Tragedy strucks this week when 28-year old actor was found dead in his apartment this Tuesday 22nd January 2008. He was found lying naked and unconscious in his bed at his $US23,000 a month apartment on Broome Street, SoHo, in Manhattan, by his housekeeper and a masseuse about 3:35pm local time, when they knocked on his bedroom and got no reply.He had an appointment for a massage, said New York Police spokesman Paul BrownePolice said there were prescription sleeping pills near Ledger's body, but there was no obvious sign he had committed suicide.CBS says that all of these items were listed on the official police report from the scene, but it should be stressed that it’s unknown whether or not these items belonged to Heath or if he had ingested them.All items are being tested, but it will be a while before Heath’s toxicology reports are back from his inconclusive autopsy.The actor was sick with pneumonia when he died, the TMZ.com website reports, saying it had been contacted by representatives of Ledger's family, who said they'd been told by police that the actor's death was accidental. The New York police however, said they could not confirm Ledger was suffering from pneumonia.
"The medical examiner, once he or she conducts an autopsy, will determine exactly the cause of death,'' said Lieutenant John Grimpal from the New York Police Department.
An autopsy on Heath Ledger was inconclusive, and more tests are needed, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday.
It will take about 10 days to complete the investigation, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner.
Reports say Heath wasn’t sleeping much, and couldn’t seem to relax. Rather than address this health crisis in the making, Heath pushed ahead with his workaholic schedule. At 28 years-old he might have been okay, except for the possibility that he may have used several medications together which are sedatives. When used together the effects are not only tripled, but they cause a paradoxical effect which can cause the heart to stop or beat ineffectively causing a lack of blood pressure or blood circulation, aka circulatory collapse. It appears exhaustion, pneumonia, and a misuse of prescription drugs may have led to Heath’s death, and not illegal narcotics.
He said he "stressed out a little too much" during the Nolan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."
"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan 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."
"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour.
Heath Ledger's family rejected any suggestion that the actor killed himself "We, Heath's family, can confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda".
Brokeback Mountain established Ledger as one of his generation's finest talents and an actor willing to take risks. That ability helped him to win the role of The Joker this year in The Dark Knight, a sequel to the 2005 Batman Begins.
"Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life," said Ang Lee, who directed Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain."
"I had such great hope for him," Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's father in "The Patriot," said in a statement. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."
Meanwhile, tributes from fellow Australians flooded in Wednesday, with actress Nicole Kidman called Ledger's death a "terrible tragedy."
Cate Blanchett, who starred with Ledger in the Bob Dylan bio-flick "I'm Not There," a role that earned her an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress, said she was "shocked and saddened" at the news.
"I deeply respect Heath's work and always admired his continuing development as an artist," Blanchett said in a statement published by News Ltd. newspapers online. "My thoughts are with his family and close friends."
Someone informed Jack Nicholson that Heath had died from a drug overdose, which does not appear to be true, and Jack said, "I warned him."
Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expressed shock over losing "one of our nation's finest actors in the prime of his life."
Ledger split last year with Michelle Williams, who played his wife on the set of "Brokeback Mountain." The two had a daughter, the now 2-year-old Matilda, and had lived together in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill neighborhood.
Heath Ledger had been battling a vicious bout of depression. "Heath was living in New York to be close to his daughter. But he hardly ever ventured out anymore." Jake Gyllenhaal has been worried about him for months. And he knew Heath was sinking further into a depression. Jake is Matilda’s godfather, and he and Heath had become really close since they did the film Brokeback together.
In the wake of Heath Ledger’s death, President Bush postponed a White House event scheduled for Wednesday's afternoon in the Roosevelt Room, where he was due to launch an ad campaign aimed at preventing prescription drug abuse.
The president was to make a statement on the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s new TV ad regarding the fact that the use of prescription painkillers remains popular among young people, but White House press secretary Dana Perino said the event, which had been scheduled for a while, was suddenly a bit too timely.
"We thought it would be better to postpone the event," Perino said, "rather than run the risk of anyone thinking that we were being opportunistic in highlighting the issue."
Even the Whitehouse has respect for Heath, as we all do.
Production on Heath Ledger’s latest fantasy adventure movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, was shut down hours after news broke of the actor’s untimely death.
"I just got the call [Tuesday] saying everyone was being let go," an on-set source in Vancouver tells Us Weekly. "We were supposed to start this weekend, but obviously they fired everyone today. They don’t know yet what they are doing with the footage that was already shot. Right now, everyone is in complete shock and can’t even speak."
Less than an hour after news of Ledger's death broke, fan sites including heathledger.net, heathbaby.com and heathledgercentral.com and heathledger.com had melted down and were inaccessible.
Messages of sorrow from fans are flooding unofficial Heath Ledger pages and fan groups on MySpace and Facebook. Already, at least two "R.I.P Heath Ledger'' Facebook groups have been created as memorials.
Fans left flowers and candles outside the apartment building in Manhattan's SoHo where the body of the Oscar-nominated star of "Brokeback Mountain" was found.
One note said, "I couldn't find anything bad about you."
Tragedy strucks this week when 28-year old actor was found dead in his apartment this Tuesday 22nd January 2008. He was found lying naked and unconscious in his bed at his $US23,000 a month apartment on Broome Street, SoHo, in Manhattan, by his housekeeper and a masseuse about 3:35pm local time, when they knocked on his bedroom and got no reply.
