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1-19 of 19
- Actor
- Director
- Cinematographer
When hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a "pretty boy" and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword. His work comprised nineteen films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Monster's Ball (2001), Ned Kelly (2003), The Brothers Grimm (2005), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Casanova (2005), Candy (2006), I'm Not There (2007), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). He also produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.
Heath Ledger was born on the fourth of April 1979, in Perth, Western Australia, to Sally (Ramshaw), a teacher of French, and Kim Ledger, a mining engineer who also raced cars. His ancestry was Scottish, English, Irish, and Sephardi Jewish. As the story goes, in junior high school it was compulsory to take one of two electives, either cooking or drama. As Heath could not see himself in a cooking class he tried his hand at drama. Heath was talented, however the rest of the class did not acknowledge his talent. When he was seventeen he and a friend decided to pack up, leave school, take a car and rough it to Sydney. Heath believed Sydney to be the place where dreams were made or, at least, where actors could possibly get their big break. Upon arriving in Sydney with a purported sixty-nine cents to his name, Heath tried everything to get a break.
His first real acting job came in a low-budget movie called Blackrock (1997), a largely unimpressive cliché; an adolescent angst film about one boy's struggle when he learns his best mate raped a girl. He only had a very small role in the film. After that small role Heath auditioned for a role in a T.V. show called Sweat (1996) about a group of young Olympic hopefuls. He was offered one of two roles, one as a swimmer, another as a gay cyclist. Heath accepted the latter because he felt to really stand out as an actor one had to accept unique roles that stood out from the bunch. It got him small notice, but unfortunately the show was quickly axed, forcing him to look for other roles. He was in Home and Away (1988) for a very short period, in which he played a surfer who falls in love with one of the girls of Summer Bay. Then came his very brief role in Paws (1997), a film which existed solely to cash in on guitar prodigy Nathan Cavaleri's brief moment of fame, where he was the hottest thing in Australia. Heath played a student in the film, involved in a stage production of a Shakespeare play, in which he played "Oberon". A very brief role, this offered him a small paycheck but did nothing to advance his career. Then came Two Hands (1999). He went to the U.S. trying to audition for film roles, showcasing his brief role in Roar (1997) opposite then unknown Vera Farmiga.
Then Australian director Gregor Jordan auditioned him for the lead in Two Hands (1999), which he got. An in your face Aussie crime thriller, Two Hands (1999) was outstanding and helped him secure a role in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). After that, it seemed Heath was being typecast as a young hunk, which he did not like, so he accepted a role in a very serious war drama The Patriot (2000).
What followed was a stark inconsistency of roles, Ledger accepting virtually every single character role, anything to avoid being typecast. Some met with praise, like his short role in Monster's Ball (2001), but his version of Ned Kelly (2003) was an absolute flop, which led distributors hesitant to even release it outside Australia. Heath finally had deserved success with his role in Brokeback Mountain (2005). For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in in the film, Ledger won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and Best International Actor from the Australian Film Institute, and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Ledger was found dead on January 22, 2008 in his apartment in the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo, with a bottle of prescription sleeping pills near-by. It was concluded weeks later that he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs that included pain-killers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. His death occurred during editing of The Dark Knight (2008) and in the midst of filming his last role as Tony in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).
Posthumously, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film I'm Not There (2007), which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan's life and persona.
A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his performance as the Joker in 'The Dark Knight (2008). His untimely death cast a somber shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $185 million Batman production. Ledger received more than thirty posthumous accolades for his critically acclaimed performance as the Joker, the psychopathic clown prince of crime, in the film, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards (for which he is the second actor to win an acting award posthumously after Peter Finch who won an Oscar for Network (Best Actor 1977)), the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.- Actor
- Composer
- Sound Department
Kevin Stoney served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, where he trained as a pilot and was sent to the Middle East. However, he crashed so many planes that he had to be reclassified as a navigator. As an actor he did his best work for the small screen, often appearing as doctors, police officers or haughty butlers. He was equally effective as outright villains. He was considered for several decades to be one of British television's most reliable supporting actors, although he is now mostly remembered by cult television fans for his roles in series like The Avengers (1961), Doctor Who (1963), The Prisoner (1967), The Tomorrow People (1973) and Blake's 7 (1978).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Orhan Aksoy was born on 10 January 1930 in Mustafakemalpasa, Bursa, Turkey. He was a director and writer, known for Hayat mi Bu? (1973), Yumusak Ten (1994) and Kederli Günlerim (1967). He died on 22 January 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Roberto Gari was born on 13 February 1920 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Believer (2001), Another World (1964) and Jersey Guy (2003). He was married to Janet Cantor Gari. He died on 22 January 2008 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Milenko Zablacanski was born on 8 December 1955 in Bogatic, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was an actor and writer, known for Groznica subotnje veceri (1997), Mala skola zivota (1997) and Stizu dolari (2004). He died on 22 January 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia.- Make-Up Department
Diane Chenery-Wickens was born in 1959 in England, UK. She is known for Dead Ringers (2002), Arabian Nights (2000) and A Merry War (1997). She was married to David Chenery-Wickens. She died on 22 January 2008 in Little Horsted, East Sussex, England, UK.- Actor
- Composer
Stefan Niculescu-Cadet was born on 31 July 1927 in Moreni, Romania. He was an actor and composer, known for Faust XX (1966), Calea Victoriei sau cheia visurilor (1966) and Povestea dragostei (1977). He died on 22 January 2008 in Bucharest, Romania.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Kenneth Higgins was born on 26 December 1919 in London, England, UK. He was a cinematographer, known for Georgy Girl (1966), Darling (1965) and Dick Turpin (1979). He died on 22 January 2008 in Isle of Wight, England, UK.- Yuriy Sorokin was born on 27 April 1946. He was an actor and director, known for Otkroveniye Ioanna Pervopechatnika (1991), Protiv techeniya (1981) and Zosya (1967). He died on 22 January 2008.
- Louis Martin was born in 1935 in Québec, Canada. He was married to Hélène Filion and Hélène Filion-Martin. He died on 22 January 2008 in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- Writer
- Actor
Stefan Murr was born on 4 September 1919 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He was a writer and actor, known for Tatort (1970), Der dritte Handschuh (1967) and Affäre Nachtfrost (1989). He died on 22 January 2008 in Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany.- Claude Piron was born on 26 February 1931 in Namur, Belgium. He was an actor, known for La Verda Stelulo (1996). He died on 22 January 2008 in Gland, Switzerland.
- Blagovesta Kabaivanova was born on 22 April 1937 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She was an actress, known for Nespokoen dom (1965) and Syanka na zhena (1994). She died on 22 January 2008 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Miles Lerman was born in 1920 in Tomaszów Lubelski, Lubelskie, Poland. He was married to Rosalie Christine Laks. He died on 22 January 2008 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Leonard Plachta was born on 23 April 1929 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for Lost Souls (1997). He died on 22 January 2008 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA.
- Marjorie Winters was born on 11 June 1918 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Donna Reed Show (1958). She died on 22 January 2008 in Port Townsend, Washington, USA.
- Dora Bria died on 22 January 2008 in Brazil.
- Gustav Heverle was born on 31 January 1920 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for The Assassination (1964), Akce Kalimantan (1962) and The Proud Princess (1952). He died on 22 January 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Guy Marly was born on 4 January 1921 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for This Man Must Die (1969), Triple Cross (1966) and Quentin Durward (1971). He died on 22 January 2008 in Paris, France.