You might have to go all the way back to the car accident that took James Dean’s life in 1955 to find an apt comparison with the shocking news of Heath Ledger’s death in New York yesterday.
Today, news organizations ground out some silly — and rather insulting — lists of “killed-suddenly-in-their 20s” actors that included minor figures such as the TV performers Jon-Erik Hexum and David Strickland.
Like Dean, Ledger was a major Oscar-nominated actor cut down in the middle of a period of great promise. The tragedy of what the immensely talented man might have done in another 20 or 30 years of work is balanced by the genuine accomplishment of what he had already achieved.
The 28-year-old Australian star was launched here as a teen heartthrob opposite Julia Stiles in the 1999 Disney picture, “10 Things I Hate About You,” but Ledger very quickly used his Hollywood “heat” to begin edging his way to better parts in better films.
Ledger gained more box-office credibility with his performance as Mel Gibson’s son in the 2000 hit, “The Patriot,” but it was the actor’s decision to take a small but key role in a low-budget 2001 indie, “Monster’s Ball,” that changed the course of his career.
The movie won Halle Berry an Oscar, but Ledger’s work as the emotionally tortured prison guard son of Billy Bob Thornton — a young man who was fighting the racism and sexism buried within himself and the culture around him — was terrific and reportedly caused director Ang Lee to test the actor for the starring role in “Brokeback Mountain” (2005).
Again, Ledger took a big chance on a very risky project that could have hurt his leading-man possibilities, playing a repressed gay Middle American of the early 1960s who falls into an intensely passionate affair with another “cowboy” (Jake Gyllenhaal).
Both of the male roles scared off better known and more bankable actors, so Ledger once again found himself working on a tightly budgeted indie picture that demanded his total commitment as an actor.
Fortunately, for Ledger and us, “Brokeback Mountain” turned out to be a great film and his remarkable low-key performance earned him a well-deserved best actor nomination.
The movie pushed Ledger to the top of the list of movie talents in their 20s and he no doubt received lots of big-ticket offers in the wake of his Oscar publicity two years ago.
Instead of taking it easy, however, Ledger once again risked humiliation when he agreed to join five other adventurous performers in playing music legend Bob Dylan at various stages of his life in Todd Haynes’s experimental drama, “I’m Not There,” which opened at the end of 2007.
Fellow Australian Cate Blanchett was honored with a supporting actress Oscar nomination yesterday for her work as the Dylan of the “Don’t Look Back” era, but Ledger is equally good as the singer-songwriter (pictured above) in one of his darkest periods.
Judging by the trailers for the forthcoming Batman movie — “The Dark Knight” — Ledger’s performance as The Joker could be another major piece of work.
Hollywood legends have been based on a lot less than the performances given by this remarkable artist in only a few years’ time.
