Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger dead at 28
He OD'd on pills say cops
Movie star Heath Ledger died last night from a suspected drug overdose.
The Brokeback Mountain actor, 28, was reportedly found lying naked on a bed in a New York apartment surrounded by sleeping pills.
Police said they believed the overdose was accidental. Oscar-nominated Ledger had a two-year-old daughter with actress Michelle Williams.
Heath Ledger died naked on his bed with pills scattered all around him, it was revealed last night.
The 28-year-old actor is believed to have taken an overdose of prescription medicines and sleeping tablets.
A number of pill bottles were strewn across the bedclothes at the New York apartment where he had been staying.
Police spokesman Paul Browne confirmed: "We are investigating the possibility of an overdose."
Sources said it appeared to be accidental.
Ledger was found unconscious by the housekeeper, who went to tell him a masseuse had arrived for a pre-booked appointment.
She entered his room at 3.26pm and called for help when she was unable to wake him.
Paramedics desperately attempted cardiac massage but were unable to revive him.
Last night, as a large crowd of fans gathered outside the Manhatten apartment friends and associates told of their shock.
Showbiz editor Gillian Crawley, of Now magazine, said: "Heath was quite a difficult person. He had difficulty coping with the type of fame he had. He was on the cusp of becoming something very great this year."
The unhappy star admitted in September last year: "What's hard is growing up through the years with all the attention. The photographers following you everywhere - it's just embarrassing more than anything."
Australian-born Ledger starred in a string of Hollywood blockbusters including Brokeback Mountain, for which he received an Oscar nomination.
He also appeared in The Patriot, Monster's Ball, A Knight's Tale, Ned Kelly and The Brothers Grimm. He was engaged to his Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle Williams, but the couple split last August, blaming their busy schedules.
They have a two-year-old daughter, Matilda Rose. The child's godparents are actor Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle's Dawson's Creek co-star Busy Phillips.
The apartment where Ledger died is owned by child star Mary-Kate Olsen - one half of the famous Olsen twins.
She is currently in California and he is believed to have been staying there since his split with Michelle. Friends say the split left him "deeply depressed".
A spokesman for Michelle declined to comment last night.
BIG BREAK
One of his first roles was playing a hunky Summer Bay surfer in the Aussie teatime soap Home and Away
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MIRROR FILM CRITIC DAVID EDWARDS on the Aussie oozing charisma who had potential to become of Hollywood's greatest actors
And so ends a career that promised so much.
Heath Ledger was a talent who shone bright but briefly, an actor with the looks of James Dean, the star power of a young Paul Newman and the potential to be perhaps better than either.
He achieved the heights of stardom but died alone in a New York apartment.
Ledger will forever be remembered for the stoic, low-key emotion be brought to Brokeback Mountain but in his short time with us, he brought star quality to almost every film he turned his attention to.
Strikingly good looking, oozing charisma and ever-so-slightly aloof, cinema has been robbed of one of its most promising talents.
After cutting his teeth in TV soap Home and Away, Ledger made his mark playing Mel Gibson's son in The Patriot. Then he slowly worked his way up the Hollywood ladder in flicks such as Monster's Ball and A Knight's Tale before that call came to star in the bittersweet tale of forbidden love between two cowboys. Brokeback Mountain became his signature role. But perhaps his most striking performance came a year later, in 2006 when, in a sad irony, he played a drug addict in the little-seen Candy.
He had just finished filming the role of The Joker in the latest Batman film, which is due out this summer. His death casts a shadow over such a sure-fire blockbuster.
On the same day that the Oscar shortlists were revealed, it's heartbreaking that such a talented actor's life has ended.
Mirror
