Today marks the 5th year since Heath Ledger passed away. This outstanding actor captured the world audience’s hearts in a teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and then remained and grew in popularity until his untimely demise in 2008. Awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for portraying Joker in Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008), Heath had arguably only just begun his ascendance to greatness when he completed his last film.
Below are his most memorable performances.
The Dark Knight (2008) – portraying the deranged Joker could not have been easy, and Heath gave a terrific performance, totally deserving his Oscar Award given posthumously.
Candy (2006) – performing alongside his compatriot, Abbie Cornish, Heath gives a dignified performance in his role of a lost and troubled drug addict.
Brokeback Mountain (2005) – a truly mesmerising performance by Heath yet again when he takes on a very difficult role in this film by Ang Lee. As with The Dark Knight, Heath was also nominated for and awarded numerous awards for his performance in this controversially-themed film.
Casanova (2005) – in this love-it-or-hate-it-romantic comedy, adorable Heath cemented his reputation of a heartthrob.
A Knight’s Tale (2001) – it is impossible not to like Heath here – confident and charming, we can see in this film that he has a very bright acting future ahead of him.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) – this is Heath’s “break-through” film, and he gives a solid performance in his role of a school-rebel, Patrick Verona.
Spotlight on Film 
Oh, God! Has it really been this long since he died? Too bad! He was a great actor!
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Yes, time flies. And, indeed, he truly was.
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Damn that seems like yesterday.
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He was a real great actor. Very sad he suicided. Why he did it?
The Brokeback Mountain made a great impression on me, but the best his role at any time stays Joker. My favourite villain.
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I think the general consensus is that it was accidental overdose, or, at least unintentional (while he tried to subdue/eliminate insomnia, unwelcome thoughts, etc). Yeah, the Joker was his best, no doubt at all. Thanks for commenting )))
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Another thing I feel strongly that contributed to his death was the fact how he jumped right into another physically exhausting role, shooting in bad weather conditions right after working so hard on “Dark Knight”. Our bodies need rest, and I think b/c he didn’t allow himself the chance to rest properly is what played into him taking so much medication to get him through the days. I heard the last day he was shooting on the Dr. Parnassus film that he was outside in the cold rain, and caught pneumonia. Good article; I mention several of those performances on my blog’s page, as well.
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Yeah, I heard that he was ‘shaken down’ pretty bad psychologically after Joker’s role, but I have to say I was not aware of physical exhaustion and weather conditions on the set of his last film. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, and I, of course, agree – that must have been a major contributing factor as well. Incidentally (I will share that now), the night he died I was having a bit of nervous breakdown myself, heh, that kinda makes me root for him even more. And, thanks a lot for stopping by and commenting! ))
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This is of course what I heard…about him shooting in the rain his last night, and catching Pneumonia…you may want to research it a bit for accuracy before deeming it factual. So, what were you having a nervous breakdown about? 😮
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I will never forget that night. It was very strange, and mentally and physically exhausting for me. I had a like life-deciding exam in the morning, but was glued to my bed with high fever and weird, fast changing thoughts. Needless to say I never made it into the exam room, and had to take it in July 2008 instead.
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Better late than never. Did you pass?
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lol, yes, as a matter of fact, I did very well! 🙂
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