(CBS/AP) Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, and police said drugs may have been a factor. The Australian-born actor was 28.

Police said Ledger was naked in his bed with an unknown number of sleeping pills near the body.

Ledger had an appointment for a massage at a residence in the tony SoHo neighborhood, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

A large crowd of paparazzi and gawkers began gathering Tuesday evening outside the building on an upscale block, where several police officers guarded the door. The medical examiner's office planned an autopsy on Wednesday, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who took his craft seriously rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

Ledger most recently appeared in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan - as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

Ledger had finished filming his role as the Joker this year in "The Dark Knight," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins."

He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball." He also played a heroin addict in the 2006 Australian film "Candy."

Manhattan apartment where Ledger's body was found. (CBS) Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and co-starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew." Offers for other teen flicks came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat."'

His movie career caught on soon after that, culminating with his Academy Award nomination for "Brokeback Mountain."

"Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's performance as the Joker would be wildly different than Jack Nicholson's memorable turn in 1989's "Batman."

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan had said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

y'know ctc it's funny that you mentioned that you thought of me.....i think i got about 38217592 text messagess from people i went to high school with about my loss....i forgot how much i was obsessed with that man...

i was listening to the radio here the yesterday and a woman from some baptist church was going on how her and memebrs of her church were protesting his memorial service, saying that b/c his movie promoted gays he deserved to die and this is why he died, and that god hates us b/c we allow these kinda things to be promoted...

it was very, unethical........cause i guess when we make movies about murder, god doesn't hate the people in those movies, when a commandment is thall shall not kill

it was just disturbing....the man died, young, and just let it be that....i was just, in shock by this womans harsh words...

« Last Edit: Jan 25th, 2008, 5:48pm by partygoober »

IP Logged

*~*WOG BITCH*~*

"What, do you all know each other or something?" Johnny during slide 8/27

I left my heart in Buffalo, NY

Yeah baby there's a villain in me. So sexy, sour, and sweet, and you'll be loving it.

I heard about that crazy preacher man who was going to protest with his congregation for the same reasons. That kind of judgmental, untolerant CRAP drives me crazy. Those people and the media just need to leave his family alone to grieve.

I can't even imagine trying to grieve and bury a loved one with the media constantly in your face waiting for your every emotion. And, on top of that having the crazies say he "deserved to die". That must be so horrible.