The news of Heath Ledger's death on Jan 22, 2008 was very unexpected, shocking, and sad. His film A Knight's Tale is one of my favourite movies. Even before he appeared in A Knight's Tale Heath Ledger was one of my favourite actors and I have enjoyed watching many of his films. He was certainly a very talented actor and I find it quite sad that he has passed away at such a young age. He was only 28 years old, and about two and a half months away from his 29th birthday.

So here is my tribute page to Heath Ledger with some of my thoughts about his movies. I have not seen every one of his films, as there were many, but it has always been a goal of mine to do so. The pictures that are included below were found on the internet, and I've also included some notable web links below.

Roar, 1997-2000

When the premier of Roar first aired on TV, I recorded it on a VHS tape which I still have. It was a great show, and a great start to a remarkable career. In addition to Heath Ledger in the starring role, the show also had very cool costumes!

A Knight's Tail, 2001

I have watched A Knight's Tail at least a dozen times. This is a great film with an excellent cast and a fun story set in the Dark Ages... and more cool costumes! The jousting scenes are awesome, though one of my favourite scenes is when they dance to David Bowie's Golden Years.

Brokeback Mountain, 2005

When Heath Ledger did the movie Brokeback Mountain in 2005 my respect for him doubled several times over, not just for his talent as an actor but as a person. It took a lot of bravery to make this film for many reasons. Just before the film was released, I recall reading about what happened when he and his co-stars had appeared before the press for the big media launch. When the event began and journalists started asking the actors questions it was quickly evident that the press found the topic of a western-themed gay love story to be laughable, and did not take the film seriously. Heath Ledger spoke up and pointedly stated that he had a great deal of respect for the subject of the film, and didn't think there was anything funny about the two main characters being gay. That put an end to the foolish questions, and the event continued with the seriousness and respect that the topic deserved. Since then, whenever I saw a trailer for one of his films, or his picture somewhere, I always thought about this story. It took a lot of character to do what he did. Brokeback Mountain, of course, was a big success and received a great deal of acclaim.

Here are pictures from some of Heath Ledger's other movies...

10 Things I Hate About You, 1999

Monster's Ball, 2001

Ned Kelly, 2003

Casanova, 2005

Heath Ledger...as himself

Web Sites

Pictures of Heath Ledger
Here is a great site I found which has over 120 photos of Heath Ledger from his various films. Many of the pictures shown above are from this site.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005132/

Heath Ledger

April 4, 1979 - Jan 22, 2008

Questions, please e-mail Mike Artelle at