On the 17th anniversary of his death, look back at the legacy of the late Heath Ledger

17 years have passed since then Heath LedgerHis sudden death and his legacy are still remembered.

The Australian-born actor died on January 22, 2008 at the age of 28 as a result of an accidental drug overdose. The toxicology report released after his sudden death found that Ledger died of “acute intoxication caused by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.”

Ledger was found dead after his housekeeper and massage therapist entered his New York apartment late in the afternoon. Years later, director Stephen Gaghan revealed that he planned to turn around Malcolm Gladwell Book Blink: The power of thinking without thinking into a film. However, following the death of Ledger (who was involved in the project), the film never came to fruition.

Gaghan received a call from Ledger’s father, Kim Ledgeron the anniversary of the actor’s death. (Ledger’s friend was also on the call.)

Heath Ledger through the ages: From “10 Things I Hate About You” to “The Dark Knight”

“You were there with the body and our script was in bed with him and your book was on the nightstand,” Gaghan recalled while speaking to Gladwell during a February 2024 episode of the “Developmental Hell” podcast. “I think my number was kind of in the script. As you can imagine, these guys are in shock and they dialed that number and I don’t know why.”

Gaghan said he was at an airport with his wife. Minnie Mortimerwhen he got the call about Ledger.

“The emotions, what they were going through, I shouldn’t have participated in any way, and yet as a human being or as someone who just cares, I was just there and listening and my wife was looking at me.” , continued the director. “I remember her face and I was just speechless. I just listened and listened and listened. It was just really, really sad. And it’s still sad.”

Ledger rose to fame in the late 1990s when he appeared in “ 10 things I hate about you. He continued to appear in The Patriot, Monster ball, A knight’s story And The Brothers Grimm before playing Ennis Del Mar Brokeback Mountaina role that earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in 2006.

Ledger also played the Joker Christopher Nolan‘S The Dark Knightwhich was released in July 2008 – months after Ledger’s death. For his role, the actor was posthumously awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in February 2009, exactly 13 months after his death.

Over the years, Ledger has been remembered positively by other Hollywood stars. His long-time girlfriend Michelle Williams has spoken at length about his death. (Ledger and Williams dated from 2005 to 2007, after meeting on Brokeback Mountain Sentence. They have a daughter, Matilda, who was born in October 2005.)

Michelle Williams’ Most Bittersweet Quotes About Heath Ledger and Her Daughter Matilda: “Every Time I Really Miss Him…I Just Look at Her”

“Every time I really miss him and wonder where he went, I just look at her,” Williams said fashion in September 2009, referring to her daughter. “I can talk about grief because it’s mine, about single parenthood, about trying to balance work and children. But what I don’t need to talk about is what happened between Heath and I in our relationship. Brokeback Mountain was a unique moment, a very magical time in my life. I was in love. I was in a movie I was proud to be in and with a beautiful, brand new baby. At that moment everything was fine.”

10 things I hate about you Costar Julia Stiles even recalled his “magnetic presence” in a previous interview.

“He had a zest for life and was just like always, he was never examined,” the actress recalled. “He was always really busy with everyone. Really interesting, remarkable person and actor.”

It was evident that Ledger’s influence in Hollywood still looms large as director Nolan accepted the Golden Globe for Best Director Oppenheimer in 2024.

“The only time I have ever stood on this stage before was accepting a letter like this on behalf of our dear friend Heath Ledger, and that was complicated and challenging for me,” Nolan said, among other things, during his speech. “And in the middle of speaking I looked up and Robert Downey Jr. caught my eye and gave me a look of love and support – the same look he gives me now, the same love and support he has given to so many people in our community for so many years.”