Heath Ledger 1979 - 2008

Leslie Cheung almost 17 years ago

The Australian-born Heath Ledger, a 2006 Best Actor Oscar nominee for Brokeback Mountain, was 28. His other film work includes the recent Bob Dylan film I'm Not There and playing The Joker in the upcoming Batman sequel, The Dark Knight.

He was found dead in a downtown NYC apartment yesterday (January 22). He had an appointment for a massage at a residence in SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 15:26.

Filming of his part as the Joker in The Dark Knight has been completed. The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, the film in which he had been cast was in filming stage at the time of his death.

Photo by Kevin Mazur [WireImage.com]