An official quoted by The Associated Press said that the
official investigators intend to drop the criminal case into how the Australian
actor Heath Ledger obtained two painkillers that contributed to his death.
Apparently, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had
suspected oxycodone and hydrocodone found in Ledger's system were bought thanks
to false prescriptions.
However the official who spoke with the AP noted that the prosecutors
now thought there was not "a viable target". Other drugs taken by
Ledger, including sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication, were prescribed
legally by doctors in Texas and California.
Heath Ledger, 28, was found unresponsive on January in a
downtown Manhattan
apartment, previously inhabited by actress Mary-Kate Olsen. The actress was the
first person contacted by the masseuse who discovered Ledger's body.
In September 2007, Heath Ledger called off his engagement to
Michelle Williams, whom he met while on the set of "Brokeback Mountain,"
although he had previously praised her as his soul mate.
Heath Ledger was born as Heathcliff Andrew Ledger on April 4, 1979 in Perth, Australia
to a mining engineer and a French teacher. He and his sister, Katherine, were
named after the main characters’ in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.”
He started his acting career at sixteen with a role in the TV series “Sweat”
(1996) in which he played a gay cyclist. He did many appearances in Australian
series like “Ship to Shore,” “Bush Patrol” and “Corrigan.”Ledger began to be
loved by the series audience.
In 1997 he made his American television debut in the
fantasy-drama “Roar” from Fox.
He got a lead role in the acclaimed Australian movie “Two
hands” in 1998 which was followed in 1999 by the modern version of
Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”, “10 Things I hate about you” in which he
co-starred along with Julia Stiles.
Heath rejected roles in teen movies and landed a role in
“The Patriot”, a revolutionary theme movie, where he played the role of the
oldest son of Mel Gibson. From here roles came pouring in.
In 2001 he played in the medieval rock comedy “A Knight’s
Tale”, followed by “Monster’s Ball,” “The Four Feathers,” “Ned Kelly,” “The
Order,” and “Brothers Grimm” in which he co starred along with Matt Damon.
For “Brokeback Mountain”
he received the award for “Best Actor of 2005” from the New York Film Critics
Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and a nomination for the
Golden Globes and Academy Award for Best Actor in a drama.
In 2007 he was one of the six actors who portrayed Bob Dylan
in the movie “I’m Not There.”
Heath Ledger's role as the Joker in "The Dark
Knight" is without a doubt his most significant performance of all, so
impressive that it's been generating a lot of Oscar buzz.
His performance in the latest action-filled Batman flick has
been shifted to centre stage, inflated by all the marketing fury of a big
summer blockbuster, and even shaped into Heath's epitaph.
Drawing inspiration from sources as wide-ranging as Johnny
Rotten and ventriloquists, Ledger's Clown Prince of Crime is anything but
funny, instead, he's a sadistically gleeful force of nature who wants nothing
more than to watch the world tear itself to pieces.
From facial tics to bad jokes, his devotion to the role took
the Joker far from a garish comic book character to a nuanced madman that
somehow does what every good villain can - makes you like him.
Unlike any other evil character, the Joker has no motive for
his wrongdoing and in the same time, he is set to accomplish his ultimate goal:
chaos. His painted face – white complexion, dark eyes and blood-crimson mouth –
expresses nothing more than he is: ruthlessness.
The Joker is obviously not a premiere presence, the
character has been present in previous movies focused on the adventures of
Batman. But what Jack Nicholson or Cesar Romero realized is far from what
Ledger played. Their characters were clowns, mere pranksters in comparison with
the great cruelty of Ledger’s Joker.
Ledger, who never played a villain before, was cast by movie
director Christopher Nolan as the Joker "because he's fearless."
Nolan recently proclaimed that Ledger was the only person on his list of names
after seeing the actor’s performance as the gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain."
