As expected, Heath Ledger received very high praise for his role in “The Dark Knight.” On January 11 Heath Ledger won the award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ at the 66th annual Golden Globe awards. As his director accepted the award on his behalf the audience stood in applause, the first standing ovation of the night.
Before his death, Heath Ledger’s brilliant performance playing the joker, a mad anarchist, was already creating Oscar buzz. Audiences of “The Dark Knight” knew they were watching something both special and tragic. It came to no surprise therefore that Ledger won ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in this year’s Oscar awards.
The Oscar was accepted by Ledger’s mother, Sally Bell, his father, Kim Ledger, and his older sister, Katherine Kate Ledger. As the award was accepted, it was announced that the Oscar would be given to Heath Ledger’s daughter, Matilda Rose Ledger, “the person who mattered most in his life.”
Following Peter Finch, the “Best Actor” winner for “Network” in 1976, Ledger is the second performer to receive an Oscar posthumously.
Heath Ledger’s acting career essentially began with the romantic comedy “Ten Things I Hate About You” in 1999. His acting continued to progress with Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot” and the adventure film “A Knight’s Tale. “Best Supporting Actor,” was not Ledger’s first Oscar nomination. He was nominated in 2006 for ‘Best Actor’ in “Brokeback Mountain.”
It was just after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had announced its nominees one year ago when Heath Ledger was found dead in his Soho, New York apartment. He was only 28 when he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Doctors report that Ledger was clean of illegal drugs at the time of his death, but rather was taking prescription drugs because he was suffering from insomnia. It has also been reported that the insomnia was caused from Ledger’s deep research for his role as the joker.
Heath Ledger’s winning ‘Best Supporting Actor’ is a “reminder that Hollywood has lost a terrific actor who had yet to fill his potential,” Christopher Nolan, “Dark Knight” director.
