Heath Ledger Found Dead

Heath Ledger, the 28-year-old acclaimed Australian actor best known for his Oscar-nominated performance as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment.

Police say they do not know the cause of death, but they appear to have ruled out foul play. According to a New York Times City Room blog post, Ledger was discovered by the housekeeper and a masseuse who arrived in the afternoon for an appointment.

"We are investigating the possibility of an overdose," police spokesman Paul Browne told Reuters news agency. "There were pills within the vicinity of the bed." Police did not speculate whether the putative overdose might have been accidental or deliberate, but the media have not been so restrained.

Until last year, Ledger lived in Brooklyn with girlfriend Michelle Williams and their daughter, Matilda. The two split up last year. Matilda is just over two years old.

Ledger recently completed work the next installment in the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman series, The Dark Knight, in which he was starring opposite Christian Bale as a darker version of the franchise's signature villain, the Joker. The film, which was shot in England, the U.S, and China, wrapped principal photography with a controversial Hong Kong shoot in November and is in post-production with a release date of July 18. Leaving shock and dismay aside, Ledger's death should have minimal practical impact on Nolan's ability to finalize the film, depending on the extent to which additional dialog recording (to dub over shots with poor original sound) has already been completed.

Ledger's method was to deeply immerse himself in his roles, and he seems to have done so with the Joker during filming last summer. "The Joker, so far, is definitely the most fun I've had with any character," Ledger told Allocine.fr in September 2007. "He's just out of control – no empathy, he's a sociopath, a psychotic, mass-murdering clown. And I'm just thoroughly, thoroughly enjoying it. It's just exceeded any expectations I had of what the experience would be like."

More problematic will be the ticklish task of marketing an already macabre film featuring a much-loved, dead star. The situation is reminiscent of Ales Proyas's The Crow, which came out after star Brandon Lee had died in an on-set mishap. Warners will have to tread lightly to avoid being seen as capitalizing on Ledger's death.

The Dark Knight also stars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Eric Roberts, Aaron Eckhart (as Harvey Dent), Cillian Murphy, and Anthony Michael Hall.

Terry Gilliam, as usual, gets the collateral damage. Ledger was due to start work shortly on Gilliam's next film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, about a traveling theater company.