't happen if you never pop em!

And it's also kinda hard to kill yourself with them on a whim if they're not in the house.

If I need to go to sleep, I just drink a tall glass of orange juice.  Sugar is like a sedative to me.   

[Angel]

Oh my God no.

I just found out. I opened MSN.com and BOOM. Oh my God. How could something like this happen? I can't why he would commit suicide (if that's the case, which I doubt). Everyone loved Heath Ledger. He didn't throw himself in the public's face, he just played in the movies he picked and played really well. He didn't deserve to die. I seriously started praying for him a minute after I heard.

He was a great actor and a good man. I'll miss him.

[Darkmoon]

He was a fine actor. Sucks that they'll have to recast Joker for the third flick.

[superluser]

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe;
every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine;
if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse,
as well as if a Promontorie were,
as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were;
any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde;
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
-- John Donne

I hate when stuff like this happens.

Realistically, I have to say that I don't care that much.  But that's a horrible thing to say, and at some level, I do care when anyone, from the hobo on the street to Heath Ledger dies.

So this sort of news does nothing but make me depressed.  *sigh*

[Pagan]

Good actor (from what I've heard- haven't seen many of his movies). He'll be missed. I wished he had stayed around long enough to finish the rest of the batmans.

[Darkmoon]

Realistically, I have to say that I don't care that much.  But that's a horrible thing to say, and at some level, I do care when anyone, from the hobo on the street to Heath Ledger dies.

Eh, admit it freely. I really don't care at all.

[Zina]

Honestly, I'm more shocked than anything else. I figured the next time I heard about a celebrity O.D.'ing, it'd be Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse, or something. But Heath Ledger? Never crossed my mind. 

[Eibborn]

Rest in peace, actor who I never really heard of.

[Darkmoon]

Honestly, I'm more shocked than anything else. I figured the next time I heard about a celebrity O.D.'ing, it'd be Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse, or something. But Heath Ledger? Never crossed my mind. 

Seriously. Aren't there enough coked out trashy 'hos out there that the Aussie coulda been spared?

[Alondro]

Now, I was joking with my brother when I said last night that playing the Joker probably drove him crazy, buuuuut:

Method Acting Is Dangerous!

"Ledger said in an interview in November that "Dark Knight" and last year's "I'm Not There," took a heavy toll. He said he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour."

[demongirl12000]

I could really care less. I mean, I didn't even know the guy, but I did like his movies.

My friends are having a "Heath Ledger" marathon. Watching all the movies with him in it to watch in memory of him...

[rabid_fox]

I bet Christian Bale did it. Bale's so crazy.

[Netrogo]

He was a fine actor. Sucks that they'll have to recast Joker for the third flick.

I actually had a theory on this. Since The Joker is one of the more facially fucked characters in comics (Yeah I know there are worse, but bear with me) it would be easy for them to have the next feature appearance of The Joker (which probably wouldn't be the third movie) be horribly scarred or even 'Michael Jackson-ed' I've seen some facial make up work (One character in Repo! had a face stretched over his face, quite Joker like) in ways that could be used to easily make a new Joker. The problem would be the voice, that's not something easily mimiced in a way that isn't noticable.


Regardless, I do have to say that this is one of the rare times that a celebrity dying has actually upset me. You hear about these people dropping like flies lately but honestly Ledger dying upsets me a little. Not so much because of him himself, but because it really shows that anyone can do that. I mean, like others have said, we all expect Spears to off herself in some retarded way any day now and most of us (Chris Crocker aside) won't give one flying fuck when she does. We'll probably make fun of her for it when it happens. But Ledger was one of those celebrities who, other then being in movies we liked, tended to keep to himself. He didn't do big idiotic things in public just because he could. He was one of the few ordinary people in the industry.

Meh, I've said enough.

[Alondro]

There are no ordinary people in Hollywood.

Even if you don't start out there, after a few years you end up crazy or 'eccentric' in some way.

I'll bet Scientology has something to do with this!