Most people that are called actors are really nothing more than entertainers. Julia Roberts; Richard Gere; George Cluny; Brad Pitt and yes, even John Wayne are examples. That doesn't mean we don't enjoy them, we do. What I mean is they seem to portray the same character in every movie. One gets the feeling that they are selected for a part not because they play that part well but because the part plays them. All they have to do is show up and play themselves with small variations in each movie. Most of the popular actors fall into this category for me. Not many seem to have the ability to make you believe the story or identify with the character. Almost none of them have the skill to play both comedy and drama or a love story and a serial killer. That's the kind of actor Tom Hanks is...he can do it all. That's true acting. And I believe that in time Heath Ledger would have impressed us with that ability too.
He was thoughtful about the roles he played. He quickly grew tired of the easy roles he played in his early movies...even though most of us loved him in them. One of my favorite movies of his was A Knight's Tale, where he played a peasant squire that takes the place of the nobleman he serves when that nobleman dies between jousting tournaments. Heath did a few period pieces besides this one. I enjoyed them all but they weren't a real challenge for him. Another period movie he did was The Patriot (with Mel Gibson) that was of a more serious trend. Yet still he wasn't satisfied to let himself be known as a pretty-boy leading man with a little talent. I do not own all his movies and I have not seen them all. I haven't loved all his movies either but I tried to appreciate the work that went into them or the humor they were designed to inspire. I watched him in Casanova and thought it was cute...and he played it well...but there was no real work to it. It was just a nice, funny story...a chick flick...and it was fine for what it was.
But the movie he really excelled in, the last movie he made before his death, is reportedly The Dark Knight. I have not seen that movie. I can't yet watch it knowing that he's dead; knowing that it was probably his best work so far and that he would have had the world by the tail when it was released. All the awards and accolades that were rained down on him for that movie...(the first to receive the best actor award posthumously)....and he missed it all. He'll never know the heights his acting career could have reached. And we'll never know just how much talent he really had or see him stretch his talents to meet the next challenge and hone his craft from movie to movie
But the worst part of it all is that he will not be here to raise his little girl, Matilda. She was only 2 yrs old when he died. The world lost a brilliant budding actor but little Matilda lost her Dad...a loving father. How tragic that she will only know her father from photos and films.
It was reported that Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. He was found dead in his bed on January 22, 2008. He was only 28 yrs old. I cried that day... for the loss of Heath and for the little girl who will never see her father again. Being the adults we are we learn to expect deaths and other losses in our lives..but not like this, not this young, not while there is so much ahead of him and so much to lose. This kind of loss can never be accepted. It can only be endured because there is no other choice.
Heath Andrew Ledger - R.I.P.
4/4/1979 - 1/22/2008
