Heath Ledger: He Left Us To Soon
by Janine Slayton
James Dean. Marilyn Monroe. Brandon Lee. Aaliyah. What do these people
all have in common? They were taken before what seemed to be their
time. They were all bright young stars who seemed to still have so much
ahead of them. They were only beginning their road to success and
stardom before their lives were tragically taken from them, leaving
many to wonder "what could have been?"
On January 22, 2008, at the age of 28, Heath Ledger joined the ranks of
those stars stolen before their time. I still remember thinking my
cousin was playing a cruel joke on me when he broke the news that
fateful winter day. Even once I got home and saw the news report for
myself online, I tried to convince myself it was a publicity stunt.
Heath Ledger couldn't be dead…he was far too young and talented for his
life to come to an end so soon. And he was about to reincarnate the
Joker in Batman for crying out loud! Once the denial began to fade and
reality started to set in, I found myself drawn to any news reports I
could find related to his untimely death. Speculation was rampant over
what had caused his death, in what ways Mary Kate Olsen may have been
implicated, and how fellow actors and his former fiancee were reacting
to the news. It was almost as if, by finding out as much as possible
about his death, or being able to point the blame at someone for
causing it, it might all be undone. Unfortunately, no matter what the
media uncovered, there was no bringing Heath Ledger back to life.
Heath Ledger was one of those few actors that manage to stand out even
in a sea of other shining stars. Most people remember him bursting onto
the scene in the teen romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, a modern-day Taming of the Shrew, in which he played the sexy, sweet bad boy with a soft side. After that, he had breakout roles in The Patriot and A Knight's Tale. A Knight's Tale was
really his first chance to shine in a starring role, and shine he did.
Everything about him made you take notice: The deep, gravelly voice,
the young, boyish face with a devious smile and a sparkle in his eye,
and—of course—the accent. Watching Ledger in A Knight's Tale, you just knew he was going to be a star.
It was hard not to be drawn to Heath Ledger onscreen. In 2001's Monster's Ball, he may have had a small part, but his character stuck with the viewer long after he was gone. In the skateboard film Lords of Dogtown
Heath again had a lesser role—that of the surf shop owner, Skip—one in
which he was hardly even recognizable. He disappeared into his
character, and was once again someone hard to ignore when on screen.
Then, of course, there was Brokeback Mountain.
Ledger won critics everywhere over with his portrayal of the stoic,
tortured Ennis Del Mar. He was riveting, and hearts everywhere broke
for him and the love he could never truly have. His ability to
transform himself into the character he was playing shone through
again, bright and clear, and even earned him an Oscar nomination.
As
vivid as Heath Ledger was onscreen, he did not seem to seek the
attention of the media when he was off-screen. Instead, he opted to
lead a more private life, with few "candid" pictures of him popping up
in magazines. His apparent desire for privacy when the cameras were off
seems to indicate that, for Ledger, acting wasn't about the fame. It
seemed, for him, to be about being able to transform into that new
character, to explore people and ideas that he hadn't before, and to
really put all he had into becoming the role he played. With every role
he took, he challenged himself to be someone different than he had
before. That passion and raw talent may explain why so many people are
riveted to him when he is on screen.
Although he is gone,
there is the final Heath Ledger transformation, and perhaps the biggest
one he ever undertook: that of the Joker in the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
Even before his death, there was talk about the remarkable job he had
done with the role he was given. It was said that he had completely
become the heartless, homicidal, disturbed character that he was chosen
to portray. The Dark Knight will be Heath Ledger's final legacy, and perhaps the most impressive role he ever played.
I
think that many people had a hard time accepting the loss of Heath
Ledger from the world. I felt silly being as upset as I was upon
hearing about his death. After all, I obviously didn't know him
personally; and yet, I was in a state of denial that someone so truly
talented—and with so much potential—had been taken from us. It shook me
to the core. It broke my heart even further to think that he had left
behind a young daughter that would never know her father.
Perhaps
another reason many took the news so hard is because his death made us
think of our own mortality. Many of us view celebrities as untouchable
and above the things many of us deal with on a daily basis. Then we
hear that a young, seemingly untouchable actor like Heath Ledger is
suddenly gone, with no warning. Maybe in his premature death, we were
forced to reflect on our lives, on all of the unfinished things that
might be left behind. I think that Ledger's death can serve to remind
all of us that we never know how much time is left. There might not be
a tomorrow to finish something you've been putting off, or to tell
someone how much you love them. So, as we watch the legacy Heath Ledger
left behind through his movies and marvel at his turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight,
maybe we should start thinking about the legacies we would leave behind
if we were tragically taken from this world before our time as well.