Heath Ledger's Death Begs The Question: Surrender or Refusal to Compromise?
PERHAPS HE WASN'T ACTING AT ALL WHEN HE APPEARED IN "BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN" AS A WOUNDED MAN FULL OF SECRETS AND LONGING. Heath Ledger, the Australian actor who gained acclaim for his role in the Oscar Nominated movie, turned life into art Tuesday when he was found dead in a New York apartment with a bottle of pills next to his bed. The 28-year-old actor was separated from actress Michelle Williams, whom he met on the set of "Brokeback" and with whom he has a two-year-old daughter, Matilda. Although New York police say his death may or may not be accidental, his family has vehemently denied to TMZ.com that the death was a suicide.
Ledger was an "actor," not a star, and he seemed to relish the difference. He stayed far away from La La Land and settled in Brooklyn, where he was apparently one of the borough's best known residents. He took risky roles, most recently playing one of the incarnations of Bob Dylan in the movie, "I'm Not There." And his image will soon be resurrected at the box office in the role of a more sinister Joker in "Dark Knight" than even Jack Nicholson played in 1989's "Batman." Christopher Nolan, the director of "Dark Knight," recently said of Ledger's performance,"He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy." The actor himself complained in a New York Times' interview in November that his mind wouldn't let him rest, that he was having trouble sleeping. Apparently, the tiredness caught up with him.
In another, older interview, this one with the Associated Press seven years ago, Ledger confided that soon after he starred in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You,'' he was offered -- and rejected -- a handful of other teen flicks. But despite raised eyebrows from his parents and agents, Ledger refused to compromise and held out for roles he relished. He said the decision wasn't hard for him, but "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."
Many of us have peripheral or personal experience with the solace that comes from a puff, a snort, a pill, a bottle. The dream-like haze can keep life's uninvited
compromises at bay for a little while. And sometimes, even if by accident, for ever.
Posted January 22, 2008
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